New to ponds, old owners had koi. They are all dead

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Me and my wife recently purchased a home with a small 450 gallon koi pond in it, we've been taking as good care as we can.the old owners left behind instructions which included an annual care sheet, changing the water every spring 100%. The description was exactly verbatim:
Annually (this is hard work):
-Use the kiddie pool I left under the deck, pump the water out of the pond into this pool.
-Carefully remove koi with net I left (in the pool box by the back deck) and put them in the kiddie pool
-drain remaining water form koi pond.
-spray sides of the pond extremely well and remove all sludge from the bottom.
-refill with water. At chlorine remover, wait about 30 minutes and put fish back in.
At this point we had to do it a bitt late, the water was dark green but the koi were very much active and alive, if anything sometimes the oxygen was low but they could all survive by going into the waterfall area. I followed his instructions and the water was all pH balanced and Temps were extremely similar. The ph tester strip only real difference was the Ch hardiness, one was high the new was low. I am extremely disappointed and sad at the amount of work we just did to follow those instructions only for all 4 of the koi to die. I was hoping they would have take the fish or sold them before, as they said they were gonna do, because I didn't have the personal time to attend to them very well, so when I did finally have time I did the deed that ended up doing them in. I don't know what I was supposed to do and I don't know what to do. My wife is breaking down right now, and I hate myself for doing this so hard... I just wanted clearer water again so they could swim and be happy again... the water was almost pure dark green along with alot of sludge in the water everywhere... we were gonna leave them in the kiddie pool overnight but it's supposed to rain and the bubbler we have isn't water proof so we had to put them in so they would have oxygen.
 

mrsclem

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Sorry for the loss of your fish. The previous owners may not have been aware that 450 gallons is way too small for even one koi and completely empting and cleaning a pond destroyed all the good bacteria.
Green water is fine, its a pond, not a pool. Start over with a couple of smaller fish, comets, Shubunkins. Put plants in the pond, they work to filter the water. What type of filter do you have if any?
 
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Me and my wife recently purchased a home with a small 450 gallon koi pond in it, we've been taking as good care as we can.the old owners left behind instructions which included an annual care sheet, changing the water every spring 100%. The description was exactly verbatim:

At this point we had to do it a bitt late, the water was dark green but the koi were very much active and alive, if anything sometimes the oxygen was low but they could all survive by going into the waterfall area. I followed his instructions and the water was all pH balanced and Temps were extremely similar. The ph tester strip only real difference was the Ch hardiness, one was high the new was low. I am extremely disappointed and sad at the amount of work we just did to follow those instructions only for all 4 of the koi to die. I was hoping they would have take the fish or sold them before, as they said they were gonna do, because I didn't have the personal time to attend to them very well, so when I did finally have time I did the deed that ended up doing them in. I don't know what I was supposed to do and I don't know what to do. My wife is breaking down right now, and I hate myself for doing this so hard... I just wanted clearer water again so they could swim and be happy again... the water was almost pure dark green along with alot of sludge in the water everywhere... we were gonna leave them in the kiddie pool overnight but it's supposed to rain and the bubbler we have isn't water proof so we had to put them in so they would have oxygen.
Sorry for your loss; don't be hard on yourself, as even experienced pond people lose fish at one time or another. @mrsclem (above) comments are spot-on. You've got a goldfish-sized pond.
(Welcome to the Forum. Lots of people here with good suggestions.)
 

j.w

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@Virginiality
So sorry for the loss of your fish. Hope we can all help you start over and be able to enjoy your pond again.
 

Mmathis

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Hello and welcome! So sorry for your loss!

Are you sure they were koi and not goldfish?

Do you have pics of the fish and the pond?
 
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Hello and welcome! So sorry for your loss!

Are you sure they were koi and not goldfish?

Do you have pics of the fish and the pond?
They were koi, it won't let me attach files but one was golden and 2 ft, one was black and white about 1-1.5 ft, one was the same size, tricolored yellow orange and white, and one was like 4-6 inches white and yellow
 
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Sorry for the loss of your fish. The previous owners may not have been aware that 450 gallons is way too small for even one koi and completely empting and cleaning a pond destroyed all the good bacteria.
Green water is fine, its a pond, not a pool. Start over with a couple of smaller fish, comets, Shubunkins. Put plants in the pond, they work to filter the water. What type of filter do you have if any?
The previous owners had 1 koi for 6 years, and another for 3, each year they took care of them and did it well enough for the pond so idk, most things I find is that you should have about 100 gallons per koi. I'm at work but once I get back home I'll be sure to post the filter name n such
 
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450 gallon koi pond in it
450 gallons should never be a koi pond. that's is a good size for shubunkins or wiggle buts.
changing the water every spring 100%
you never do a 100% water change that stresses out the fish in a big way unless they get in a temporary home and acclimated properly but its still a stressor.
[/QUOTE]-spray sides of the pond extremely well and remove all sludge from the bottom[/QUOTE]
By doing this you are creating a new pond and destroying what bacteria you had . but in a small pond as such you have treating it more like an aquarium is often the best choice. Look at a half dozen shubunkins and a dozen white clouds , or glofish / danios . Your pond will be entertaining not over loaded AND HEALTHY
 
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KEEPING KOI IN THAT SMALL A POND IS LIKE 4 GUYS IN A 5 X9 CELL . YOU WILL SURVIVE BUT ITS NO LIFE. THERE SHOULD BE A licensing requirement for koi to be in a required gallon per fish
 
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Yep they get big....

Remember they can live past a 100 years... they keep growing every year though their growth rate is much much slower as they get older.
 
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Anyway, yeah scrubbing the algae of the walls of the pond made it a "newer" pond that couldn't tolerate the fish load. It probably was an ammonia flash death.
 
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I figured out what happened. In being really tired because of the backbreaking work I did, I misread the chlorine remover, added only 12.5 ml, instructions say to add 5 ml per 100 gallons, meaning I should have put 22.5. I feel so horrible now
 

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