Hello From Atlanta

[Minerva229]

Hello Everyone,

My wife and I just purchased our first home and inherited a koi pond along with it. It is around 1100 gallons and about 3 feet deep. I have a pressurized canister filter with UV, that has a manual self clean purge system ( clean it out out every 3 weeks ) along with two pumps and filters in the pond. The pond has some sort of liner on the bottom with river rock on top and along the sides. One large pump along with a smaller pump that feeds a line for a little Koi statue that acts as an aerator and puts a constant stream of water going back into the pond. We have about 15-17 Koi in all different sizes and colors in the pond. I have kept them alive since May and noticed something very strange this last week. They no longer eat their food when we feed them in the afternoons and now just suck at the algae on the rocks that line the pond. They have been doing this for about 48 hours now.

I noticed yesterday that the Koi statue wasn't pumping any water out back into the pond, so I completely cleaned out the pressurized canister, checked all of the hoses, pulled up both pumps and sprayed out the gunk with a garden hose and even played with the valve feeding the line into the statue. Both pumps are running and filter is fine, but no water coming out of our statue now.

I am stumped, not sure how long those pumps have been in the pond, but I have two questions. 1.)are my fish going to die if I don't get the koi statue working again and putting a stream of recycled water back into the pond like an aerator should function. 2.) Do I have to replace both of my pumps in the pond. Like with everything else, I'm sure they have a shelf life and will need to be replaced at some point.

Help!!! My wife loves those fish and heaven help me if one floats to the top....any and all comments / suggestions welcome.

 

[morewater]

No, your Koi won't croak. It does sound like you've got a fairly large population for a pond of this size.

Back flushing the filter is okay, but a thorough cleaning shouldn't be performed, you'll kill the beneficial bacteria from the bio-balls (sounds like a disease, like painters caulk). The pumps may need to be brought up from the bottom and the primary filter housing taken off, clean off the impellers. Don't let them sit, they're thermally tripped. Most likely you've got a clogged impeller. Easy to service. Pull them out and have a look.

Alternatively, you may have a clog in the line from the pump to the spitter fountain. Stick a coat hanger down the throat of the spitter, that may dislodge whatever is in there. Get a single-stone aerator for your pond. Just make sure that you put the motor in a weather proof housing. Use weighted airline to hide it from sight. You can get this anywhere. Essential for the winter, in my opinion and in my part of the world.

Never replace a pump until you've taken it apart. Most times it's the impeller and impellers can be replaced.

 

[j.w]

Minerva229
Someone here suggested using a piece of weed whacker line to shove down a clogged line of a fountain spitter.

 

[Fishylove]

Welcome to our forum

 

[Lisaebetten]

Welcome and love to hear about your pond, can you post some pics? You may want to reduce your population or your fish will be dying once your system can't handle the fish load. From all the posts I've read here it is heart breaking to read about their loved fish dying off left and right and nothing they can do about it. Use a liquid API water test kit to keep track of your water health. You will learn a lot here, just sit down for 10 hours and start reading!!!