Holding place for fish while pond is reconstructed

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Well it looks like we are going to finally be able to begin redigging our pond to go from 800 gallons to approximately 4,000 this week if the weather holds. We have a large and long cooler that I was planning to place our eight fish in with a pump while we are constructing the pond. My question is if I should be concerned about the length of time the fish are kept there while this is going on as I don't know if they will become stressed? I don't think it should take more than two or three days if the weather holds, but may take up to five or six if we have to stop and start again. I would hate to have had them survive the Egret and to end up loosing them to stress from being held in a cooler for too long.
 

sissy

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I had my fish in a big holding tank to redo my pond and because the 2 koi were over 2 ft long I could tell the whole thing stressed them out .I used the water from the pond and one of the filters from the pond for each tank and put the tanks in shade but with some sun since it was high summer here with temps in the 100 degree mark .My liner was destroyed by a neighbor dog so I had no choice .You could be into breeding time also and they may try to jump out and I put screening on top of the 300 gallon tank and the 250 gallon tank .I had to use 2 tanks .I could see by the actions they were stressed .I have well water and it took me 4 days to redo the pond by myself and that was working night and day .The old liner was a bear to get out because it was sucked tight to the clay soil .I also dug the pond deeper then .So size depends on there stress level .Goldies seem to take it better than the koi .My goldies are any where then from 8 inches and up .
 
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Well I'm glad to hear that they handle it better than the koi since I only have goldfish. I really won't have a choice as to how long they are in there of course, but just will worry about them. I don't have much in the way of shade in the back yard and that gets the worst of the heat during the day. I will definitely use the pond water and we have the netting to secure over the container that we bought after the egret incident. I cannot wait to get this new pond started and I will post photos of it's progress along the way. Very exciting and I'm sure my fish will be happy with a much larger home. My largest is about 9" and then go down from there to about 3". They still hide away alot of the day but they do seem to be coming out more as time passes. Thanks as always for your imput Sissy.
 
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Thanks HTH...I certainly will! They are pretty small really ...averaging about 5". I plan to add a few larger ones once its rebuilt.
 

sissy

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Get a patio umbrella to shade them .Or even just a couple of regular umbrellas you can some how put up over the pond the cooler they are the better but put screening over the top so they do not jump out .I kiddie pool even works as long as you put a screen on top .I use window screening all the time it is cheap and easy to use .Use your pond water in the tank and when you put them back use the same pond water .If you don't have well water you may need to treat the water .I used the filter from my pond and just set it up on a table made of wood and concrete block on top to bring it up to the height i needed .plenty of quilt batting also and tested the water every day .
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Well good grief...I actually have an umbrella that I use to shade the pond....so duh on me! Hate to say this but I've never tested the water in the six or seven years we've had the pond and now I'd feel like I'd be jinxing myself to start now since we've pretty much been problem free. We aren't on well water, so I always add water prime to get rid of the cholrine anytime I add water. I think I used pond start when the second time we dug the pond since it's was all new and will probably do that this time as well.
 

sissy

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can understand that as i don't test my pond much but it is established and storage tank is just temporary .Being that is near breeding time they are shall we say hormonal :razz: After you get them back in the pond just test a couple of times .When i changed out my damaged liner I did notice big changes in water quality .I just put in more activated charcoal and crushed oyster shells in the filters to help buffer every thing until fish settled down .I didn't loose any of the fish so was happy I took extra care .Made it easier on me .Now I just test in the spring and fall and if I see something going on then I test .Most times you know your pond better than any one and know when something is not right .Then you take action
 
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Forgot to mention that we don't have a filter...just the bog and two pumps. Wish my fish would get busy in mating season..haven't had babies but one time and that was years ago after we removed the one Koi we had. I told my husband I want a waterfall this time..not a trickle of water over rocks so here's to hoping. He had me order a Cyclone Pond Pump. Says it's work in or out of the water. 5200 GPH with a 33 ft cord. Doesn't mean a whole lot to me, but the photo shows an spectacular waterfall!! We are going with the carpet under the pond liner idea as well and will use the liner we currently have for extra padding for rocks that I want to put in the pond's surface. Looking to only get rounded edged rocks so hopefully will lessen the chance that they will hurt themselves.
 

sissy

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geeze that is a big pump did he check wattage .I have 2 pumps one is 2400 gph and the other is 2150 .Easternkoi.com has a calculator Webbs online had laguna pump
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Well gosh I would sure hope he did! I will give him the website to do the calculations and hope it will work if he did't already make sure that it would.
 
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Can't get that easternkoi.com to come up
sissy said:
geeze that is a big pump did he check wattage .I have 2 pumps one is 2400 gph and the other is 2150 .Easternkoi.com has a calculator Webbs online had laguna pump
 

HTH

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I would treat the cooler like it is a new aquarium. Feed lightly maybe every other day. Check the ammonia. Have a 2nd container of water seasoned and ready to do the next water change. An air stone would be a good idea.

If you can run a sponge filter in your existing pond for a few weeks you can transfer it to the cooler.
 

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