Novice looking for info

[GBBUDD]

Some fools start with an excavator and get carried away. I'm at the top of that list.

 

[CometKeith]

Hello! We recently moved into a house with a small patio pond that is home to a koi. Previous owners left some koi food and a couple of products, which we have used, but otherwise we’re flying blind. The water has become murky, and in the past week the water level has been dropping by about an inch a day. Husband has been replenishing it using hose water mixed with Stress Coat (apparently removes chlorine etc), but we are wondering if we have a leak and, if so, how to keep the koi safe while we address it. We are in Northern VA, in case anyone can recommend resources in this area…I did try contacting a few pond businesses that I found through a Google search, but they seem only to deal with larger-scale ponds. Any advice would be greatly appreciated…thank you in advance!

Hi and welcome! I would guess you are losing water by evaporation. You have a very large surface area of rock with water running over it relative to the size of your pond and that is causing the issue. Totally agree with above comments. A few small goldfish would make more sense than a Koi. Re buying goldfish don’t be tempted by the cheap feeder fish you see in pet stores that sell for under a dollar. They are usually stressed out and can carry disease because of how they are handled. I would suggest you get a few nice shubunkins or comets for your pond and they will work out much better. Don’t buy too many because goldfish like to have lots of babies! Good luck!