Advice moving matured Koi after Trauma

[ndav73]

Hi Everyone - It has been quite a few years since I posted on this forum, and we have been through quite a few changes with our Koi Pond. While I don't consider myself a "newbie", we are going through some new experiences with our Koi. Some good, some not so good. We recently moved to a new home in a new town, and our existing Koi Pond was something we were not willing to walk away from. We made the decision to move our Koi to our new home after having a new pond built. We used a Nursery that we have trusted for many years, to build, condition and move our Koi. I have grown up around ponds, and I am pretty confident dealing with Koi ponds and I am sad to say, that I didn't trust my gut and allowed this company to make decisions that I knew in my heart were not the right ones. We have had some of our Koi for 11 years, a few of them were 19-21 inches long and I knew deep down, that we had to take our time conditioning the water and getting the environment correct for our Koi to come home.

Long story short, they did not condition the pond, they retrieved our Koi, introduced them the wrong way, and the next morning, we awoke to all of our Koi not surviving through the night. Needless to say, we have had a few traumatic weeks, lots of tears, and plenty of "should have" "could have" conversations. We were just sick over it, and many lessons have been learned. Our old pond was from well water, and our new pond is from city water. Need I say more. The light at the end of the tunnel, as we returned to our old home (that is getting ready to close this week), miraculously, I found 3 of our Koi happily swimming around their familiar surroundings...they were never caught!!!! So, "Nemo", "Marlin", and "Marlin Jr." are still alive, happy and waiting to return to their new home.

Now, I am completely freaked out! They are not huge Koi, probably about 10 inches. Can anyone recommend the best way to move them to a new pond (that is now conditioned) about 20 minutes away?? We plan to guide them into a big bin, and have a net to cover it so they don't jump out. But how do you recommend we put them into our new pond? Should we bag them? The seem a little big to bag, and I have never done that before...I keep thinking they need to be acclimated to the temperature, plus we are in Connecticut, and it's getting chilly at night, the water temp is changing....Any suggestions is appreciated!!!!

 

[JohnHuff]

First of all, sorry for your loss. I can't imagine the trauma that you've just been though. It's a bit too late for this, but was the new pond conditioned with feeder fish?

Regarding the move, I believe the containers have to be full so that water does not slosh around inside. Lower temperature is better as fish are shipped with lowered temperatures.

For acclimatization, because the koi are so big, they should be done individually in a clear large 30-50 g trash bag. The fish have to be acclimatized for temperature and chemistry. That means putting the bag in the pond and slowly adding pond water over time. This will ensure that the temperature will reach the pond water temp slowly and there won't be such a big chemical shock. I say individually in each bag because each bag won't have a lot of air the water, unless you are prepared to aerate the bag as well.

 

[capewind]

Many ways to move fish ... larger fish that we have moved (up to 24") we have done with coolers 24-36" in size. We simply filled the cooler 75% full. closed the lid and made the drive home CAREFULLY (easy stops and turns to minimize the movement) ... once home, scoop by scoop, we removed their water, and replaced with pond water .. once they were in mostly pond water, we picked them up BY HAND, and PLACED them into the pond. Total process from the time we get home, to them being IN the pond takes us a good half hour, if not closer to 45 minutes ...

 

[Fishylove]

Very sorry for your losses. And good luck with the move!

 

[dieselplower]

I personally dont care for the trash bag idea because those things love to tip over. It seems like the previously mentioned containers like storage tubs or coolers would work better. I have never had to move fish long distances but when I get fish from PetCo or whatever I take them with me in a 5 gallon bucket with lid that I bring in. As already noted I would take water out of the tub slowly and replace with pond water. I would also tend to scoop the fish out of the water and place it in the pond rather than dumping the fish and water in, but since it is not gross pet store water, but rather the water they were already living in, it shouldnt be a huge deal, other than that it would be dirty water. Out of curiosity, how has the new pond water been conditoned? Did you use a product or just give it time? Since you are now on city water it wouldnt be a bad idea to contact the department of power and water to see if they can give you any insight into what exactly is in the water, and at what concentrations. I would also do as many of the tests of the tap water that you can, so that you will see if your results match theirs.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Yes, I was thinking the fish were maybe used to the hardness of the well water, and the difference in the city water may have been great enough to shock the fish as well. Well water can be much different from city water and so the fish may need more time to adjust. I always use twice the recommend amount, when using water conditioners, for very big "city" water changes.

I would recommend you only move one fish at a time, and move in a large five gallon pail. Once there, very slowly add water from the pond into the big five gallon pail with the one fish. This will give the fish time to adjust to the water better as well. If you have to remove a gallon of water from pail in order to slowly add one gallon, that is OK. I would say add a small amount, even half gallon amounts even better. See how the fish is a half hour later, add another half gallon of water from the pond into the five gallon pail. Repeat this process slowly and as necessary, until the pail has mostly pond water. Then it should be safe to add the fish.

If the one fish survives this process, then go back for the other two....

 

[Dave 54]

We over the years have moved our koi very successfully hundereds of miles to shows around Devon and Cornwall, without loss of any of our koi.
With only one bleeder amongst them (caused by stress) now retired from shows .
The best way to move koi is to double bag them in large plastic bags that you can get from your local dealer.
First fill the bottom of the bag with around 4" of water (just enough to cover your koi)add air from an airpump better still Oxygen if you have it.
You then seal the inner bag then the outer bag with elastic bands.
Once this is done put the koi in its two bags into a black bin liner then place in a carboard box or a polystyreene one if you happen to have some.
Place the bags into your koi across the axle of your car (never nose facing towards the front of the car as this can cause nasty bag burns to your koi's nose bag burns are nasty and hard to heal because of the koi's constant grubbing about on the bottom of the pond.....
Once you reach your destination place the bags still inside the black bin liner onto the surface of your pond and leave to eqaulize over the next 30-40 minutes,(we use a small infrared thermometer to gauge when thy have equalized)see bottom of post. (it is al;so good at taking pond temperatures during winter)..
Still in the bin liner undo first the outer bag then the inner bag roll both bags down a little then place both your hands inside the bag kifting it clear and gently release into the pond.
The same can be done with your QT unit if you have one..
Remove the bag from the pond and dispose of the water down the drain or over the flower beds.
And there you have it the easiest ways to transport your koi from A to B with little or no stress.
If however you get a bleeder (stress causing them to bleed from the gills) forgo the 30-40 minutes equalization and place straight into the pond, dont worry there is nothing wrong with the koi all its doing is showing a bit of stress placing it direct in the pond will stop this .
I hope our years of transporting koi will help you , if you have any Questions please PM me ....






rgrds

Dave