Fish stopped eating

[sterobbo99]

Hi all

Just a quick query I have about my pond. I have a small ~450 litre pond with around 12 small fish (shubunkins, goldfish, couple of small koi) and the pond has been great all summer (I'm in the UK btw). I have been away on holiday and come home to find my fish are all being very shy and are not eating at all. I have been feeding them all through the summer generally twice a day but as I was away I could only get someone to come and feed them a couple of times during the week. I did a full water test yesterday and found all the parameters to be exactly where they should be (pH, KH, NH3 etc).

The temperature has dropped a little since before my holiday so wasn't sure if thats the case or whether I'd had some unwanted predator visiting and that has what had spooked them? I'm leaning towards that theory but just wondered if anyone had any other ideas? They have been so timid I've struggled to see if they are all still accounted for.

I'm open to any other ideas, I don't like them hiding away from me!

 

[addy1]

I would give them time.
Mine hid from me, which never happens, when I had a small snapping turtle in the pond. It took them a few days to calm down after I removed the turtle. They saw it as a predator, which it is.

 

[Lisak1]

Our fish forget us very quickly. We stopped feeding them early summer to deal with an issue and just a short 7 days later they acted like they had never seen humans before!

I do want to add one unsolicited piece of advice - those "small koi" that you have in your pond won't stay small for long. Your pond is just over 100 gallons (if I did my conversion right!) - that's almost too small for the number of goldfish you have. Just something to think about for the future. We hear all the time "my pond has been fine for X number of years and suddenly my fish are all sick/dying and my water is pea soup green! What changed?" Obviously what changed is the size of the fish and the amount of waste they produce. The biomass in your pond will overwhelm your ability to keep the water filtered and healthy for your fish.

Again - totally unsolicited... just a bit of advice from one pond keeper to another... from across the pond!