My fish are acting skittish and won't eat after I cleaned the pond.

[JohnHuff]

Hi:
1) Filter. May I suggest again the pre-filter that I posted previously? You can add that in place of the intake you have. Alternatively, you can put some filter material in the cage you have. Ask your store to see what they have. This is for filtering solids. For a bio-filter, you already have a long waterfall. I'd just add gravel there. A lot/some people might disagree on that, so that's just me wanting a natural bio-filter to go with what you have.
2) Don't add any more fish for now. More fish means more waste products.
3) The green is fine, it's algae and they will help get rid of the waste products. The pre-filter will get rid of it, at least in my pond it does.
4) 50% is a lot, imagine changing 50% of your environment. Do smaller changes, I'd do 30% max.

 

[Arielle]

Something similar happened to my koi fish this weekend,I pulled out all the plants around the pond especially the crawling plants on the side around the pond,I did not changed the water,but my koi fish are very skittish and refused to eat their foods,they are hiding in the bottom,they refused to come out when they see anybody coming close to the pond, I dont know what is causing this behavior,I hope they dont die from starvation

 

[Mmathis]

@Arielle This is a very old thread. Why not go over to our “introductions“ topic and tell us about yourself and your pond.

 

[Lisak1]

It’s called “self preservation”. You’ve changed their environment and now they need time to make sure things are safe. Starve to death? No.

And please do go start an intro thread!