Gold Fish and Koi Update

[Jason]

Here is a short video I took yesterday of my oldest fish (around 2 years old). The Gold fish I had in my first pond and used to be $0.10 feeder fish that grew up fast into 6-7" Goldfish lol. My Koi have almost outgrown the Goldfish and they were smaller when I put them in lol. They will have a much larger pond in the near future that will accommodate them better for the rest of their lives, but they have been thriving in this small 500ish gallon pond so far so good, Take a look
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=1FC3A60C4A3A53C8!178&authkey=!ABJckA75ImWSHhE&ithint=video%2c.mp4

 

[Tula]

I sure miss seeing my fish swim around….lucky you!

 

[jmajid]

jason: thanks for the video - how big were the koi when you got them and now?
what kind of plants do you have there in the bottom of the pond?
water looks pretty clear!
thanks!

 

[Jason]

Thanks jmajid, They were around 3-4" when I bought them from Petsmart a year ago. The White Marble looking one is around 8" now and the Gold Ogon is around 6.5" now and the other two smaller. My largest fish is in the other 400 gallon pond and is just a Common Goldfish and he is 4 years old and was given to me from my brother who had him in a 55 gallon tank, he is now 9" along with a Butterfly Koi who is growing fast as well around 6".

I have no plants in the pond during this video as I took my Hyacinths, Water lettuce, and Lucky Bamboo out of the pond back in the end of September of last year for the winter.

The water stays really clear in this pond and is only 18" deep, I have a Jebao C10 13w UV Pressurized Filter in this pond since built. I have to clean the filter pads at least Once a month now due to leaf fall and the fish getting larger, but it is easy to clean and I do not clean the Bio Balls in the bottom either.

A big part of the filtering I believe too is the concrete fountain from the falls has a 3-4" shallow pool and the water has to climb over rocks to go out the water fall into the pond below, so I think that pool acts as a settlement pool as it collects a lot of waste and builds up a soil on the bottom in just a couple of months and I scoop out about half every now and then but leave the rest as some of my vines roots have made themselves comfy in it.

 

[jmajid]

jason: yes, looking again at your video i see that i mistook the rocks as plants!
i have been wondering about petsmart fish and their respective health...
how does a newbie like me begin to QT fish when all i have is the pond?
i need to provide pics and ask for help in how the various pieces seem to fit together - i inherited the pond when i bought the house 6 weeks or so ago... the pond was a big factor in deciding the house was for us.
i know i have some pre-filter, then a seahorse pump, some kind of tetra pond pressurised filter (4000 i think) and then a tetra pond A27 UV filter... all of this is housed in my garage so all indoors...
there is a bottom drain that sucks and the waterfall that supplies...
there is also a diverter output i think, but then there is a nother set of pipes that come out to the location of the pump , but are not connected to anything and i am now wondering if thats something i can use to remove/change water with....
i didnt get anything but a 2 minute - heres the pond and equipment from the previous owner...
i scoop out the leaves from the surface and the bottom as much as i can....
ok - im rambling - but thanks again! i will be adding some more fish (once i figure out how to QT) and also some more plants...

 

[Jason]

Yeah, Post some pictures if you can, It sounds like a larger setup than mine, which is pretty small. As far as QT'ing fish go, I just threw mine into a fresh built pond and got lucky lol. I now keep a 20 Gallon and 10 Gallon Tank up and running with filters and aerators to QT fish or keep small feeder fish in for a while until they are healthy enough for my ponds as they are small with strong currents. There are many on here who are far more experienced than I am as I learned a lot from them on here over the past year and I consider myself still a newby to this as well :beerchug:

 

[jmajid]

i posted some pics and the help request in the newbies forum
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/topic/13437-help-on-how-my-pond-operates/#entry201342

 

[Koilady]

Congratulations David, sounds like you are doing something right.

Hugs, Lorraine