Fish short of oxygen? - advice please

"Conrad" wrote in message
...
Hello

I have a pond of about 18 X 12 feet with a max. depth of 3.5 feet. The
water is clear and there is lots of vegetation, mostly
water lilies, irises and oxygenating plants.
There are about 30-35 ghost koi, comets and shubunkins of varying sizes up
to around 12" plus a load of small fish of various types from fry size to
3-4 inches - I would guess at about 60-80.
I have adequate filtration which incorporates a fountain at one end and a
waterfall at the other.
What's concerning me is that most of the comets and shubunkins and one or
two of the koi seem to spend all their time on the surface under the
waterfall ( they ignore the fountain). Other than gasping at the surface
they appear to be OK, there is no other unusual behaviour and they feed as
usual.
The weather (I am in southern England) makes no difference to their
behaviour.
I have bought some air stones which I am running for 3-4 hours a day. The
fish move away from the waterfall whilst these are switched on but the
next morning they are back to gasping on the surface again.

## Why don't you REMOVE some of these fish? Your pond sounds terribly
overcrowded. You can also add something like a water-foamer or water-ball
run by a 500gph pump.

I would like any advice on whether the pond is overcrowded or if the water
needs testing. If the latter what do I test for and how do I interpret the
results.

## I would think you do need to test the water and REMOVE some fish! The
stress alone from overcrowding must be getting to them,.. no less the lack
of oxygen. How much mulm is on the pond bottom? Are you doing partial
water changes?

I have thought for some time I would like to remove a lot of the smaller
fish so any ideas as to the best method/least stressful to the fish
would be appreciated.

## We drain down our ponds and net out the excess fish at least every 2
years. Those we're keeping go into a pool until the pond is *cleaned* and
refilled. The others go into a pool until I can deliver them to the pet shop
or whoever is taking them. When the ponds are refilled I return the fish
and plants we're keeping. We've been doing this since 1995.

Thanks in advance.

Conrad
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
My Pond Page http://tinyurl.com/cuq5b
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o
http://www.hyphenologist.co.uk/killf..._troll_faq.htm