Help.. Fish keep getting injured

[Momoko]

Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone can help me with and give a bit of advice.
I have a well protect pond, which has been going now for well over a year with no problems until 3 months ago. I keep koi and comet goldfish and for the past 3 months, I've had injured fish appearing.
First one was my beautiful yellow koi, 3 months ago, had a massive chunk taken out the side of her, I put it down to spawning as I suspected her to be female as the two of the goldfish would chase her.
Put her in a hospital tank with some meds, she picked up but then suddenly died of her injury, it was very deep. Next a few weeks later were two goldfish, one had a badly injured eye the other had its bottom jaw ripped off!!! Both them went into the hospital tank, the one with the busted mouth died, the other one I managed to get him fighting fit, he has only one eye but it doesn't seem to bother him, quite an active Fish so he is back in the pond, two weeks ago I find another goldfish with his eye half hanging off!! He is in my hospital tank with meds in the hope he can heal, I think he has lost the sight in that eye now though. Now about an hour ago I go out to feed them to find another goldfish with a chunk taken out of him, he is dead and I've uploaded a photo of him. I'm gutted
I just don't know what's happening to them.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Sounds like you have a hungry turtle in your pond.

 

[Momoko]

No there is no turtles here, I'm in the uk.

 

[Momoko]

Possible animals that can attack fish here are herons, foxes, maybe a grass snake.
But my pond is very protected, it would be difficult for a heron to get close enough and I have a net over the pond too.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

The injuries you described could not be caused by any bird. Thee are bite injuries. The offending creature must be fairly small considering the sizes of the wounds.
Do these injuries have clean-cut edges or are they somewhat ragged.
I did not know that their were no turtles in the UK.

 

[Momoko]

Yes I was afraid someone would say a bite as that's what I feel they look like too.
Sorry we do have turtles but definitely not any wild and living in the pond.
I was thinking about draining a lot of the water, to check nothing nasty was living in there, if I can't find anything then I will seal the net securely all the way around in case I have a snake or something taking a fancy to some fish.

 

[Usman]

do u think there can b any wild fish in ur pond? Came from water or somewhere ?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

It is not a snake. Snakes do not bite off chunks of flesh. They swallow their prey whole. Your described injuries are caused by a small carnivorous animal or a turtle.

 

[Momoko]

A rat maybe?

 

[Faebinder]

The picture is showing a bite mark. Something is able to swim in and bite the fish... Are there otters in the UK? Racoons? How deep is your pond? You need a camera over the pond, that will help you figure this out.

If you got shelves then maybe a cat in the shelf.

 

[Momoko]

We have otters, but they are not overly common where I live as I'm in a very built up area, not actually too much wildlife here, a few wild birds, mainly bloody seagulls, foxes. My neighbour has a very lazy cat, but as I have high 6ft fences all around my garden, he doesn't come in.
A family member has a wildlife camera that takes video and photos when movement is detected and it has night vision too, she is going to lend me it, so I can find out whys going on.

 

[Usman]

But what can u do to save ur precious fish until then?how big iw ur pond? May b hv mosquito net for few expensive ones protection before they r bitten

 

[Mmathis]

A few questions, but it does sound like something is biting chucks....

• What size is your pond?
• How many and what sizes are your fish?
• Do you have any rocks either in the pond or along the edges?
• Were there any signs of [even] minor injuries prior to these most recent events?
• When you say, "well protected," can you be a little more descriptive?

The wildlife camera is a great idea! Catch "it" in the act. We recently had a member with the same problem and he put out a humane trap -- caught a raccoon, if I remember right.

And please, post a picture of your pond, as well!!

 

[mondotomhead]

What about a frog? I actually saw a bull frog grab one of my goldfish and between the thrashing of the goldfish and the frog chopping down, my fish had a horrific injury.

 

[Faebinder]

What about a frog? I actually saw a bull frog grab one of my goldfish and between the thrashing of the goldfish and the frog chopping down, my fish had a horrific injury.

You got big bullfrogs?