Pump died...so did my koi

[brandonsdad02]

I have 2 circuits ran down to my pond, and have a pump on each circuit. We left to go on vacation the first week in August..We had a very hot summer so I was a bit worried about my pond as I have been keeping a very close eye on the water temp. Our first night gone my neighbor calls me to let me know that one of the pumps seemed to be making a weird chatter noise. I told him it was prolly just a small rock in the impeller and it would pass. We we came back a week later and I went to check on the pond the next day. It seems that the pump that was making the noise had stopped. The rock got jammed in the impeller and it froze. The pump was still submerged in the water so it didn't burn up. I took the pump apart, cleared the rock, made some changes to the pump intake and the enclosure. Pump is still running strong.

That really sucks about your loss. Those were some big koi.

 

[Johnnie]

I have 2 circuits ran down to my pond, and have a pump on each circuit. We left to go on vacation the first week in August..We had a very hot summer so I was a bit worried about my pond as I have been keeping a very close eye on the water temp. Our first night gone my neighbor calls me to let me know that one of the pumps seemed to be making a weird chatter noise. I told him it was prolly just a small rock in the impeller and it would pass. We we came back a week later and I went to check on the pond the next day. It seems that the pump that was making the noise had stopped. The rock got jammed in the impeller and it froze. The pump was still submerged in the water so it didn't burn up. I took the pump apart, cleared the rock, made some changes to the pump intake and the enclosure. Pump is still running strong.

That really sucks about your loss. Those were some big koi.

It's great that you're handy & that your pump's repairable. My 3-month-old pump just went dead. I just returned it for a new one. I'll use it as a stand-by pump later.

 

[Craig58]

Yeah Johnnie, I would say you have had a run of bad luck. I know the feeling about about having trees coming down. I've lost three in the past two years.

Given your fish size and the pond size, I'd definitely say it was an O2 issue Johnnie.

Here's a chart of koi stocking: http://www.koiandpon...ockingtable.htm

For a 7x7x 3 pond (1100 gallons) the koi stocking levels by the two measures
By volume: 100"
By Surface Area: 50"

You had 7 fish at 15-20" I think? That's at least 105" - 140"
Your fish out grew the pond and the fountain was obviously doing a great job of keeping the O2 levels at high levels. When it died, the O2 levels probably were not high enough to keep such large Koi alive. Had the pump went down in the fall with cooler temps or early spring, you might have lucked out. But the water probably wasn't cool enough yet in Sepember.

With the new fish, you might want to think about the future. In a few years you might be at the same risk level again. You might want to plan a bigger pond or think about adding a more elaborate filtration system on the existing pond which could get you up to about 150" - 170" range. There are some really elaborate systems used by the "elitist" koi keepers that could probably keep 50-60 large koi in 1100 gallons. But that is kind of over kill and I think a bit inhumane. But you mihgt be able to find some more reasonably priced systems you can do or maybe build.

Craig

 

[icerabbit]

Life is a learning experience and a big long test, whether it's ice storms, hurricanes, floods, ... Wherever there are trees, branches and trees will come down. Wherever there's winter you'll some freak storm affecting you in some way. Etc.

Don't be discouraged to keep a pond.

My small pond drained one time while away for two days when the return hose was moved slightly. I installed a float switch on the big pump to prevent the pond from draining again, but to prevent issues with that pump being turned off, for instance with evaporation in the summer; I installed a smaller pump for continuous circulation - elevated off the ground - and added a small aerator. Personally I'd look into having a backup system in place. add a smaller backup pump + aerator route

 

[Johnnie]

Life is a learning experience and a big long test, whether it's ice storms, hurricanes, floods, ... Wherever there are trees, branches and trees will come down. Wherever there's winter you'll some freak storm affecting you in some way. Etc.

Don't be discouraged to keep a pond.

My small pond drained one time while away for two days when the return hose was moved slightly. I installed a float switch on the big pump to prevent the pond from draining again, but to prevent issues with that pump being turned off, for instance with evaporation in the summer; I installed a smaller pump for continuous circulation - elevated off the ground - and added a small aerator. Personally I'd look into having a backup system in place. add a smaller backup pump + aerator route

Discouraged? Not me; however, I will discourge others guys from ponding. Reasons are:

1) expensive hobby,
2) time consuming, i.e., hours per week in cleaning filters & miscellanous netting & upkeeping, &
3) high mortality rate for koi, i.e., killed by racoons, or dead pump, or blackouts due to heatwaves, etc...

Yeah Johnnie, I would say you have had a run of bad luck. I know the feeling about about having trees coming down. I've lost three in the past two years.

Given your fish size and the pond size, I'd definitely say it was an O2 issue Johnnie.

Here's a chart of koi stocking: http://www.koiandpon...ockingtable.htm

For a 7x7x 3 pond (1100 gallons) the koi stocking levels by the two measures
By volume: 100"
By Surface Area: 50"

You had 7 fish at 15-20" I think? That's at least 105" - 140"
Your fish out grew the pond and the fountain was obviously doing a great job of keeping the O2 levels at high levels. When it died, the O2 levels probably were not high enough to keep such large Koi alive. Had the pump went down in the fall with cooler temps or early spring, you might have lucked out. But the water probably wasn't cool enough yet in Sepember.

With the new fish, you might want to think about the future. In a few years you might be at the same risk level again. You might want to plan a bigger pond or think about adding a more elaborate filtration system on the existing pond which could get you up to about 150" - 170" range. There are some really elaborate systems used by the "elitist" koi keepers that could probably keep 50-60 large koi in 1100 gallons. But that is kind of over kill and I think a bit inhumane. But you mihgt be able to find some more reasonably priced systems you can do or maybe build.

Craig

Craig, thanks for your above reply. Hey can you guys recommend me an everlasting pump? Don't laugh. I do have an everlasting basement-sump-pump which has been functioning eversince 1965.

 

[Craig58]

http://www.performan...tesian_home.htm

Artesian pumps aren't cheap. But when they last 15-20 years the cost per year is I believe reasonable. I don't know if they are everlasting but I'm to about 12 years on mine and I know pond club keepers with 20 on theirs.

I'm sorry you would discourage others from ponding. There can be a high entry cost I agree depending on what you want. But if designed right with the right filtration and pond balance, the daily maintainance should be almost nil. My wife and I usually spend about 1/2 - 1 day (depends on how many plants we decide to repot) in the spring to open the pond, and about a 1/2 day to close the pond in the fall when we do a large water change and bring babies in for the winter. During the season we backflush the filter and clean the basket strainer once a week, about ten minutes. No pads or anythiing to wash. That is really the limit of what we do. UV bulbs are changed every two years.

My wife will use a skimming net once or twice a week when she's out by the pond feeding the fish and net out the stray leaf and such. And on a weekly basis she'll pinch off dead leaves and lilly blooms on the 3-5 lillies we have each year.

That's it. Really. Very few fish deaths over the years. One 14 yr old Koi that I know of that died during the winter. And one butterfly Koi that just totally disappeared, (we think stolen). One of our dogs taste tested a goldfish once. Spit it out and didn't like it but it was too late for the goldfish. We have probably given away over 500 fish from our pond to fellow club members in the past 10 yrs. One year we had over 130 koi we had to get rid of. Found a local pond store to take them for some store credit. One year a bunch went to the Japanese House in Fairmont Park in Philly. Catching and giving away fish each year is probably our biggest headache.

Other than that... we really don't do much except sit by it, feed the fish, and drink wine and beer. :0000000057: :beerchug:

I hate yard work. If I had my choice, the whole yard would be one big formal Koi pond!

Craig

 

[addy1]

I spend (during the summer) minimal time, maybe every now and then check the skimmer basket, leaf basket ow ignore it completely. The lilies take the time in my pond care. I do argue with the heron, lots of fun!

Winter shutdown, summer start up, maybe 1/2 a day, net the bottom, remove or add the pump. Easy! lol

I set mine up to take as little care as possible.

 

[Dave 54]

As a newbie here but a koi keeper for twenty six years now my heart goes out to you!!!.....
Dont however give up because of this start again.......

rgrds

Dave

 

[icerabbit]

I consider a pond just part of gardening in general. Some people like gardening, some people don't. It is a healthy work of love, and to me easier and less expensive than keeping an aquarium going.
Beyond initial install cost, the ponds I've worked on or owned only had nominal ongoing cost.
The big ponds my family has, see maybe a couple days worth of work total per year. Collecting some of the dead stuff. They run without a pump now and do fine. Lots of plants for the fish to feed on, only infrequent feeding. Every 10 years or so a total shut down, dividing of plants, wash out of the bottom.
My small ponds up north have taken half a day in the spring to set up, minimal ongoing maintenance besides washing out the filter, then in the fall a bit of a struggle to keep leaves out as it is right underneath a maturing maple tree. But, shut down is only a matter of taking the fish out, unplugging everything and washing it all in the spring.
My pond/water feature in progress will have minimal ongoing maintenance. Fill it in the spring. Drain it at the beginning of winter.
Next year's pond & waterfall will be a different matter, I think, as it is sited on a hillside under a few different tree species. So, from August through October I'll probably be fighting birch leaves, pine needles, etc Half a day to shut down in the fall. Suck it all out in the spring and give it a clean start. No different really than having a pool. Which we also have. It takes a few hours to start up and shut down. Ongoing maintenance I keep in check with a pool robot. Chemicals as needed. I don't heat it as that's just money going up in smoke. Leaves are a bit of a problem this time of year with all the trees shedding like mad. But as a whole I spend maybe an hour to hour and a half avg'd working on the pool. Either that and doing it myself or paying $50/wk for somebody to take care of the pool for me, $300 to open it and shut it down, etc.
But, having something to enjoy, whether it is a pool to swim in, a pond to relax at, ... is worth it to me.

 

[jhenkel]

Shalom - Cost of ponding can be high if you get into fancy things - like me and the waterwheel and a new pump house with switched outlets, or it can be just a simple endeavor. But since I don't golf, etc, the whole family can enjoy the pond, we eat at the gazebo by the pond, enjoy the "caffine" and since I like to tinker, I'm normally doing somnething at the pond - good tension and stress reliever so in that case what's the value of the pond? I've seen people buy expensive furniture, etc., so what's the value of that? Granted, I've asked myself "why" and you know, it's something, to me, to be able to say "I built the grits mill - that's what we call the waterwheel feature, and pump house that I built from scratch via trial and error.

Now I'm going to make a hose/nozzle that I can use to clean the pond via a 1" branch from the pump line for cleaning the pond. I enjoy going to the pump house, fllip a switch and the aereator pump runs.

If we go away for a whiile, I have someone check the pond if the main pump dies, they only have to trun/off a switch and change the position of 2 valves, or just turn on the aereator pump until we return.

I enjoy getting land annuals/perennials and planting them to see what I can grow in batting and pea gravel

Just a tought or my "take" on ponding

thanks,
McKool

 

[Johnnie]

A note to my cyber-file

Stats for the 6 goners:

1) Pinkie: 18 inches & 7 pounds.
2) Long-Legs: 18 inches & 7 pounds.
3) Goldie-Dots: 16 inches & 5 pounds.
4) Tommie: 18 inches & 6 pounds.
5) BullDozer: 18 inches & 7 pounds.
6) Cooler: 21 inches & 10 pounds.

DOB: circa 4th of July, 2004
DOD: circa 28th of September 2012.

 

[Dave 54]

Johnnie It's hard for us all when we get a loss of just one koi but to loose 6 in one go like hat must be heart rending to say the very least,
Two of our koi are now 26 years old others have been with us for a shorter while counting down from 15 to just 1 year old.
In the last 26 years weve lost a drand total of eight which is a good track record most came down with tumours so had to be put to sleep two jumped from pond and were found dead .
Try to maintain your equipment on a regular basis especially the pump checking the impellor is working and depending on which you use if the filter doesnt become blocked this should then give you an early warning that thigs arent right with your equipment .
It should negate the problem that caused the death of so many nice koi .

Dave

 

[bobsox]

Hi: I am in upstate NY and I shut the pump and filter down every year around this time when the water temp falls into the 3o's and I stop feeding them anything. I shut everything down and blow out the lines etc and leave it like that till spring when the water temp gets up to 40 deg or higher and I start feeding them the spring & fall food. I put in a pond heater to keep an opening in top of pond for the winter. I have never lost any fish doing this process for a few years. Got about 50 or 60 different sizes of goldfish and a couple shubunkins. The pond is about 10' X 15' and about 3 1/2 ' deep (about 2500 gals).

 

[callingcolleen1]

This is why I have so many different pumps doing different things, and three large connecting ponds that free flow the water back down, never want to see this happen to my pond. I also hate to leave town for more than a day, just so I can always keep an eye on the ponds. I don't even actually know the weight of my two biggest koi cause I have never put them on a scale, but seening yours is so tragic. There mouths appear open, wondering if they suffocated? I also had trees fall in my top pond one year, that also was a big mess to clean, pond was fine.

Best of luck in the future! Hope those little ones grow fast and help you forget your horrible loss.

 

[dieselplower]

Sorry about your fish man. Were you able to determine what failed on the pump? Probably the motor i suppose... i was just wondering if they may have been electrocuted?