What are my Koi doing?

[UncleJoe900]

I am new to the Koi pond thing, but they have been doing very well so far. (I think)


Today there was a bunch of fish in our water feed channel. I've never seen them do this. Do like the cool water, is there not enough oxygen in the big pond?
Maybe spawning??

 

[Waterbug]

Hard to say not a lot of info. What are your water test results?

Do like the cool water.

Depends on how hot the pond is and how cold the source water is. Is the water feed channel from a pump or new water from a well or city water?

Is there not enough oxygen in the big pond?

Possible. Not sure how I'd know. Things like water tests, water temp, size of pond, what kinds of fish you have, number and size of fish, amount of food fed would allow for at least a guess.

Normally it isn't so much low O2 as poor water inhibiting the ability of fish to take in O2. Like being in a smoke filled room, still lots of O2, but the other chemicals inhibit our ability to take in O2 and we die.

Maybe spawning??

Possible, but probably not. If I'm to deduce from "Koi pond" that the fish are Koi (they look like goldfish in the pic), their ancestors lived in ditches and swam into fields when flooded, so they're drawn to current, especially when the chemical and temp is different. Some people call this spawning behavior, but not exactly. More accurate imo to say these conditions can induce spawning, although the source water would normally be warmer.

 

[sissy]

well if you are in NY your water can't be to warm yet and thats a lot of fish how big is your pond .They could be males chasing the females who are trying to get away .I would really be concerned about them jumping out .Is there a lot of decomposing plant matter in your pond on the bottom or just from your plants (meaning hanging off in the water rotting .That takes oxygen out of the water real fast .could they also be after tadpoles to eat them .My fis have gone into the waterfall after tadpoles .A treat to them better than food .A frog could have laid eggs there also and they could be getting the eggs or even a bunch of bugs there ,something tasty to them anyway

 

[UncleJoe900]

The pond is probably 75 ft by 35 ft and at least 5 feet deep in the middle.
The inlet is fed from another small pond about 100 yards away, it is all rain runoff.
I don't think vegetation is consuming all the O2 is a problem, but I will check it.
I am going to see if anyone near us sells test kits.
Could there be too many fish in there?
The tadpole idea could be acurate, we have lots of frogs.

We have at least 7 of the Koi that are between 12 - 16 inches.
I'm new to the pond thing. The plastic Heron worked for about 2 weeks, then we realized we had 2 heron visiting us regularly.
What was really cool was ice skating this winter on the pond with my kids and being able to see the Koi slowly swimming underneath us.

 

[UncleJoe900]

a pic from a few weeks ago during feeding time

 

[sissy]

It could be that frog eggs are there or mosquito larve could be there .Frogs lay alot of there eggs in shallow spots and in and around plants .You should take a close look in that area and see if you see strings of eggs or tadpoles .My tadpoles are all in the shallow part of where my waterfall is and the fish keep going into that area .You can get liquid test kits at petco for 26 dollars or pet smart also or any pet store .They way the pic looks is a feeding frenzy or spawning frenzy to me .Thats just my opinion of course

 

[ididntdoit99]

Oh wow! that's a big ol' pond! I would get yourself a test kit, do you have any sort of pump or filtration? or it is just constantly fed with new water from the above stream?

My first guess would be you have a water problem, and the new water coming into the pond is of better quality, so the fish are trying to stay in that area. Just a guess until you get it tested. Or of course frog or toad eggs, but I would imagine they would be in other shallow areas of the pond too, not just that one spot.

 

[sissy]

just something I need to ask is that a mud bottom pond or is there a liner .Thats a lot of muddy water and wonder if you could have gotten run off from something in the ground from above the pond .Most fish don't mind murky water it helps them hide from predators ,the clear water is for us as we like to watch the fish .

 

[ididntdoit99]

Oh god, i hope its just a mud bottom farm pond.... I don't even want to imagine the price of a liner that big.

 

[Waterbug]

I understand now. I'd forget about testing the water. I mean you can, but then what are you going to do with the results? In a pond that size, mud bottom, it kind of is what it is. There are things you can do to support more fish, which would lead to more fish, which requires more support, which...you get the idea.

Looks like a lot of fish. Normally many die but you wouldn't notice. Personally I'd want the heron there. As Dr Eric days, either you cull fish or nature will do it for you.

The fish are swimming into the incoming water just because they want to see if the grass is greener on the one side. That's their nature. There's no reason to think there's more O2 in the water coming from the smaller pond, at least no reason I can see based on little info. Low O2 and they'd be at the surface everywhere. Plus this time of year the water's pretty cool, which holds more O2. Later there will be warmer water, less O2, and more organic decay, less O2. If O2 is a problem that when it will happen. There are aerators for that size pond, but pretty expensive to run. Again, we're back to allowing a larger fish load and getting a larger fish load.

I'd sit back and enjoy. Let nature take care of it for you.

 

[sissy]

here in mud ponds they have these big floating pond pump fountain heads .They are supported under the water by these big floats and they usually have lights on them at night .I think some of the floats are just large pieces of pvc pipe connected together .Expensive setups but pretty .I have seen several mud ponds with this set up .Even a couple have misters and it looks like fog coming off the pond with the glow of the lights .They float them so they do not pick up the mud but they aerate the water and they have little foot paddle boats to paddle out to make sure the pump housing is clean and to do general work on the whole set up .We do have a neighbor who put in a liner pond and it is huge .Cost was in the 50 thousand dollar range to build .Never under stood where a pastor of a church gets that type money but oh well .

 

[ididntdoit99]

.Cost was in the 50 thousand dollar range to build .Never under stood where a pastor of a church gets that type money but oh well .

Sissy, you're gonna start a holy war now I had to post this picture because i saw it on facebook this morning.

 

[Waterbug]

Also, there are forums on the web devoted to mud bottom ponds.

 

[UncleJoe900]

Thanks for everyones help and suggestions.

I jerry rigged a small pool pump I had with a garden hose sprayer today in hopes of more oxygen.
I have a strainer on the suction end, but I am wondering how long it will be until
a tadpole or fry will probably get sucked in and stop the pump. The pump is only a .6 amp.
It took 200 feet of electric cord to get down to the edge of the water.
I think I will buy a large submersible pump but I will need to educate myself some more on this.

 

[Waterbug]

You don't have an O2 problem. If you actually did have an O2 problem you'd have to add 10 to 20 of those large submersible pumps to make any difference. Add pumps if you'd feel better. Won't hurt anything.