Best I can figure, we had a slow clog of the waterfall filter that really developed while we were gone for 2 weeks. We THOUGHT it was running slow. Now the waterfall is what provides aeration. And I had some water conditioner which can adversely affect oxygenation. WE then had a deep cold snap. All chemistry slowed…but it also drives the fish to the deep water, the smaller ones more so than the larger ones, who take longer to chill; and the cold didn’t let the bacteria-stuff clear the water. The big guys were not quite so deep in the water of the deep end. The little guys would have sat deepest. And they just..quietly expired down in that oxygen-poor layer.
Today we pulled the whole waterfall apart and hosed it out. My brilliant idea with the foam bag is at fault in this: it created the clog. We hauled it out and it was a mucky mess that weighed a ton. WE got the waterfall guts reassembled—a 2 person job this time—and finally got it to run the way it did last year. Finally!
We went out and got 3 pretty baby koi. Very baby. Breaks our hearts to have lost the others. I take it very personally because I really take care of the pond, I’m good with fish and water, and I understand the chemistry. I kept fighting the flow problem in the waterfall and telling myself it was, maybe, just a settling of the waterfall-frame in the pile. I’m the one that added the filter medium that caused the clog that did the real damage and really slowed it.
So I’m good at fishy things. Just not this time.
To top all, I put the bag with the new fishes in it where I was so sure it was secure, and it immediately fell over as I backed out of the store parking lot. Which killed one of the replacements. I hope that the other two are ok. Sometimes you don’t know for a day or two. Even somebody hitting ice with a hammer in the winter can kill fish. I feel so bad.
These that I hope are survivors of my stupidity are pretty little guys, butterfly-fins, and about 3″ long. The pond is on its way to clear water, and we really hope these guys will thrive.
So sorry to hear of this…..who would think that fish have personalities….but they do. We even have names for our goldfish. The up and down weather has played havoc with both pool and pond. Water that was clear in March is a battle now. Fortunately we have a local pond guy who is terrific….heat wave…cold…rain…..we have comfort in knowing that we are not alone.
Hope the new little guys survive to a ripe old age.
I am so sorry. Maintaining an ecosystem is scary. My bees are pretty much self-sufficient. Indoor cats – as long as water and food’s there, the system is very resilient, and they’ll SAY if something is wrong. But a self-contained water system? EVERYTHING depends on you.
Makes me wonder about the enclosed bubbles for methane-breathers blithely mentioned in multi-species space station stories. What do they do if something goes wrong?
Alas, the same thing the oxy-breathers do if things go wrong—run for it. But in some environments, there’s no place to run.
I have a little ecoglobe (not so eco, because I’m given to understand the manufacturers were using an endangered species of shrimp) that has been going since 2000, completely self-contained. I know how hard that is: I worked with a grad research friend of my roommate—son of a NASA engineer on trying to design a selfcontained environment for a small algae eating fish; it takes quite a volume of water—or a very folded ‘lungs/kidneys’ biofiltration, and a very careful balance on the algae; and when you have bioprocessing go subtly and very gradually wonky as this did…we just kept making excuses for the waterfall flow rate. Back at the end of April, we dug away the back of the waterfall, finding it had a leak, and had bowed; we fixed that. But it still wouldn’t flow ‘right’, and while we were gone, it got worse, because of the ‘improvement’ I made in the filtration to help it out, trying to give it more surface area. Turned out it expanded and clogged the inflow, slowing down the pump. Hence the slow development of a ‘death zone’ in the bottom of the deep end of the pond; and when the weather took a freak chill, the littlest fish went lowest. End of story.
One bright spot—one we thought was gone, one of our original little ones, turned up alive and well this morning. She’s safe. We haven’t seen the new-new ones. But that’s not unusual on the first day.
So sorry to hear about the koi. *gives E-hug* Aquariums are one thing, but the scale of the pond boggles the mind. Quite a juggling act. Hang in there!
I hope the new koi and the not so new koi all do fine. I also hope the humans and felines do very fine. It’s managed to sprinkle rain both times the cats and I were going to go outside for a bit, good for the plants (more rain needed) not so nice according to the cats. At least they didn’t decide I made it rain! Best wishes. Or maybe that should be, best fishes.