Disappearing fish

[Dmirsu]

Hi, everyone,

I am a new member. I have a pond with waterfall, pond size is about 3500-4000 gallons. Until recently I had some koi in it but know it is empty. The fish disappeared. It happened to me already for the second time. 3 years ago when I just started my pond I bought pretty good koi fish, 13 of them and they seem to do well, they all survived the first winter, and were going fast, but in the fall I noticed that 4 of them were missing. I covered the whole pond with a plastic net, but soon after, when I came from vacation, they were all gone. The net looked intact and in place. I blamed it on people- my property is not fenced, it is accessible. Next spring I put 14 baby koi in it. They were all there and growing until fall, when they started disappearing again, and now my pond is empty again. I am thinking it is some animal now. Did any of you ever had similar problem? What cood be done to prevent it?
I would appreciate your advise
Dmirsu

 

[j.w]

Hmmmmmmmm, sounds like it could be a heron if he could get his beak through your netting. Maybe it could be an otter or some sneaky creature that could somehow get under your net and then haul the fish out one by one. Snakes can eat your fish also. I'm thinking it prolly wasn't people cuz it would take them forever to catch the fish and then put everything back the way it was. Maybe you should set up some kind of camera to see what is visiting your pond :lol:

 

[j.w]

Oh my I forgot to welcome you so...................

Dmirsu

 

[DrDave]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[addy1]

welcome, could be a lot of reasons the fish disappeared. Animals, birds etc. Look for tracks if you can find any, holes in net etc.

 

[CometKeith]

Welcome to another person from Chicago! Sorry about your fish, but I doubt it was people. Are there any shallow ends that animals can hang out?

 

[digginponds]

Welcome to another person from Chicago! Sorry about your fish, but I doubt it was people. Are there any shallow ends that animals can hang out?

more an more peeps from the windy city..You may wanna invest in some plastic chicken wire,sure saved my fish.

 

[JustJack]

Welcome, Dmirsu. We had quite a lot of fish in our pond when we moved here last year and then about 6 months ago, I started noticing rocks (heavy ones) fallen into the pond and then fish started disappearing. I blamed it on people even though our yard is fenced because we can't lock it--the fence was designed to be lifted off in sections and I have no problem reaching through and popping the board to open the gate, so anybody could get in of they wanted to. Neighbors said it had to be a cat, but my cat would never get that wet for a fish even if she did go outside. My best guess now is raccoons. They're pretty crafty little critters and smart enough to move things around or get under things. I know they don't really like water but if there are rocks or ledges where it isn't too deep that they can hang out and go fishing, that could be your problem.

 

[DrDave]

I'll bet the raccoons moved the rocks to give them a ledge to work from. Some of our raccoons are over 40 lbs here. That size, gives them a lot of push.

 

[JustJack]

Whoa, 40 lbs?? South Florida raccoons weren't that big, but I'd imagine there are some bigger ones here. I haven't see any here yet, but the previous owners were back in town a couple months ago and mentioned (a little late, if you ask me) that they used to have raccoons all the time and they even figured out how to unscrew the light bulbs so nobody could see them. I stretched weed cloth over the pond (above water level) and that stopped the disappearing fish. I guess it slowed down the raccoons enough to give the fish time to get away. Any suggestions on dealing with raccoons?

 

[j.w]

They don't like getting zapped w/ an electric fence or walking on boards w/ little nails sticking out and they sure aren't keen on Coonhounds

 

[JustJack]

I've been hesitant to use anything my granddaughter could get hurt on, but chicken wire hasn't deterred them and they sure don't seem to mind the neighborhood cats. But I could put a board full of nails around the top of the pond where they climb in...I'll have to give that a try. I just got a pond net so that should help, too.

 

[j.w]

If it's raccoons they are prolly coming at night I assume and you could just put the stuff out there to deter them when your granddaughter isn't out there :regular_waving_emot

 

[JustJack]

Very true..and yes, they do come in the middle of the night.

 

[mrsclem]

I had good luck with a spray repellent that I got at Lowes. I had racoons taking the cat litter jugs filled with fish food. They would carry them over the 5' fence and into the woods and then unscrew the lids and pig out! I sprayed the jugs as well as the area around the pond and have had no problems this year. Not sure what is in it but it worked well for me.