Hi from Oregon

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Hi everyone!!
We bought our house in January of this year. There is an existing koi pond that has been pretty neglected and thus overrun with Himalayan blackberry and English ivy. The previous owner said he wanted to get some of the koi in the spring, and I'm thinking (after lurking here) that he should get 'em all and we should replace them with shubunkin. I don't know the size of the pond but it's decently large and quite shaded or will be when all the ornamental deciduous trees fill in. A lot of liner is showing and I'm excited to make it a bit more aesthetically pleasing. First of course is getting all those noxious weeds cleared out. I'm home all day but have a baby so I definitely can't get as much done as quickly as I like. I'm out in the garden every day during nap times!!
Anyway, this is lengthy but I will probably mainly be reading and learning from everyone! Thanks for sharing your expertise and experiences!!
 

JBtheExplorer

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Well, I've definitely made it known on these forums that I prefer Shubunkins and Comets over Koi any day. Koi can be beautiful mainly for their size but Shubunkins and Comets look just as nice and wont destroy plants, and you can fit more of them in the pond.

I'd love to see what your pond looks like. If you can post photos, please do!
 

addy1

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to our group! We will all be glad to give our opinions...........which can vary greatly! lol
 

sissy

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welcome and sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you could you post info about the pond any fish any filter are there pumps and how big and deep.Can you tell what shape the liner is in
 
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Hello! I am charging up the camera this morning and when the light gets better I will take some pictures.

Sissy: the liner seems(?) to be in fair shape although it doesn't hold water above a certain level. I'm hoping when the previous owner pick up the koi when can drain it and patch it. If memory serves, there is some sort of stock tank system for filtration is totally full of sediment. I don't know if this is normal. I will take pictures of all that. At a VERY rough guess I will say the pond is 10x5' and possibly 4 feet deep.

JB: my husband thinks we should stick with koi. His reasoning is that since its been neglected so long koi must be simple to deal with.

Hi addy, jw, mtpond and Becky!
 

sissy

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Sometimes it is better just to replace the liner unless you know how old it is and what is made of .You can ask the owner before when he comes to pick up fish .But the filter may need to be cleaned .Koi are fussy and can get large .I wish someone had told me that 11 years ago when I bought these tiny koi around 3 or 4 inches long that they would be 2 ft long 11 years later .You will need a liquid water test kit .Some fish get used to dirty water and some don't .Some I guess are just lucky .
 

addy1

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Agree sissy some koi seem to survive any sort of water, others.......watch out, one thing out of wack and they go wacky
 

slakker

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Welcome... We're just north of you in Vancouver BC. Just waiting to turn the waterfall on! This will be our first winter with a pond... is your pumps and pond on already?
 

sissy

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maybe it is like babies if they are used to noise the sleep through everything.I took apart a couple of koi ponds that the smell was so bad that you wanted to puke .There were koi in there that could barely move .No pump no filter on 1 for over 3 years .
 
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Well, I will have to get my husband to find the cord for the camera tonight. I spent some time yesterday and this morning clearing blackberries and got some pictures of area. While working out there I saw that there are a lot of mosquitos out there. The filter pops the water out at a high point and it trickles down an approx 4' stream into the pond. The stream is really densely plated with a sort of green, small-rosetted plant. I haven't been successful in identifying it via the internet yet. But the point is that I am 90% sure that is where the mosquitos are breeding. So I am thinking I need to clear some of those weedy plants to make water flow faster.

I am thinking you are right that the liner would be best replaced, because I found a few places where blackberries have grown through the liner. The koi are really pretty. Many of them are like foot long. Also I realized that I underestimated of the pond a lot. It's closer to 20x20' although I could only measure from one edge to a large semi centered clump of grass and wildly guess off of that.
All the equipment is on but I do need to clean the filter: it's pretty smelly. I am seriously loving all the info on here, and getting inspired by pictures.

Slakker: my aunt lives in Vancouver near Grouse Mountain: so beautiful!

Sissy and Addy: that's sort of the reason I want to switch to an easier type of fish. I would hate to not be taking care of koi correctly. The learning curve intimidating. Not that I'm lazy or don't care, just I have never had fish other than some neons in a small aquarium when I was younger and I'm pretty they died.

Sorry for the novel folks.
 

j.w

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You will enjoy having the Goldfish or Shubunkins and easy to care for and don't get huge and poop up your pond as much like the koi. They come in all the nice color patterns too.
 

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