Dead fish?

[Dai88y]

Hello everyone I am new here but have a large pond with quite a few fish. A few days ago in the evening I noticed one of

my large fish appeared to be dead (a very large orf). I couldn't get it out as it was so heavy so asked my son to come round to get it out to bury. He came round the following morning and the fish has gone! Could it have sunk? And will it affect the pond in any way?
Thanks for any advice

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome! Lovely pond! Can you tell us about your pond? How big is it, how deep, how many fish?

I have no idea how big an orfe can get. Do you have a net that will reach to the bottom of the pond? If it’s a large fish, yes, it could have an effect on the water quality, but I wonder if a predator fished it out. Either that, or it wasn’t dead.

 

[Lisak1]

I'd have to say I doubt it sunk, especially if it was freshly dead. My experience with dead fish (thanks to having three sons who used to love to hang out at our neighborhood ponds and would bring me to see the most disgusting things) is they won't sink until they start to decay or something starts to eat it. A freshly dead fish would likely float for several days. So I agree with @Mmathis - either something got it and took care of it for you, or it wasn't really dead.

 

[mrsclem]

When we had a major water quality issue several years ago,had several dead fish floating. Water was murky so got the net out and found a lot of dead fish on the bottom.

 

[Dai88y]

Hello and welcome! Lovely pond! Can you tell us about your pond? How big is it, how deep, how many fish?

I have no idea how big an orfe can get. Do you have a net that will reach to the bottom of the pond? If it’s a large fish, yes, it could have an effect on the water quality, but I wonder if a predator fished it out. Either that, or it wasn’t dead.

Well that I am not sure of - I estimate It's about 4ft deep, 10 ft x 10ft but irregular shape. No idea how many fish because there were around 50 tiddlers this year and there are probably about 6 medium size goldfish and are 4 carp including one koi about 14 inches+ long and the orf that was the biggest probably over 16 inches long. Sorry I'm not very precise. I think the dead fish was the orf and much too heavy for a predator. Thanks for the reply My grandson threw the only net in the pond on Sunday so it is missing along with the orf

 

[Dai88y]

When we had a major water quality issue several years ago,had several dead fish floating. Water was murky so got the net out and found a lot of dead fish on the bottom.

Oh! Mine is pretty murky and needs a clean but we had the largest number of baby fish ever this year!

 

[Dai88y]

I'd have to say I doubt it sunk, especially if it was freshly dead. My experience with dead fish (thanks to having three sons who used to love to hang out at our neighborhood ponds and would bring me to see the most disgusting things) is they won't sink until they start to decay or something starts to eat it. A freshly dead fish would likely float for several days. So I agree with @Mmathis - either something got it and took care of it for you, or it wasn't really dead.

Well it looked VERY dead when I prodded it but it was in the evening and it was way too heavy for me to get out. We don't have any predators big enough in the south (UK) the largest is probably a fox but I think even that would have had trouble taking it away. Fingers crossed I was mistaken but I don't think so.

 

[j.w]

@Dai88y
Hoping you find it alive but if it's dead you gotta get it out somehow or it will rot and muck up the water something awful!

 

[Dai88y]

I need to get the pond cleaned so hopefully that will sort it!

 

[poconojoe]

When you say you need to get the pond cleaned, that scares me. Ponds should not be hospital clean. Never scrubbed or power washed either.
Extreme cleaning will disrupt the natural ecology and balance that is so important. Doing so can be detrimental to the fish and whatever else living in there. The most you should do is use a fine mesh net to slowly scoop out any build-up that may be collecting on the bottom. If you want, you can do partial water changes over time, but I personally am not an advocate of that.

What exactly are you filtering the water with?

 

[Mmathis]

@poconojoe, you beat me to it! I cringed when I saw “cleaned!”

 

[poconojoe]

@poconojoe, you beat me to it! I cringed when I saw “cleaned!”

Yeah, oh the horror stories we've already heard! Between completely cleaning out ponds and the use of algecide, I don't know which we hear most about.

 

[Dai88y]

When you say you need to get the pond cleaned, that scares me. Ponds should not be hospital clean. Never scrubbed or power washed either.
Extreme cleaning will disrupt the natural ecology and balance that is so important. Doing so can be detrimental to the fish and whatever else living in there. The most you should do is use a fine mesh net to slowly scoop out any build-up that may be collecting on the bottom. If you want, you can do partial water changes over time, but I personally am not an advocate of that.

What exactly are you filtering the water with?

Hello - I have a filter that was put in a few years ago which is regularly flushed. The pond has a lot of sediment at the bottom and was last cleaned professionally about 2 years ago. I assume it is quite healthy as it had so many fish this year - more than in the last 22 years!

 

[Mmathis]

Hello - I have a filter that was put in a few years ago which is regularly flushed. The pond has a lot of sediment at the bottom and was last cleaned professionally about 2 years ago. I assume it is quite healthy as it had so many fish this year - more than in the last 22 years!

Ouch! Just curious, but do you check your water parameters (pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, KH, and GH)? Makes me wonder if your numbers are high based on proliferation of fish. Of course, you were posting about finding a “lost” fish, rather than a general pond issue, but just wondering if there is a connection.

 

[Dai88y]

Thankyou. No I don't check anything really My husband used to deal with it but he died in 2009 so I have to try to manage it myself and I clearly do it pretty badly! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated