Water Quality
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General Course Information
Koi Keepers enrolling in this course will become familiar with:
- The need to maintain great Water Quality for the health and welfare of the Koi
- What affects Water Quality
- The chemical makeup of Koi pond water
- The pond nitrification cycle
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How to test and correct:
- Ammonia
- pH
- Nitrite
- Nitrate
- KH or Total Alkalinity
- GH or Hardness
- Dissolved Oxygen
- Salinity
- Chlorine/Chloramine
- Green Water
- Testing to prevent disasters
- Why clear water is not necessarily quality water
All students will need to own drop type test kits and/or meters for testing Ammonia, pH, Nitrite, Nitrate, KH, and Salinity.
All students will need an email address and internet access to K.O.I. websites.
Water Quality is probably the single, most important aspect to grasp in order to become a keeper of healthy and prospering Koi. The purpose of this course is to instruct the student on how to acquire quality water, how to perform proper testing, how to understand test results, and how to properly react to test results. Learning about water quality and water clarity aren’t the same. Crystal clear water can contain compounds that are deadly to your fish.
This course taught me so much about the science of koi keeping; something I had always wanted to understand better. It was difficult, long, and sometimes had twists that enticed me to think creatively. The clue of (Boo) was very cute now that I understand it... Well done.
Awesome course. I thought I knew a lot about water quality but still had problems with some areas. Lots of information!
Great course! As a long time amateur Koi keeper I had gotten lazy and was dependent on experience and luck. Syd helped me through some of the more complicated materials. I am now keeping a journal and feel much more poised to go forward.
Lots of math, but I guess that is expected in pond since there is a lot of calculations needed to ensure you are adding the appropriate medicines and chemicals to pond. So it took me longer in this module as I am not a math wizard, but writer does help you along.
This course really made me think and helped me learn a lot. I also had to do some research to come up with some of the answers on the test. It helped me learn even more, and I ran across even more information that wasn't on the test. The math portion was tough for me, but not impossible. Now that I get it, I find myself testing my understanding by coming up with scenarios and trying out the math formulas to check my results. I highly recommend this course to anyone with a pond. Water quality is the key to success.
Hi Syd, I am impressed by your expertise and the amount of time you spend customizing your answers to your students. Your last comments were very interesting, I save them preciously in my archives and will share them during a future presentation to the San Francisco Bay Area Koi Club if it's OK with you. Thanks a lot!
This was an intensive course that was well worth the time, you can not rush through this section as water quality is key to having a healthy pond for the koi. There is a lot of math involved so you may have to review several times before getting it right, but the instructor is helpful and quick to respond.
Tests & Completion
The course text is an Adobe Acrobat document entitled Water Quality by Norm Meck. There will be additional reading assignments for the course. A written test will be given at the end of the course via email. Please contact the instructor by email when you are ready for the test.
In general the course will be conducted on a self-paced basis and students can ask questions any time via emails to the instructor.
Questions can be e-mailed to the instructor, Syd Mitchell, at: mankysanke@aol.com
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To complete this course, students must provide satisfactory answers on all exams within 12 months of the first instructor contact.
It is the intention of K.O.I. to provide an email warning to the student if the course is incomplete and their tuition is about to expire provided
The course must be completed within 12 months of the date the student was initially contacted by the instructor. Special exemptions may apply if the 12 months have expired. These will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
If additional time is desired, 12-month extensions may be purchased for $25 for a single course or $50 for multiple courses. Students may request extensions from their Student Coordinator prior to the expiration of the time originally allotted to complete their course(s). If the student qualifies, the Student Coordinator will issue instructions on how to buy the extension at the K.O.I. Store.
Students will be given every reasonable opportunity to understand the answers to the exam questions. Students will be prompted for a more complete answer if their first attempt is insufficient. There is no particular passing grade to complete this course but the instructor will work with the student until they both agree that the student is ready to continue.
The K.O.I. policy in regards to the student code of conduct is clear. Cheating will not be tolerated. Students will be failed if they cheat. For those seeking certification, cheating or serious legal violations (relative to the activities with K.O.I.) will be grounds for non-certification or decertification.
Certification
Course Sign Up
Once you have purchased a course individually or as a certification package, you can expect:
1. The store website will send you an email confirming your purchase
2. KOI Student Coordinator will send you an email regarding KOI courses
3. Instructor(s) for each course will send you an email regarding courses you have purchased.
4. For a package of courses (e.g. 9-course CKK package), courses can be taken in any order. Respond to the Instructor’s email for the course you want to start with. As you finish each course, respond to the instructor’s email for each consecutive course. Optionally you can take more than one course at a time, communicating by email with the Instructors.
5. The reading material for each course will be either:
downloaded from the KOI website – follow the download instructions in the email you receive from the instructor, or;
for some courses a you will receive a book from the KOI store shortly after your purchase.
6. If you have any questions or problems, contact the instructor or the Student Coordinator: Kelvin Davis - KelvinDavisKoi@outlook.com















