Fishies86
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Hi, I've recently taken charge of a huge outdoor pond at work. We had a lot of large koi die on us over the winter and as I'm the person that knows the most about fish at work I'm now responsible for sorting it all out. trouble Is, I have no experience with cold water fish so I need some advice.
When I took over, they had been grossly over fed over the winter with normal fish food. As I understand it, what should have happened is that when the water temp dropped below 10º they should have switched to wheatgerm, then below 4º no food at all. Is this correct? As a result we have some grossly fat fish. They look like they've got an extreme case of dropsy without the pineconing. The ammonia levels in the pond were through the roof, so I immediately stopped feeding them and did water changes every day. The ammonia went down, nitrite went up, then down, and nitrate stayed about the same. The ph was also really low, I'm guessing through it filling up with rain water over the winter?
All the big koi died with no obvious symptoms other than excess mucous. The fattest goldfish (?) Also died, but since the water changes and reduced feeding I haven't had any more die. I'm only feeding them a tiny amount every other day now. Though I've had to have words with other members of staff that the a bucket of food in because the fish were coming to the surface. They were spawning and id already fed them grr!
Anyway, I've had no more deaths, but I noticed that one of then had developed a red eye, it looks like it's full of blood or something :/ I'm not sure what it is but thought I'd keep am eye on it. The water is really Green at the moment so I haven't seen them for a few days, but when they all came up yesterday for food, there are several others now with blood red eyes and a few have developed red patches on their sides too. It panicked me quite a lot. I don't know what this is or what to do about it. I'm hoping someone will read through my essay and be able to give me some answers because I don't want to lose any more.
I haven't tested the water recently because my test kit is missing after moving house, but I did top up the water yesterday (with water conditioner).
The pond is massive. I think it's about 16000 gallons? It's 6'deep, 6' wide and about 12' long I think. Thank you in advance for any help.
When I took over, they had been grossly over fed over the winter with normal fish food. As I understand it, what should have happened is that when the water temp dropped below 10º they should have switched to wheatgerm, then below 4º no food at all. Is this correct? As a result we have some grossly fat fish. They look like they've got an extreme case of dropsy without the pineconing. The ammonia levels in the pond were through the roof, so I immediately stopped feeding them and did water changes every day. The ammonia went down, nitrite went up, then down, and nitrate stayed about the same. The ph was also really low, I'm guessing through it filling up with rain water over the winter?
All the big koi died with no obvious symptoms other than excess mucous. The fattest goldfish (?) Also died, but since the water changes and reduced feeding I haven't had any more die. I'm only feeding them a tiny amount every other day now. Though I've had to have words with other members of staff that the a bucket of food in because the fish were coming to the surface. They were spawning and id already fed them grr!
Anyway, I've had no more deaths, but I noticed that one of then had developed a red eye, it looks like it's full of blood or something :/ I'm not sure what it is but thought I'd keep am eye on it. The water is really Green at the moment so I haven't seen them for a few days, but when they all came up yesterday for food, there are several others now with blood red eyes and a few have developed red patches on their sides too. It panicked me quite a lot. I don't know what this is or what to do about it. I'm hoping someone will read through my essay and be able to give me some answers because I don't want to lose any more.
I haven't tested the water recently because my test kit is missing after moving house, but I did top up the water yesterday (with water conditioner).
The pond is massive. I think it's about 16000 gallons? It's 6'deep, 6' wide and about 12' long I think. Thank you in advance for any help.