Get dead fish out or leave till spring?
 

I took a peak under my pond cover and noticed 1 of my 6 Koi was dead.
It is laying at the bottom of the pond near where the other fish are.
Should I get it out or just leave it? I am a little concerned that
poking a net down there is going to really disturb the other Koi. Will
leaving the dead fish have a negative impact on the water quality (pond
is 500 gallons)? I am in Chicago and the water temp is around 40 now.

Mike C wrote:
I took a peak under my pond cover and noticed 1 of my 6 Koi was dead.
It is laying at the bottom of the pond near where the other fish are.
Should I get it out or just leave it? I am a little concerned that
poking a net down there is going to really disturb the other Koi.
Will
leaving the dead fish have a negative impact on the water quality
(pond
is 500 gallons)? I am in Chicago and the water temp is around 40 now.

Get the fish out as soon as you can. Any disturbance to the remaining
fish will be minimal but the decomposition of a dead fish will create a
lot of bacterial and fungal growth and worsen the water quality.

"Mike C" wrote:
I took a peak under my pond cover and noticed 1 of my 6 Koi was dead.
It is laying at the bottom of the pond near where the other fish are.
Should I get it out or just leave it? I am a little concerned that
poking a net down there is going to really disturb the other Koi. Will
leaving the dead fish have a negative impact on the water quality (pond
is 500 gallons)? I am in Chicago and the water temp is around 40 now.

The net won't disturb them nearly as much as a rotting fish (and, yes, it'll
still rot at 40F...just slower than at 80F).

On 14 Feb 2005 09:38:50 -0800, "Mike C"
wrote:

===I took a peak under my pond cover and noticed 1 of my 6 Koi was dead.
===It is laying at the bottom of the pond near where the other fish are.
===Should I get it out or just leave it? I am a little concerned that
===poking a net down there is going to really disturb the other Koi. Will
===leaving the dead fish have a negative impact on the water quality (pond
===is 500 gallons)? I am in Chicago and the water temp is around 40 now.


Are you for real...afraid to disturb the other fish and would even
think about leaving a dead fish there until conditions that suit you
are right before you remove it, which by then would be nothing but a
swirling mess of koi bones and scal;es and fungal growths and probably
a few more dead koi as well. Get in there remove the dead fish, and
don;t worry about disturbing the others, they will do just fine from
what disturbance you may make.

REMEMBER: "This is worth repeating for benefit of al newbies!
Jo Ann asked Dr. Solo to remind people that while she has retired from selling GF (and sold
the business to Ken Fischer http://dandyorandas.com/) she has NOT retired from
helping people with sick GF and koi FOR FREE. 251-649-4790 phoning is best for
diagnosis. but, can try email put "help sick fish" in subject. Get your fish at Dandy Orandas
Dandy Orandas Dandy Orandas........you guys got that DANDY ORANDAS

Okay, I will get it out of there . However, don't act like leaving it
is absurd:

1)I've read that if ice forms in the winter you shouldn't pound on it
so you don't disturb the domant Koi. Certainly hitting with a new would
disturb them even more.
2) Fish die all the time in nature and nobody gets them out.
3) If the pond was covered in snow/ice, you wouldn't even know there
was a dead fish to remove.




Roy wrote:
On 14 Feb 2005 09:38:50 -0800, "Mike C"
wrote:

===I took a peak under my pond cover and noticed 1 of my 6 Koi was
dead.
===It is laying at the bottom of the pond near where the other
fish are.
===Should I get it out or just leave it? I am a little concerned
that
===poking a net down there is going to really disturb the other
Koi. Will
===leaving the dead fish have a negative impact on the water
quality (pond
===is 500 gallons)? I am in Chicago and the water temp is around
40 now.


Are you for real...afraid to disturb the other fish and would even
think about leaving a dead fish there until conditions that suit you
are right before you remove it, which by then would be nothing but a
swirling mess of koi bones and scal;es and fungal growths and
probably
a few more dead koi as well. Get in there remove the dead fish, and
don;t worry about disturbing the others, they will do just fine from
what disturbance you may make.

REMEMBER: "This is worth repeating for benefit of al newbies!
Jo Ann asked Dr. Solo to remind people that while she has retired
from selling GF (and sold
the business to Ken Fischer http://dandyorandas.com/) she has NOT
retired from
helping people with sick GF and koi FOR FREE. 251-649-4790 phoning
is best for
diagnosis. but, can try email put "help sick fish" in subject. Get
your fish at Dandy Orandas
Dandy Orandas Dandy Orandas........you guys got that DANDY ORANDAS

On 14 Feb 2005 14:43:38 -0800, "Mike C" wrote:

Okay, I will get it out of there . However, don't act like leaving it
is absurd:

Ignore Roy, we do. ;-)

1)I've read that if ice forms in the winter you shouldn't pound on it
so you don't disturb the domant Koi. Certainly hitting with a new would
disturb them even more.
2) Fish die all the time in nature and nobody gets them out.

Yup, but that doesn't mean it is good for the rest of the living... and in
nature there would be critters still active at low temps to eat the dead
fish. Right now it is polluting your water quality, which isn't good when
you only have 500 gallons.

3) If the pond was covered in snow/ice, you wouldn't even know there
was a dead fish to remove.

True, but you can't use that excuse cause you peeked. ;o) ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Well said, Jan - a little more info and fewer barbs - what this group needs
Gale :~)

Okay, I will get it out of there . However, don't act like leaving it
is absurd:

Ignore Roy, we do. ;-)

1)I've read that if ice forms in the winter you shouldn't pound on it
so you don't disturb the domant Koi. Certainly hitting with a new would
disturb them even more.
2) Fish die all the time in nature and nobody gets them out.

Yup, but that doesn't mean it is good for the rest of the living... and in
nature there would be critters still active at low temps to eat the dead
fish. Right now it is polluting your water quality, which isn't good when
you only have 500 gallons.

3) If the pond was covered in snow/ice, you wouldn't even know there
was a dead fish to remove.

True, but you can't use that excuse cause you peeked. ;o) ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Bite my ass bitch............yea you Jan,. I never had a problem with
you that is up until now, so bite me! I now consider you open season
as well.

On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 15:00:23 -0800, ~ jan JJsPond.us
wrote:

===On 14 Feb 2005 14:43:38 -0800, "Mike C" wrote:
===
===Okay, I will get it out of there . However, don't act like leaving it
===is absurd:
===
===Ignore Roy, we do. ;-)
===
===1)I've read that if ice forms in the winter you shouldn't pound on it
===so you don't disturb the domant Koi. Certainly hitting with a new would
===disturb them even more.

There certainly is more than one way to skin a cat, or in this case
make a hole to retreive dead fish without pounding on the ice........
===2) Fish die all the time in nature and nobody gets them out.===
===Yup, but that doesn't mean it is good for the rest of the living... and in
===nature there would be critters still active at low temps to eat the dead
===fish. Right now it is polluting your water quality, which isn't good when
===you only have 500 gallons.

Normally momma nature has a means of cleaning up her mess and also the
body of water is much larger than a back yard pond, and is not as
adversely affected.........plus there are also critters abound that
loves to dine on dead fish weather on the ice under the ice or alive
and in the water, so it would not last long in nature. A pond such as
yours is basically a container, when things rot, it has no place to
go, and being its such a small body of water it does not even fall in
the same catagory as a natural pond and a dead fish would be in.
===
===3) If the pond was covered in snow/ice, you wouldn't even know there
===was a dead fish to remove.
===
===True, but you can't use that excuse cause you peeked. ;o) ~ jan
===

Yea you would when your ice melted and the rest of them were dead
too, then you would be posting what the hell killed my fish,
everyhting was perfect, I had it covered, I had air, I shut off my
pumps, I used SALT and every other conceiveable concept............


=== ~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~


REMEMBER: "This is worth repeating for benefit of al newbies!
Jo Ann asked Dr. Solo to remind people that while she has retired from selling GF (and sold
the business to Ken Fischer http://dandyorandas.com/) she has NOT retired from
helping people with sick GF and koi FOR FREE. 251-649-4790 phoning is best for
diagnosis. but, can try email put "help sick fish" in subject. Get your fish at Dandy Orandas
Dandy Orandas Dandy Orandas........you guys got that DANDY ORANDAS

"Mike C" wrote in message
ups.com...
Okay, I will get it out of there . However, don't act like leaving it
is absurd:

1)I've read that if ice forms in the winter you shouldn't pound on it
so you don't disturb the domant Koi. Certainly hitting with a new would
disturb them even more.
2) Fish die all the time in nature and nobody gets them out.
3) If the pond was covered in snow/ice, you wouldn't even know there
was a dead fish to remove.


1) The reason you don't pound on the ice is that you create a large
shockwave across the ice, which translates into a large shockwave across the
pond.

2) Residential ponds are a fraction of the size of natural ponds. Natural
ponds that are the size of a residential pond, if they have fish, are
typically minnow size or smaller. You rarely see large koi sized fish in
such a pond, there just isn't enough food and water to maintain a self
sustaining population.

3) You do what you can, if the pond was completely covered over and you
didn't know about the dead fish, not much you can do about it.

Incidentally some folks here have said that filling a pot with hot water and
just setting it on the ice will melt a hole in the ice should the pond
freeze over.

Snooze

Definitely remove the dead fish. Remove any decaying matter too.

On 14 Feb 2005 09:38:50 -0800, "Mike C"
wrote:

I took a peak under my pond cover and noticed 1 of my 6 Koi was dead.
It is laying at the bottom of the pond near where the other fish are.
Should I get it out or just leave it? I am a little concerned that
poking a net down there is going to really disturb the other Koi. Will
leaving the dead fish have a negative impact on the water quality (pond
is 500 gallons)? I am in Chicago and the water temp is around 40 now.