Adopted a 1' Suicide Koi...

[Jason]

As some of you may know, I just Bought a house here in Lynn Haven, FL and we are now all settled in. Well what comes with a new house is new neighbors, most of them are older (50+) than we are and are very nice and hold a tight relationship with all neighbors on our street. This weekend we had a few neighbors come and bring us welcoming gifts, One neighbor, "Wolfgang" who lives in the last house on the street (8 houses down from me, lol) came over and asked if I had a Koi Pond since someone told him i did. I said yes and he asked if i wanted a Fish that was getting too big for his pond, so I said I would take a look.

He had 1' Mutt Koi in a 60-80 Gallon Kidney shaped Preformed Pond along with about 5-6 other Common Goldfish I said of course I would take him/her off your hands and I could tell he felt bad by how much he was shocked how fast it grew lol.
The only type of filtration was a Fountain kit from Lowes that consisted of a 6"x12" Pre-filter box and a 400-500GPH pump with a fountain nozzle kit sticking up from the middle of it. I asked him how many times did he clean the filter, he said every other day, I could tell how clear his water was.

I took the Koi home Saturday and am now feeding my fish 3 times a day, but he is still not eating? He stays on the bottom and does not know to come up top when the other fish are attacking the fish sticks. Here is the scary part... Last night I fell asleep on my couch in the living room right next to the pond outside, about 1AM I woke up to loud splashing and then thuds and thought "OH RACOONS!" I opened up the blinds to see no animals, but the large Koi I just took in, flopping around on the pavement about 3' from the pond! I hurried out the door and picked him up as he was bleeding from his gills and tossed him back into the pond, I checked on him this morning and he was fine or seem to appear fine. I wonder why he did that, so I remember last night 2 of the other Koi kept chasing him and he kept slapping his tail fin at them to shake them off.... Now I realize, maybe He is a SHE and the other two Koi are trying to mate with her? I am checking on her today at lunch and will snap a pic of her... or him?

 

[Jason]

here she or he is, looks like part gold ogon with black in the scales?

 

[JohnHuff]

Nice!

 

[HARO]

I'd say female. Not bad.
John

 

[Jason]

Thanks, Just glad She is still alive! Hopefully she won't be jumping out again...

 

[dieselplower]

I have had a koi jump out if a 75 gallon aquarium (and die) and a 5 gallon bucket. They are jumpers when not happy! Good luck.

 

[morewater]

I wanna know how you built your pond upside down under your eaves and against your window. How does the water stay in? LOL

 

[Dave 54]

What you are seeing Jason is either they koi has an infection of some sort most probably parasite ( I take it you QT'd him for four weeks first ,no you didnt did you ? ) aww Jason come on how many posts have there been about QTing fish ?
Please read and digest this thread :-

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/proceedures-when-buying-a-koi-from-a-private-owner.10505/

If not its more than probably the water chemistry in your pond is different than that of his old pond.
I suggest you ask the neighbour who gave you the koi if you could lease take some water samples from his pond then test them, do it under the pretext that you want to match water conditions as ner as you can to make his move trouble free .
If he jumps again you need to get a scrape done to see if he has parasites.
Sometimes they just jump out of curiosity other times if you have insects flying over the pond midges are the most common, however if he makes a habit of it you need to net the pond against it.

 

[HARO]

They do that all the time in Australia!
John

 

[Jason]

What you are seeing Jason is either they koi has an infection of some sort most probably parasite ( I take it you QT'd him for four weeks first ,no you didnt did you ? ) aww Jason come on how many posts have there been about QTing fish ?
Please read and digest this thread :-

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/proceedures-when-buying-a-koi-from-a-private-owner.10505/

If not its more than probably the water chemistry in your pond is different than that of his old pond.
I suggest you ask the neighbour who gave you the koi if you could lease take some water samples from his pond then test them, do it under the pretext that you want to match water conditions as ner as you can to make his move trouble free .
If he jumps again you need to get a scrape done to see if he has parasites.
Sometimes they just jump out of curiosity other times if you have insects flying over the pond midges are the most common, however if he makes a habit of it you need to net the pond against it.

Dave I did not QT her like I usually do, since the owners water was clear and he stated he checks it once a month as well so I felt more assured I guess I have thought about why she may have jumped... Last night she was being chased by 2 of my other Koi as I figured it was mating season lol, She kept swimming and then would swim sideways briefly before unleashing her tailfin swat attack on the others chasing her. The 650gph pump is on the bottom and she kept swimming against the current, a couple of times she would go above the current while still going full speed causing her to almost come out of the water, so I think a combination of the two males chasing her and her underestimating her power after coming out of the current she darted out of the water and over the edge. Im not ruling out the Parasite, just hoping for the better I guess

 

[Dave 54]

Dave I did not QT her like I usually do, since the owners water was clear and he stated he checks it once a month as well so I felt more assured I guess I have thought about why she may have jumped... Last night she was being chased by 2 of my other Koi as I figured it was mating season lol, She kept swimming and then would swim sideways briefly before unleashing her tailfin swat attack on the others chasing her. The 650gph pump is on the bottom and she kept swimming against the current, a couple of times she would go above the current while still going full speed causing her to almost come out of the water, so I think a combination of the two males chasing her and her underestimating her power after coming out of the current she darted out of the water and over the edge. Im not ruling out the Parasite, just hoping for the better I guess

Just because a pond looks cyrstal clear doesnt mean there aren't problems lurcking in it.
It may well be your seeing mating between the fish but have you even sexed the koi to see if she is indeed a female yet ?
Dont ever be tempted to break QT protocol again young friend it may spell the end for one o two of your koi which nobody wants to see least of all you, worst case senario would be the dreaded KHV taking 80% of fish leaving any survivors totally isolated in their own pond with their own equipment unable ever to add other koi to their pond having to report to the Authorities the fact you've got it .
It may well be an idea to make a smaller QT pond , so that you can make sure in future that nothng is wrong with future purchases or gifts

Dave

 

[mrsclem]

Jason- nice fish. Hopefully she is just jumping for joy on her new huge home! Good luck.

 

[Dave 54]

I do like your pond Jason, however I do wonder just how long your going to last before like all koi keeping folks you think that hey you know "I think we'll build a larger one "chortle chortle", dont wory young friend its all part of the addiction
I hope like ourselves your stuck for space because the third and fouth ponds become huge affairs of many thousands of gallons.

Dave

 

[Jason]

I do like your pond Jason, however I do wonder just how long your going to last before like all koi keeping folks you think that hey you know "I think we'll build a larger one "chortle chortle", dont wory young friend its all part of the addiction
I hope like ourselves your stuck for space because the third and fouth ponds become huge affairs of many thousands of gallons.

Dave

You know it Dave! Already planning a larger Natural looking Pond

 

[leet13]

I bought a little platinum ogon last year and it jumped out on the 3rd day in the pond... it was very scared of my other fish too and hid behind some plants the whole time. I still would like a platinum ogon someday. Hopefully yours will not jump again and I hope its in good health.