Toads attacking my Koi

[delphi]

Hi there

This is the first year I've had a big pond, having moved in in October. We have three Koi along with about 40 goldfish. Yesterday I discovered one of the Koi had a toad attached to it's head. I tried poking it with a stick but it wouldn't let go. My husband netted the fish and removed the toad and put it in a field a little way a way. Today a new toad was at the same game, so this one was removed in the same way, before long another one was doing the same thing. I've read a few things about it being to do with them not finding females to mate with so trying to mate with the fish. I guess it wouldn't matter too much if they weren't attaching themselves to the fishes eyeballs and damaging them. I'm not sure what to do to protect the fish. We've taken 7 toads out of the pond so far but obviously they will come back. How long does their mating season last? What can I do to stop them hurting the fish? I've seen a number of posts from people confidently saying that a toad would find it impossible to attach itself to a slippery Koi but I can definitely confirm they find it very easy and once they are on they bury their front legs in the eye sockets. Horrid.

Lastly we seem to have a lot of blanket weed all of a sudden. What's the best solution for this? Cheers.

 

[addy1]

Wow no idea on how to stop the toad attack. Can you put a fine weave net tight over the pond to not allow them to get into the pond?

I get tons of toads, but they have never attached to the shubunkins, maybe because the fish are smaller.

And Welcome to our Group of ponders

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Are these Cane toads?

 

[delphi]

I'm not sure what type of toad they are to be honest. The only reason I think they are a toad not a frog is that the husband says they aren't slimy

 

[delphi]

Wow no idea on how to stop the toad attack. Can you put a fine weave net tight over the pond to not allow them to get into the pond?

I get tons of toads, but they have never attached to the shubunkins, maybe because the fish are smaller.

And Welcome to our Group of ponders

I'm not sure about the net as I think there are so many in there the ones we haven't yet caught will then be stuck in there.

They don't seem interested in the smaller goldfish or the larger koi, just this one particular Koi who is obviously about as hot as fish come to a toad. It must be wearing the equivalent of frilly undies to be attracting them so.

 

[addy1]

Maybe you need some koi goggles!

 

[Nepen]

Oh my. Sorry I laugh so hard at the image from this, especially from your second post lol.

So sorry your koi got attacked! Can you remove the koi to a seperate tub (just to confine it for a day or two) and see what will the toads do?

 

[budgenator]

Tree Frogs have dry skin, we even have some that look like toads http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10370_12145_12201-60110--,00.html. I found the Great Britain has 2 species of tree frogs and I suspect a tree frog would be more able to ride a koi bare-back than a real toad would.

 

[delphi]

Oh my. Sorry I laugh so hard at the image from this, especially from your second post lol.

So sorry your koi got attacked! Can you remove the koi to a seperate tub (just to confine it for a day or two) and see what will the toads do?

Yeah, we're just going to do this now, it's evening here now and My husband has just been out to find another one stuck to this fishes face and at least 7 hanging round the edge of the pond croaking for attention. I never disliked them before now but the digging in the eyeball thing is giving me an intense dislike for them. It's like something off of alien.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

What is the health status of this particular Koi? Is it behaving differently than the other fish?

 

[delphi]

What is the health status of this particular Koi? Is it behaving differently than the other fish?

I'd say it's not quite as lively as the others but still swimming around seemingly happy. It doesn't even seem that bothered by the toads getting at it. It's only just started warming up for spring so until this week the fish have all been pretty quiet. Now they are starting to be interested in food again.

 

[budgenator]

I would love to see a picture

 

[delphi]

Of the fish or fish with toad/frog attached? I'll get one in the morning, though hopefully not with the frog in it as we've moved the fish into a tub for the night. I'm going to go back to the place we get it from in the morning and see what they suggest. From what I see on the net the frogs/toads go for the female fishes by mistake. Bit of a pain that the breeding season seems to be about 2 weeks. We can't keep the koi in a tub that whole time.

 

[budgenator]

Of the fish or fish with toad/frog attached?

both if you can, but I was thinking of at least the toad/fish attached out of morbid curiosity; you've have a problem that nobody seems to have heard of before. If Meyer Jordan,
addy1, and MitchM haven't head of it, you have something rare.

 

[adavisus]

Male common frogs will get grabby at anything that moves in Spring.

Beasts.

Assuming there are some girly frogs around to find, after they spawn the males will calm down