Thanks! Yea, rough weather around here, indeed. The more I've read posts on this forum, the more I think running 2 aerators + no de-icer/breather were big factors. It was a hard, sad lesson learned for this ponding newbie...
At least I can stop giving my dogs the stinkeye for knocking in those plants! I thought sure that's what killed the fish.
I'm not so sure - aerators do de-ice unless it's VERY cold, an even then, they tend to form a big bubble under the ice. My guess is all those koi really sucked up the O2.
Addy and others are right - comets and shubunkins are much easier to keep healthy and look just as stunning. After A few years, I added ONE koi for variety - he's now the floating pig of the pond.
As for the sludge, well that's a problem with rock bottoms - it's much harder to keep them clean because you can't just run a net and scoop out everything.
PS - never turn off your pump at night. Why would you want to?
