Help needed!/ has this happened to you?

[kannie]

Hi, I'm 14 and just joined moments ago. I have an outdoor pond (above ground, we rent) that I made a while ago, but we are remaking for the summer. We have quite a few koi fish in there and I noticed one of them floating at the top. I was unsure if more had died to I took the dead one out, and started taking out the living fish to count. I took one of the smaller ones out and right before I dropped him into the cup full of water, he jumped out. I urgently tried to pick him up but he fell onto the brick holding up the pond. He then jumped down, through a crevice in the brick, and under the pond. I urgently tried to move the bricks and save him but, 1) I wasn't strong enough, 2) the entire pond would fall. I feel awful. I watched him die. Has anyone had experiences like this?

 

[kannie]

Help please!!

I have an above ground pond held up by bricks.

Today, I noticed one of my fish had died. I felt awful and buried him, then decided that I should check to see if any others had died.

In short summary, I took a fish out but he jumped out and landed on the brick. I gasped and tried to grab him but he flopped under the pond. I desperately tried to move bricks, or do anything to save him but nothing worked. Has anyone else had an experience like this? I feel awful.

 

[chuckles_96]

Hey I'm sorry about what happened with the first one. Sometimes fish seemingly go belly-up for no good reason.

As far as the second one, koi are known to sometimes get a little jumpy when they get stressed, and I have firsthand experience of this. I raise my koi to a decent size in my aquarium in the basement, then I bring them out to the pond where they live the rest of their lives. One of my favourite koi (a beautiful black and orange butterfly) jumped out of my bucket, landed on the counter, then flopped her way to the floor. I managed to get her back in the water, and after feeling sore for a few days she started feeling better. A few weeks later, I was carrying her in a bucket up the stairs and she jumped out. I managed to catch her and get her back in the bucket though. That's when I learned that if you're going to put a koi in a bucket, make sure that you have a lid on it. I recently had another koi/goldfish hybrid launch himself out of my tank and halfway across the room. I found him when I got home in the evening. It sucks, but that's just part of keeping animals as pets.

Growing up on the farm, my dad always said to me "If you're going to have livestock then you're going to have deadstock." The same applies to keeping fish. It sucks, and it makes you feel bad when one of them dies, but sadly it does happen and sometimes there's just nothing you can do about it. Keep your chin up bud. Your caring attitude about this situation tells me that you'll always take care of your fishy friends to the best of your ability, and that makes me happy