Two of my Koi died last weekend and floated to the top. I am in
Chicago and have kept the ice from freezing over with airstones and a
heat source. I am wondering if they just got sick (they were covered
in slime) or if something in the pond caused it. The water is quite
brown from all the fall leaves. I tried to keep out as many as I
could, but a large number (realtive to pond size) got in. Next fall I
will cover the pond with netting. Could this have affected the fish or
does the water just look ugly to us?

Your need to check the water quality - pH, nitrates etc.
--
Jim and Sara Humphries, Victoria, BC
"MC" wrote in message
om...
Two of my Koi died last weekend and floated to the top. I am in
Chicago and have kept the ice from freezing over with airstones and a
heat source. I am wondering if they just got sick (they were covered
in slime) or if something in the pond caused it. The water is quite
brown from all the fall leaves. I tried to keep out as many as I
could, but a large number (realtive to pond size) got in. Next fall I
will cover the pond with netting. Could this have affected the fish or
does the water just look ugly to us?

(MC) wrote:

Two of my Koi died last weekend and floated to the top. I am in
Chicago and have kept the ice from freezing over with airstones and a
heat source. I am wondering if they just got sick (they were covered
in slime) or if something in the pond caused it. The water is quite
brown from all the fall leaves

Yeah, I've the same problem. I did a water change, and netted out some
of the muck from the bottom.

Said muck was some of the nastiest stuff I've ever smelled, so I'm
guessing that is the cause for me.

could, but a large number (realtive to pond size) got in. Next fall I
will cover the pond with netting. Could this have affected the fish or
does the water just look ugly to us?

yeah, I've lost fish as well. Right now, the stock tank heater is
running 24/7 (at USD$0.15/hr) and when it warms up, above freezing, I do
a water change.

Since we don't have ANY snow on the ground this year, the pond has
frozen very solid with the couple of weeks of below freezing temps.

if they were covered in slime they are old dead, so it happened a while ago. the
muck on the bottom has anaerobic fermentation going... and koi sit on the bottom,
even root on teh bottom and toxic gases are released from that muck.
Ponds really gotta be cleaned in fall. cant let em go until spring. it is a bitch
cause it is always sooooo cold. but with the netting and my veggie filter I dont
have muck cleanup.. didnt when I had a greenhouse over my big ponds. this spring I
expect to see a lot of dead fish in the big ponds, none in my new koi pond. sigh.
the other thing to consider is if the fish werent in good shape and/or had a load of
cooties that could have been the cause. Ingrid

(MC) wrote:

Two of my Koi died last weekend and floated to the top. I am in
Chicago and have kept the ice from freezing over with airstones and a
heat source. I am wondering if they just got sick (they were covered
in slime) or if something in the pond caused it. The water is quite
brown from all the fall leaves. I tried to keep out as many as I
could, but a large number (realtive to pond size) got in. Next fall I
will cover the pond with netting. Could this have affected the fish or
does the water just look ugly to us?

I will check the water quality, but since the pond is frozen except
for a 5 inch hole, I don't know what I could about it. Also, isn't it
unsafe to do a water change with the Koi dormant? I thought you
weren't suppose to disturb them.

"Jim Humphries" wrote in message a...
Your need to check the water quality - pH, nitrates etc.
--
Jim and Sara Humphries, Victoria, BC
"MC" wrote in message
om...
Two of my Koi died last weekend and floated to the top. I am in
Chicago and have kept the ice from freezing over with airstones and a
heat source. I am wondering if they just got sick (they were covered
in slime) or if something in the pond caused it. The water is quite
brown from all the fall leaves. I tried to keep out as many as I
could, but a large number (realtive to pond size) got in. Next fall I
will cover the pond with netting. Could this have affected the fish or
does the water just look ugly to us?

Amen, Fall cleanup is a must, and a net keeps it to a minimum along with
protecting from Herons. I am also a believer in salt to protect against
infections.

--
Jim and Sara Humphries, Victoria, BC
wrote in message
...
if they were covered in slime they are old dead, so it happened a while
ago. the
muck on the bottom has anaerobic fermentation going... and koi sit on the
bottom,
even root on teh bottom and toxic gases are released from that muck.
Ponds really gotta be cleaned in fall. cant let em go until spring. it
is a bitch
cause it is always sooooo cold. but with the netting and my veggie filter
I dont
have muck cleanup.. didnt when I had a greenhouse over my big ponds. this
spring I
expect to see a lot of dead fish in the big ponds, none in my new koi
pond. sigh.
the other thing to consider is if the fish werent in good shape and/or had
a load of
cooties that could have been the cause. Ingrid

(MC) wrote:

Two of my Koi died last weekend and floated to the top. I am in
Chicago and have kept the ice from freezing over with airstones and a
heat source. I am wondering if they just got sick (they were covered
in slime) or if something in the pond caused it. The water is quite
brown from all the fall leaves. I tried to keep out as many as I
could, but a large number (realtive to pond size) got in. Next fall I
will cover the pond with netting. Could this have affected the fish or
does the water just look ugly to us?

Besides what Ingrid said about the anerobic bacteria going on..... the
leaves probably used all your buffer (KH) and your pH is mostly acidic and
fluctuating. I suck my pond bottoms clean with a shop vac and then use
window screening and wait till spring.

On 6 Feb 2003 10:02:54 -0800, (MC) wrote:
I will check the water quality, but since the pond is frozen except
for a 5 inch hole, I don't know what I could about it. Also, isn't it
unsafe to do a water change with the Koi dormant? I thought you
weren't suppose to disturb them.

Water changes can be done in winter. All depends on the temperature. If
there is a large difference between pond water and tap water temps do
several small changes. Don't forget the dechlor as the colder the water the
higher the concentration of chlorine it can contain. ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

yeah.. that is the obvious alternative. clean the pond end of summer when the water
temp is still above 55oF and the fish immune system is still active and then net the
pond to keep the leaves out. remove the net in spring when the leaves quit blowing
around big time. Ingrid

~ jan wrote:
I suck my pond bottoms clean with a shop vac and then use
window screening and wait till spring.

Besides the leaves, the ponds don't get schuck and blossom fall off the
maple tree. I think that is one of the most surprising things about having
a pond, how messy one's trees are.

I will have the ponds un-netted and filter going by the time the seeds fall
and the skimmer will catch the majority of those. Plus, unlike the schucks
& blossoms, the helicopter-seed pods float for quite a while to pick out
what hasn't floated over to the skimmer.

Then there's always the relaxing winter thought of not worrying about a
raccoon, heron or Kingfisher dining on my wintering fish. ;o) ~ jan


On Sun, 09 Feb 2003 15:19:21 GMT, wrote:

yeah.. that is the obvious alternative. clean the pond end of summer when the water
temp is still above 55oF and the fish immune system is still active and then net the
pond to keep the leaves out. remove the net in spring when the leaves quit blowing
around big time. Ingrid

~ jan wrote:
I suck my pond bottoms clean with a shop vac and then use
window screening and wait till spring.


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website