Koi drama!!

[purplemuffin]

UGH! Our filter went INSANE today! We came to feed the fish and found it had broken and was pouring all the water out of the pond--It was almost empty by the time we turned it off!!! The wind had broken something or bent it, and the pressure built up somehow.

Anyway, we came home to our pond being about 6 inches deep... very shallow considering it is usually about as high as my upper waist. All of our aquatic plants were drying up, it was just ridiculous!!

We had to get a new filter for the koi... We're not sure what to do about refilling so much water though!!! I'm scared my parents are going to try to do what they did LAST time(which was just stick the hose in the pond and fill it all the way up(90% was gone) and dump decholinator in there with the fish still in the water..) I do NOT want any more dead koi!!



Here is one of the koi anyway, thought I might share! Lets hope he lives while my parents struggle with the idea that fish notice differences in water ph.... and chlorine.
But if anyone has any suggestions that could help..would be much appreciated!!

[JKfish]

oh my gosh, that's horrible, I hope they survive. And don't worry about the dechlorinator, koi are very very hardy (you should see what they went through before my parents and I were able to find a good place to buy pond dechlorinater XD ) Oh, and you have a very pretty koi. Is he all by himself, or do you have more koi?

That same thing actually happened to my pond twice this summer! Oh, so many things have gone wrong with my pond, that I'm surprised the koi have flourished and done so well over the past six years. Don't stress too much, I am almost certain that your koi will be fine :)

[purplemuffin]

I guess I am just scared because the last ones died! But my parents filled it up so quickly and all the way to the top in one sitting..

[purplemuffin]

Oh and we have 4 koi and 6 goldfish :)

[JKfish]

oh, well hope the rest survive.

That's cool. My pond was originally 10 goldfish, but something ate them (when they were feeder fish size) so now there are 3 and we've got 7 koi

[dramaqueen]

I hope they survive their ordeal.

[Drift]

We've had that happen several times. We place the filter no longer at the deepest part in case ours sprouts another leak and waters the garden for us. XD We've also had a goldfish get sucked up into it before. :( I think we just filled it back up with the hose mostly and let the rain fill rest of it up. However, we only have goldfish as they're cheap for when the heron comes to grab a snack. Dang bird. :(
Everyone should survive so don't worry too much.
You should post pictures of your pond once it's al back in shape. :D! Ours is all overgrown like a jungle.

[purplemuffin]

Ok!! Thanks so much for the advice! We're filling it up, but a lot slower this time. It's almost halfway full again. The fish are doing great, but we're having bird issues now, the big rock hides(and cement blocks..they hide in the holes in them) are a little bit out of the water and so we had a ton of doves bathing in the pond. It just made me nervous, we had a falcon stalking the pond earlier(though all fish are accounted for!)

My parents are just not good at taking care of plants e_e most of them are half dead, but some are ok. They are all potted and can't grow too much, but I want to see if we can get some floating plants in there(so the fish feel more hidden and will swim through instead of just hiding in little caves)

I have a picture of right before the drama happened!

This is the first day we set up the plants


Here is a bit afterwords!

and one of my mom's photographs for her photography business(Just to show size comparison to a person)

These are all at an angle so you can't see how long it is...We'd have to stand far back, it's too long to take a normal picture of! I'm 5'6, and this pond is almost double me in length(somewhere between 9 and 10 feet, but really seems like 10) and probably 5 feet long on the other side. The pond itself goes a few inches lower than the ground, I'm not sure how deep it is, but it's pretty deep. About 100 years ago it used to be a feeding trough, but since then each new owner of the house has used it as just a decorative pond or a fish pond!

We pretty much have invisible koi though! Especially with all the drama, they just want to hide(and I don't blame them!)

[dramaqueen]

Nice pond!

[purplemuffin]

Thanks! I know it's fairly small, I'm frustrated mom and dad bought so many fish. They are fine for now(like I said, 'invisible fish'..they are hard to find and the pond makes them seem tiny!) but I know how big they could get!

My parents bought them still thinking that 'oh well most of them die in a week anyway' due to past experiences(you know, the whole goldfish in a bowl thing. Mine actually lived the longest, 4 years and got decently big! :( But then he jumped.)

BUT I've been doing my best to educate them and tell them how to care for the fish and why the old ones died so fast. SO they are learning. They told me, if the koi and goldfish continue to grow as fast as they are, and if they end up seeming crowded in the pond they will sell/adopt them out to other people with ponds.