spawning madness

[JenH]

I think my fish are spawning. I'm not real sure since I'm new to this whole thing. But they are chasing like crazy and some of my bigger ones are getting pounced on by 2 or three others at a time. Its been going on since yesterday. This morning they didn't even seem interested in stopping to eat some of the food I tossed in. They seem to be pretty rough about it and I noticed on a couple of my goldfish where their sides look white like their orange was rubbed off or something. Also noticed this morning that one of the new koi seems to be getting involved in the chasing. I'm worried about them hurting themselves, especially after seeing the sides on a couple of them. Yesterday evening almost all of them were trying to climb my waterfall. It was quite a sight, and while some of them made it up a few inches the water just rushed them back down. Is there anything I should do to help keep them from getting hurt? Or should I just sit back and let nature run its course?

Also does spawning effect the water chemistry? I had my water tested yesterday and had all good readings, lots of zeros. This morning though my pond is looking a little greenish (but still looks clear when i put some in a glass. Not surehow I could end up with an algae bloom if my nitrites and nitrates are both zero. Doesn't algae need nutrients to grow? I don't know my water temperature, although can't imagine its too warm. Its still been lower 40's and 30's at night here and only 60 or so during the day. And it did rain pretty good last night. One of the twins shattered my floating thermometer, and when I went to get another one they were out of stock. Here's some pics of the water, I'd add a video of the fish too, but I don't know how to attach videos. It sure was entertaining watching them try to swim up the waterfall though....

 

[addy1]

Mine spawned today, slamming into each other, jumping up on plants, chasing. The herd following and eating the eggs as fast as they laid them Not much plant coverage yet to protect the eggs.

 

[JenH]

I haven't seen any eggs yet, but then again I could probably look right at them and not know I'm looking at something! There really aren't any plants for the eggs to go either in mine. I have the one corkscrew rush in there and a water lilly that isn't growing any leaves. So it's pretty much all rocks in there. Guess that means there won't be any babies making it from this round.....

I don't know what the deal is today but my water just keeps looking worse and worse as the day goes by. Not sure if it was the rain and the fact that it is unbelievably windy, I haven't checked the weather, but I bet the winds are at least 40mph. Maybe a lot of dirt is getting blown in keeping it looking so bad.....

 

[koiguy1969]

make some spawn mops if your looking to have some babies.

 

[DrCase]

I just toss in some fresh evergreen limbs off some of my plants

 

[JenH]

I thought I read somewhere that they spawn several times a year? Is that correct? If so I will probably just let nature take it's course, and maybe next time around the plants will have had more time to grow. It isn't like I need anymore fish at this point. If they all live long lives, and grow big, I may find myself overstocked eventually anyway with 3 koi and 22 goldies.

 

[rebelangel_3733]

my new fish I just got I noticed that after being aquainted with their new home were up and "at" it chasing my one white fish (well two were chasing I assume a her all over anyway) she (I assume) was trying to jump up my waterfall! Guess I'll find out huh...I do have my hardy lilies in and growing nicely for that matter...time will tell I guess huh

 

[rebelangel_3733]

Oh any ya here in nebraska it's been windy as h e double toothpicks! Not to mention the torential rains we had twicet his week...might be why my pond isn't looking as clear as it did last year

 

[JenH]

The wind sure made my pond look like crap today! after the wind finally died down and my bog had a chance to catch up it looks much better, just like it usually is! I'm hoping once we get the lanscaping done, mulch down, and my little skimmer in there wind won't have such a big effect anymore!

 

[fishin4cars]

Jen, It's quite common for water to cloud up after a heavy spawning. It's usually very short and clears in a few days. Green water however is algae growth. spawning cloudiness is more milky and and white or creamy colored.
We moved all our Koi from the old house last week. took a pump over to the old house and was pumping the water out to remove the liner. Got down to the last 2-3" of water and what do i find/ About 10,000-20,000 fry! Seriously there are so many fry that they are forming a cloud in the pond. I stopped pumping water out and we had a good rain that refilled the water in the pond to about 10" deep. I think I'm going to leave them alone for at least another week and start the brine shrimp hatcheries here and try and move over at least a few to raise myself. This is probably the largest spawn of fry I've ever had the chance to raise and I was totally caught of guard this year. last year I had everything ready and no fry, this is nothing ready and LOTS of fry. One day maybe I'll get it together at the same time....lol

 

[j.w]

What a surprise to find all those babies! I hope you can save some to raise.

 

[koiguy1969]

fishin...i know that feeling...last year i moved my fish out on a sunday...monday morning is garbage pickup. i decided to throw out my spawning mops and make new ones. guess what happened that very morning .....yep! unprepaired. no biggy tho!

 

[JenH]

Wow! That is a lot of babies! See I just have no means to even try to take care of the babies like that. Who knows maybe some will make it. Last year 2 babies made it and I never even knew they were spawning. Now those little guys are about 2" long, one is black and the other one is orange and white with few black specks. Good luck raising all of them, Fishin!

 

[JenH]

Oh the water seems to be more brownish now. I think because the area is in full sun, when the sun is right on it it gives it a greenish tint, but it's definitely brown when the sun is behind a cloud. I think the wind yesterday blew in a bunch of dirt our soil is clay, but we brought in a bunch of soil last year to build up the upper portion. That soil was a black, brown and peat mix. Not sure how to get rid of that, I've used that AccuClear stuff in the past and think it is useless, and I'm not sure the Microbe-Lift PL I ordered will fix that. I'm also not sure how to calculate how many gallons I have accurately, with all the rock in there and also with the bog too.......

 

[lovinglife]

If you have that many goldies, my guess is you will be overrun with goldies later. I don't how big your goldies are, but if not this year, next year you will be looking for ways to thin down the herd.... I had to drain my pond twice trying to catch all the gold fish. Those tiny babies can stay alive the longest time in mud, just when you think you got them all and refill the pond, you see you missed some.....and the cycle starts again.... When we drained our pond, we started the water hose and timed how long it took to fill up a five gallon bucket, then we timed how long the water took to fill the pond and that is how we figured our pond is between 5000 - 6000 gallons. We had the numbers down closer, I just forgot...

I would LOVE to have Koi fry though....