bob r

iTrader: (46)

I got up this morning to discover 2 of my Koi have gone.

Heron or something else? The neighbours had 'Pole Cats' 2 years ago. Could these have taken them?

Jamie

Never heard of a polecat V koi fight before

Are your neighbors hungry ?

fatscoobfella1

iTrader: (1)

Any Pikeys camped close to the house ?

The Zohan

LOL!
Probably Roma's

g7prs

iTrader: (5)

What about these little guys

The Zohan

^^^^^Not sure you can blame it on midgets/progs...unless immigrant midgets/porgs^^^^^

One cure would be to build a higher fence so the ******* cannot climb over it

RAVENLEON

iTrader: (4)

Polecats no!!, Heron would be a big yes!!, I've noticed one trying to get in at my Dads Koi pond recently!

Jamie

Noticed ? did you not go out and kill it ?

David Lock

Bob - that's really spooky

I looked out over our pond this afternoon and the ice had melted. I could see one largish Koi (about 24 inch) floating on surface. I went out to net him out and he moved very slightly when I touched him. But he will be a gonna but I chickened out of the bang on the head treatment. So tomorrow I guess.

But I also saw a smaller fish dead on the bottom which had obviously been there for a while. So I pulled him out.

I have no idea as to cause aside from general thought about cold conditions. I haven't seen our local Heron recently although we did see a fox in the garden so it could have been that.

d

Jamie

Foxes do not eat fish you buffoon




J

DARB

not been and checked on mine yet, will do it tomorrow

They are all going this year as they are getting hard work ( I suffer with a bad back ) and the extra space on the garden would be nice

SunnySideUp

Ice starting to melt on my pond - I can see 1 Carp lying on the surface - will assess the damage when I can get to the rest of the pond ......

Clearly, the one I can see got caught in the shallows when it iced over and couldn't get into the deeper water, so got iced in! Had that one since 1994!

RAVENLEON

iTrader: (4)

You should never really allow the pond to freeze over for a long peroid!, I know some will use a floating pond heater,(obviously protected by earth leakage breaker) boiling water to put holes in the ice or keep gently breaking through the ice!

Its all to do with toxic gasses and water quality!

David Lock

Foxes do kill Koi. Have a look on Google.

e.g.

If you have a koi pond in your yard, then you know how important it is to protect them from predators. Koi attract predators such as raccoons, cats, foxes and herons. The bright colors of the koi...


Please check your facts before insulting people

dl

SunnySideUp

I have an area undercover withing the pond - that didn't fully ice over - but it is shallow in that area ...... the fish mentioned above obviously got caught in there.

zeuss

iTrader: (2)

more likely to be Heron, my father has had to net his pond the Heron took a liking to his stock of Koi

David Lock

I am not convinced that Koi are stupid enough to hang around and get frozen in. The pond would normally freeze over at night and fish would be down on bottom. Most of mine stay down but a few come to the surface in the day if the sun comes out. Anyway I hope you have kept most of them. Fish you mentioned must be quite a large one by now? If not you are not using a decent food. Corner store stuff is useless. dl

Jamie

I did not insult any one apart from your stupid dead fish eaten via a fox or heron

Jamie

And i have a garden with a pond with fish inside all are alive

David Lock

You don't help yourself do you?

Nothing ate my fish, just killed them

I thought your calling me a buffoon was an insult. But my command of English must be faltering.

dl

Jamie

West sussex says it all

Good luck with your who what did kill my fish malarky

Spoon

Herons are always a possibility. They visit me on an almost daily basis but the dogs escort them away. Their food source has suffered greatly this winter and so a meal is a greatly received meal.

I very much doubt the fish got 'caught' in a shallow end unless your entire pond is shallow, in which case you shouldn't be keeping fish if you want them to stand a chance of surviving the winter in a unheated pond. You do spout some poo with seemingly copious amounts of conviction.

Spoon

David, I'd say cold too. I haven't lost any of mine but then the Spring is the time that things begin to show themselves more when bacteria starts ahead of possibly very weak fish.

I was lucky one of the filter waste pipes split almost at the time it was spotted and I only lost about 1000 gallons. That could have been a completely drained pond in a few hours.

DARB

So how deep is deep? Mine is six and a half feet deep so they should be ok at the bottom of that

tkws5606

A friend of mine has a pond with koi in it when it had been iced over for a few days he thought he best break the ice so smacked it with a sledge hammer the shock killed a load of his best fish

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

never smash the ice over a pond with nice fish in

And always have a net over the top. That keeps the predators away. We lost loads until we did that

DDS789

iTrader: (2)

Water becomes less oxygenated during winter, the ice could effectively have suffocated the fish. Like being sealed in an airtight room, the oxygen would eventually run out.

Spoon

That is ample. 4ft or more gives the Koi plenty of depth to get down to the warmer water. I know of ponds at 3 1/2ft deep without problems but if you're building a pond the aim is 4ft or more.

Too deep in a large garden pond though and access even with waders becomes difficult. Also airstones aren't as efficient without lifting them, (unless you go ultra powerful), and filters aren't easy to come by with a huge amount of gallonage.

There is always a happy medium to keep it manageable, and most of all, enjoyable, without it being a expensive ballache.

Spoon

Water per se doesn't become less oxygenated. It is far more oxygenated than summer water, hence no need for air stones in the winter.

Ice covering a pond that might have rotting leaves in it emitting gasses has never been thought of as clever where oxygen levels are concerned.

DDS789

iTrader: (2)

Im no expert just assumed that was the case, like how the water is not as clear in summer but i guess that is more temperature related.