Sad occasion, help needed

[Jaciena]

My pond of over 20 years and 1800 gallons is having issues. Lost 2 fish yesterday and 4 today... Recently had a problem about 2 months ago where the fish waste in the pond s 3 bArrel filter got flushed in the pond by accident. At the same time as a sudden ammonia spike ...so a full water change and filter cleaning was done. Most of the fish lived and were fine till now. These kind of things never happend before with my pond only more recently have things been going wrong, before it held roughly 20 koi no problems at all for over 9 years, now this...I'm at lose and need all the help I can get.

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our forum.

Can you post your water tests?

 

[MitchM]

Welcome!
Also, where are you located and can you post some pictures of your pond?

 

[sissy]

welcome but really you had 20 koi in 1800 gallons .Koi produce a lot of waste and need lots of oxygen .Do you have an aerator .The bigger they get the more waste and the more oxygen they need .What was the temps of the water and when you added water did you check the temps. of that .

 

[CometKeith]

Hi. i'm so sorry about your fish. It's not that unusual that as group of Koi grow they can suddenly produce too much waste for the pond to handle. We have had other posts from people with the same problem after having the pond 10 years or more with no issues. It was probably near the breaking point when the accident happened. There are calculations you can do to see the bioload the pond can handle, but without knowing a lot you have more than one full size Koi per hundred gallons which is not recommended no matter how good your filtration is.

 

[j.w]

@Jaciena Wondering if the full water change was too much of a shock for them. Water tests would be good to know as @addy1 stated. So sorry this happened!

 

[Tara]

Sorry about the loss of fish. With some help I hope things improve for you, I'm glad you are getting advice.

 

[Jaciena]

Now the pond has only one 7 inch koi and 7 goldfish of 7 inches max. The water temperature is a steady 76 . The last 3 years has been roughly 6 small koi and 5 goldfish also small. no problems till recently, will adding bacteria supplement from pet smart and the instant cleaning bacteria liquid pouch they offer help? I am in LA,California. Last water change was a full one 3 months ago along with the cleaning of the filter system. Fish didn t start dying till yesterday and this morning. The pond has a constant running waterfall for ariation. No signs of ammonia burns or anything , just sudden death.

 

[CometKeith]

Now the pond has only one 7 inch koi and 7 goldfish of 7 inches max. The water temperature is a steady 76 . The last 3 years has been roughly 6 small koi and 5 goldfish also small. no problems till recently, will adding bacteria supplement from pet smart and the instant cleaning bacteria liquid pouch they offer help? I am in LA,California. Last water change was a full one 3 months ago along with the cleaning of the filter system. Fish didn't start dying till yesterday and this morning. The pond has a constant running waterfall for aeration. No signs of ammonia burns or anything , just sudden death.

Hi. I'm guessing if there are sudden deaths there is not enough dissolved O2. The waterfall might not be enough. I would consider getting a good aerator. Did you find the fish dead in the morning? Overnight and early morning is when dissolved O2 is at the lowest. Also it makes sense that the biggest fish were most impacted because they need the most oxygen. Re additives..Personally I don't feel chemicals you buy do anything to help except for declor.

 

[MitchM]

Adding bacteria will not help.
The best thing you can do is measure and maintain good water quality.
Have you been doing that at all?

 

[Somethin' Fishy]

Hello @Jaciena, Welcome to the forum, and I'm sorry troubles have brought you here. Although these fine folks will offer plenty of good advice for you.

There could be several different reasons for the fish loss you have described... But what I would suggest is to STOP doing full water changes and completely cleaning out your pond. Each time you do that you are removing any good bacteria and disrupting the nitrogen cycle, which puts you back to square one every time. It can take weeks for the pond to recover, and the more fish you have in there, the more difficult that is.

Buying products from PetSmart would be a waste of time and $ I am afraid.

Instead, concentrate on allowing the natural bacteria to re-develop, do not stock more fish, and keep a consistent watch on water quality by testing it (pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate). Be aware that small increases in ammonia or nitrite, depending on pH and water temperature, are no need for major alarm. Only when those test results are excessive, should it warrant partial water changes, and maybe adding Pond Prime.

Good luck.

 

[Tula]

Welcome to the forum, but sorry for the reason

As others have already said, water quality is the most important thing.....in koi keeping there is even a saying that keep good water and the koi will keep themselves

Are your barrel filters sequential sand and gravel, or something else?