Quote Originally Posted by Ronaye View Post
Darkstar, in answer to the water parameter question (which made me realize how lax and lucky I've been with this pond. There is a LOT to be said for under-stocking a pond to keep it healthy!
The total volume of the pond including filtration and stream is about 4000 gallons. The pond is peanut shaped, 22' long by 14 and 16' wide, 3 shelves inside the pond to a total depth of 5 feet.
I have only had an ammo reading once, which was after the pond was totally encased in ice for a number of days (which is very rare for these parts, I was unable to keep a hole in it.) I don't recall what the reading was but it was low. As soon as possible I performed a partial water change with dechlor and the ammo dissipated.
Because I've never had ammo readings, I stopped testing for nitrates and nitrites a long time ago.
I keep my pH at 8.4 using bicarb, keep the kh about 125. Years ago in another pond I had extreme pH swings and learned (the hard way) about the importance of carbonate hardness and pH. Always diligent with that.
In the warm months I do partial water changes weekly or every 2 weeks at most, about 300 gallons per change. I'm on muni water that is from a local aquafer of good quality - the city sends out regular reports on the water and its contents - but I still always use a dechlor, for the past year or so Kordon Pond NovAqua Plus. In the winter I only do occasional changes (every 6 weeks?) as we get a LOT of rain here. It can be a struggle to keep the KH and pH up.
Last did a water change November 4th, when I realized this fish was in distress.
I keep my filters running 24/7 year round unless it gets extremely cold and things freeze solid. When it does, which is rare, it doesn't last but for a couple of days.
Aeration is from two short waterfalls and a lot of pond surface.
The other fish all look fine.
Pix are of the waterfalls - they are split, coming off a 20 foot stream which stems from a 100 gallon Matala filled tank which is fed from the main filtration system 40 feet across the yard. 2nd pic is looking south from the falls end of the pond. Bottom drain gravity feeds underground to the filters on the other side of that slatted fence (Vortex, mechanical, bio which pumps back across the yard and up to the waterfall head) or can be diverted to "french drain" another 15 feet south of the filters. Oh yes and two 25 UV lights between the mechanical and biofilters.
Hope this isn't too much information! You know how people like to talk about their ponds :-)
Hi Ronaye, I'm so sorry for the delayed response. I posted one thing the other day and then the battery on my laptop died.
First, no worries, you can never say "too much" about your pond. Around here we encourage it.
Your pond is beautiful! A lovely oasis nestled among the foliage.

How are the other Koi and Goldfish? Is everyone else still doing ok? I'm sorry no one was able to give you a conclusive answer; she seemed to have multiple issues ~ abnormally large amount of fat, bacterial infection and eggs - and that's just what was immediately apparent; the poor dear.

I truly do sympathize. I lost a 12-year old darling Shusui just a few months ago.

As far as you pond goes, it sounds like you've been doing a lot of things right! You're diligent about using dechlor, keeping your KH up and pH buffered, watching ammonia, etc.

Your Stats:
3 koi 9 goldfish (Sadly now only 2 koi, since the one passed)

I was looking over the rest to see if there was anything helpful I could point out or pass along:

Size: 4000 gallons (Is that an actual amount? Did you have a meter during initial fill? I only ask because if you need to medicate the pond at some point, an exact pond volume is necessary for some medications. You can calculate the pond volume at some point if you have to do a salt treatment. There is a salinity calculator on the page above.

Water Changes: Many folks do 10% of the total pond volume weekly, but you do have a relatively light load.
Oh, btw, if you do get a few males come spring / summer as you mentioned, please be sure to quarantine and follow KHV protocols. There has been an outbreak of the KHV virus in 2018 and you do not want to risk putting any new fish directly into your pond.

IIRC, you stopped feeding in late October, but I don't remember - what is your water temperature? If it's unusually cold this year perhaps you're chilling your pond too much with the waterfall running? Are you pumping cold water into the bottom? That's usually the warmest & the area the fish gravitate to in winter.

Unless any of your others have started showing some sign of a problem, or unless you're having or expecting an unusually cold winter, it's probably not necessary to bring the other 2 koi in unless it going to give you peace of mind. Since you already ordered the Q-tank you can bring them in and salt to 0.3%. But you should be sure to take some media from your established filter system so you can avoid too much ammonia & nitrite problems in the q-tank.

I don't think it's necessary to dissect your filtration system to analyze it piece by piece. From the look of her I don't think her death was a water quality issue, unless it was secondary (as a stress factor). I wish there was a simple answer. But please do keep a very watchful eye on the others !