my fav koi ended up out of the pond during a filter change, found him dead an hour later. I am sad.

Awwww...Mark, that's so sad.

Our last ones were zapped somehow during an electrical storm a couple of years ago. We haven't replaced them, but we do keep goldfish; both indoors and out. I'm the tank-keeper so I'm pretty attached to my fish, too.

ahh its just a fish but you know a life is a life and a lot of time and effort to boot
sorry bout your fish, crazy about the electrical storm i allways thought water was a poor conductor.

Mark and Chelle

sorry about your koi. It is never easy when we lose our pets.

I am rather surprised about the electrical storm as well. It sounds like the koi were affected by it and not the goldies?

The koi were all we had in that pond. Before the storm the fish were fine and frisky -directly afterward they were dead. If I recall correctly, the fountain pump was too. If I'm home when it lightnings now, I shut off the power to the pump...just in case.

ahhh the lightning ground out through your pump, crazy

I totally get this. ALL our koi were eaten by raccoons this spring. One we've had for 10 years, others for 4-6 years. 4 were mature butterfly koi that I rescued from an airport shipment. We also lost all our gold fish and our babies. I get attached too easily and do headcounts daily. IF I replace them, I will get a zillion of them impossible to count and maybe I won't get so attached? Or else the ponds will just become water gardens.

Oh, Cheryl, that's so sad.

I haven't been in any kind of hurry this year to pick up more feeder goldfish for my little water feature. I originally thought I'd be okay with freeing them in our lake when the season was over...not! That's why we now have a 54 gallon tank indoors for the survivors of the first couple of years.

That is way to bad, i am sorry cheryl

Cheryl

I am so sorry. I am attached to my fish as well, so I do understand. It's never easy.

I have koi in the recirculating aquaponic tanks, but only goldfish in the open outdoor ponds. I was so upset the first time the birds ate my fancy fish that I've never put anything out there since that I cared about.

It seems like loss and death is a part of raising anything living. I feel guilty about it no matter how it comes about, but I try to be zen about it.

I did a complete spring drain and power wash today. Put the fish in a kiddy pool with recirc pump till I got done. After a couple of hours my largest koi went flying. He jumped about 5 feet out of the pool and hit the concrete. All of them had been nosing the rapid water going back into the pool. I think old carrot top must have taken a run for the inlet hose and just jumped over it. Maybe he thought he was a salmon going upstream. I heard the splash and looked over in time to see him in mid flight so I got to him immediately. He lost a few more scales but physically he appears to be OK, although he seemed a little more humble. This is the second time he has jumped out. Jumped out of the pond a year or two back and I didn't find him till he had partially dried in the mud of the flower bed. That time he wasn't breathing, gills were full of mud, thought he was a goner but washed him down in the pond, did a little CPR and forced water through the gills and we got a fin flicker. Kept working with him for some time and finally made a full recovery. Took about a week till he was back to himself. He has always been the alpha in the pond.

Wow, Tom, you really have to keep an eye on that one, don't you? Good save (again)!


Once my goldfish moved indoors, one turned up missing one day. I was flabbergasted! How in the world could a fish in a closed container just disappear? I finally checked the resin ornament and found my prettiest fish stuck inside it. It had forced itself headfirst into a hollow section that was just big enough for trouble and couldn't swim back out. It too lost a few scales but came through its ordeal just fine.

The thing that has always amazed me about koi, is they don't seem to be too concerned as to whether they are in the pond or out. I have had koi jump in the past and had to do CPR on them as well. I also remember having some in a tub, which was an old preformed pond, while we were working on the main pond. I was surprised to see fish sitting on the would be shelf of the preformed pond, which had no water - they were just kind of 'hanging out' - no distress or anything.

lol, Carolyn! That's a new one on me---terrestrial koi---maybe yours are in the process of evolving , altho I have to agree that sometimes they seem to not have very good common sense. Koi are originally a river fish and so they definitely like to swim upstream. You'd think they were salmon with all that ambition ! Also, we used to have more jumping losses during the monsoon/electrical storms. I always wondered whether it was the pressure change or something about thunder or lightening that they could sense. Koi will also jump if the water conditions are not to their liking or in new locations; when folks introduce new koi to a small pond, it's a good idea to float a styrofoam cooler lid or the like on the surface of the pond for a few days to calm the koi and help prevent them jumping out.

The styrofoam would help the jumping, but not the 'hanging out'.

Carolyn22 said:The styrofoam would help the jumping, but not the 'hanging out'.

Yes. Sorry. Didn't mean to confuse anybody, just trying to make a helpful comment to those with jumpers rather than sunbathers.

desertkoigal said:

Yes. Sorry. Didn't mean to confuse anybody, just trying to make a helpful comment to those with jumpers rather than sunbathers.

Sherry - you didn't confuse. I love the idea of the koi 'sunbathing'!