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They breed well and a lot so don't get too many. Pick out real pretty ones, with long fins if you can.
So, I bought a house with a koi pond...
- Thread starter Casbah
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Casbah
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The guy giving away the Comets had about 20 and insisted I take them all. Before I had a chance to cull them, my son took the initiative to introduce them to their new home.
So I ended up draining the pond again, mucking again, moreso to have a better chance to catch all those little fast-swimming, rock hiding, boogers!
But, I ended up with 4 new long fin reds, 2 new whites, and a red/white 2 color.
Oh, and if there was a Guinness World Record for crap in a pond, I'd own it.
Welcome welcome! What a lovely pond!
As has already been said patience is your best friend right now. You get out the excess organic material and let the pond do the rest. Remember - your goal is pond, not swimming pool. That brownish tint you mentioned is likely tannin staining from the organic material in the pond. That's perfectly normal. Any algae growth that you get is doing it's part to help clear things up, so let that progress as it will. If you get an excess of the long stringy stuff you can pull that out by hand, but again - it's not a problem. It's an assistant in the process.
Stay the course - no additives, no chemicals, and you'll be fine. (I probably would have said no new fish, but that ship has already sailed, so...). Oh and stop emptying the pond - every time you start over with fresh water it's a reboot. (Although I saw you were pumping into and out of a pool at one point - maybe that's what you meant when you said you drained it.)
As has already been said patience is your best friend right now. You get out the excess organic material and let the pond do the rest. Remember - your goal is pond, not swimming pool. That brownish tint you mentioned is likely tannin staining from the organic material in the pond. That's perfectly normal. Any algae growth that you get is doing it's part to help clear things up, so let that progress as it will. If you get an excess of the long stringy stuff you can pull that out by hand, but again - it's not a problem. It's an assistant in the process.
Stay the course - no additives, no chemicals, and you'll be fine. (I probably would have said no new fish, but that ship has already sailed, so...). Oh and stop emptying the pond - every time you start over with fresh water it's a reboot. (Although I saw you were pumping into and out of a pool at one point - maybe that's what you meant when you said you drained it.)
Casbah
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Well...I feel like an idiot.
So I continue to pull copious amounts of material out of my pond and for the life of me couldn't figure it out. It dawned on me as to why when I saw a bare-root Iris floating in the pond this morning.
None of the plants in the pond are potted. They are all connected on a floating mat of peat from the 5+ years of leaf-litter that had accumulated in the pond. As I've been running the pump, the waterflow has slowly eroded these mats and causing all the debris. It's why the Iris was detached from it's bunch.
I have more work ahead of me. I gotta get these in pots, right?
So I continue to pull copious amounts of material out of my pond and for the life of me couldn't figure it out. It dawned on me as to why when I saw a bare-root Iris floating in the pond this morning.
None of the plants in the pond are potted. They are all connected on a floating mat of peat from the 5+ years of leaf-litter that had accumulated in the pond. As I've been running the pump, the waterflow has slowly eroded these mats and causing all the debris. It's why the Iris was detached from it's bunch.
I have more work ahead of me. I gotta get these in pots, right?
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You don't need them in pots but it makes it easier to control them.
Casbah
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My continuing saga fighting the muck...
I decided to pull the remaining plants from my inherited pond and am now I'm convinced I've found the source of my muck issue. Clouds of organic haze mushroomed from the 200+ lbs of plant material I pulled from the pond. I've left a few stubborn Irises but otherwise the pond is clear of the floating peat.
I've saved most of the plants in bins and will replant them in pots on shelves that were inspired by Jimmie Gibson.
I've also replanted some pretty lilatrope I found growing in the low-canopy jungle behind the pond, and pruned back a trash-tree to get some more sunlight on the pond and expand the growth area.
I now feel like I'm making progress....
Pictures are of the pond naked, plants I pulled in bins, different angle of naked pond, the lilatrope, and the shrubbery trimmed to allow more light on the pond.
I decided to pull the remaining plants from my inherited pond and am now I'm convinced I've found the source of my muck issue. Clouds of organic haze mushroomed from the 200+ lbs of plant material I pulled from the pond. I've left a few stubborn Irises but otherwise the pond is clear of the floating peat.
I've saved most of the plants in bins and will replant them in pots on shelves that were inspired by Jimmie Gibson.
I've also replanted some pretty lilatrope I found growing in the low-canopy jungle behind the pond, and pruned back a trash-tree to get some more sunlight on the pond and expand the growth area.
I now feel like I'm making progress....
Pictures are of the pond naked, plants I pulled in bins, different angle of naked pond, the lilatrope, and the shrubbery trimmed to allow more light on the pond.
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Very nice pond!
Casbah
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Update... I feel like I'm on the right track.
There's lots less heavy debris coming out of the filters now, and it's the finer filter that's requiring a change. I have to change/clean the filter media about every 5 hours of runtime now but that's only because I'm stirring up and filtering as much as I can before the 3rd muckout coming this weekend. The water clarity is slowly improving to where I can see the 3' bottom but still has that tannin tint. As expected the algae has started to show, but I'll just worry about that later.
I lost some fish from the new brood of Comets that were given to me, 2 found their demise in the skimmer box and 3 have just disappeared. I got their replacements recently which are four little 2" fancy-tailed red/white beauties. They've started to interact with the bigger fish and are absolutely adorable. I did a little research and earlier I had characterized 3 of the fish I have as "white" when in fact they're considered "pinkies". Skin so translucent you can see the pink from their blood/muscles. The internet says these are undesirable. Not able to understand the why, but if I should do something please tell me as I'll have the opportunity to cull this weekend.
I have a plan for the plants to go back in and it involves a lot of duct-tape.
There's lots less heavy debris coming out of the filters now, and it's the finer filter that's requiring a change. I have to change/clean the filter media about every 5 hours of runtime now but that's only because I'm stirring up and filtering as much as I can before the 3rd muckout coming this weekend. The water clarity is slowly improving to where I can see the 3' bottom but still has that tannin tint. As expected the algae has started to show, but I'll just worry about that later.
I lost some fish from the new brood of Comets that were given to me, 2 found their demise in the skimmer box and 3 have just disappeared. I got their replacements recently which are four little 2" fancy-tailed red/white beauties. They've started to interact with the bigger fish and are absolutely adorable. I did a little research and earlier I had characterized 3 of the fish I have as "white" when in fact they're considered "pinkies". Skin so translucent you can see the pink from their blood/muscles. The internet says these are undesirable. Not able to understand the why, but if I should do something please tell me as I'll have the opportunity to cull this weekend.
I have a plan for the plants to go back in and it involves a lot of duct-tape.
j.w
I Love my Goldies
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I love my pink/white or yellowish goldfish. They show up nice in the pond. I never cull anything, just enjoy them all the way they are. Darkish goldfish can turn to oj eventually also. Mine have stayed blackish or gray and then after a few yrs just turn oj or white. Love the goldfish w/the long flowing tails also.
Casbah
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One of the pinkies has the long flowing tails, has a lot of personality, and was a survivor of the neglected pond. He's not going anywhere out of respect if nothing else. The other two pinks were freebies and are short-tails so I'm not sure what to do with them. The black one is a short-tail but a survivor too. He'll stick around. There's a couple other plain-tailed reds to deal with too.
I'd love to keep them all but from what I've read they readily reproduce so I'd like to keep the gene pool as desirable as I can.
j.w
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If you don't want some of them prolly somebody else not far from you has a pond that would love to have them. We have a site here called: https://nextdoor.com and think that site is around the country in most neighborhoods. Also there is Craigslist. I got some of my oj w/white ones free on a site called Freecycle.com
They look kinda like some of these.
They look kinda like some of these.
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What a great pond!! You will love working on it and will so enjoy your fishys......
Casbah
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And BAM!! They're gone. Thanks for that rec! I'm still getting messages about the fish. Two pinks and a red are headed to a new home.
Today was Muck Day!
As before, I pumped about 80% of the pond into a swimming pool, and pulled all the material I could out of the rocks where the plants were. Rinse, muck, rinse, muck, rinse muck...good times. With all the plants removed it's easy to see there's no way to get all the pockets of organic material without pulling all the rocks. I broke out the shop-vac this time for the last 2 inches or so and it surely was more effective than bailing. Whatever the result, I'm done doing this again until next spring.
I built the shelving using wire closet shelving like Jimmie, but slightly altered. I wedged the wall side of the shelf into the rocks and then footed the hanging edge in nursery pots with pea gravel and used electric fenceposts from Lowes. I set the depths to approximately 8" and 6" below the surface and I think they turned out pretty decent. I ran out of daylight and only got so far as refilling the pond and getting the filter going. So the plants to pots to pond is my challenge for tomorrow!