What to do, what to do? Overstocking koi pond?

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OliveFish05

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Hi there. We have a 1,300 gallon koi pond stocked with half a dozen comet goldfish and 3 dozen koi. It is fully cycled and has been doing so well since May. In the fall we transitioned the fish to a wheat germ based pellet, and now don’t feed them at all as they’ve gone dormant for the winter. All our plants were moved inside or cut back for the winter so nothing is growing now. Everything has been going so well. We only lost one koi, at the start of the cold weather. We pulled it out, buried it, tested the water and everything is fine and back to normal. My uncle called today and told my mom he is having 12 koi shipped to our house in two days. He said 6 of them were $120 each, so I am guessing these are big koi. He is building a koi pond in the spring, and will take them once it is cycled. Our pond is stocked to the max. I don’t know what to do. We can’t keep massive $120 koi alive. All our plants are gone, the pond is already stocked to the max, and we don’t want to lose any of ours, much less his expensive ones! What do I do? I am afraid if we put a bunch of duckweed in, it would die off or be eaten before it could do anything.
 
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Hi :)
The average rule is 10 gallons for a 1 inch fish.
Koi can easily and quickly go over 20/25 inches. Goldies can reach 11 inches.
How large are yours ? The less the fishes the better they will thrive ;)

You could sell them, or exchange them for pond/tank equipment...
You shouldn't give them away as many people have no respect for animals they didn't buy :(
 
Tell your Uncle to re-route the shipping. Explain that you would help if you could but that aquatic systems are delicately balanced and that it would put all your fish in jeapordy if you added more.

He is an adult that has been hasty and he needs to take responsibility. It really isn't your problem.
 
You could sell them, or exchange them for pond/tank equipment...
They’re not for us is the thing. He just wants us to take care of them for him until his pond is dug.
 
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He should have contacted you about this a while back and asked if he could leave his fish with you for a month. However, what's done is done.

If it's winter then the fish shouldn't put much load on the system. Don't feed them and just monitor the water. If you get a big ammonia reading, do a water change. Otherwise leave them and hope for the best.
 
Tell your Uncle to re-route the shipping. Explain that you would help if you could but that aquatic systems are delicately balanced and that it would put all your fish in jeapordy if you added more.

He is an adult that has been hasty and he needs to take responsibility. It really isn't your problem.


Most of our koi are small right now, less than 6 inches. And it’s our ponds first winter, we don’t know how any of them are going to do with the cold, without adding the issue of poor water quality
 
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I feel like everything with the pond has just been a big mess.
 
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Well, honestly... I think your uncle needs a wake up... If those fish die, you and your mom can say: "We told ya so"... He cant sue you cause he just put it on you without asking. Its a living animal, so take very good care of it, but if they die its not your fault. You and your mom weren't ready for them
 
Write up a document stating that if they die in your care, he cant sue and have him sign. If he doesnt sign, then say you wont even attempt caring for them and he can lose out on on $160 fish
 
He wouldn’t sue or anything. At least we don’t have to worry about that. We are going to buy a ton of duckweed and hope it helps. Will be monitoring the water parameters. It evaporates rather quickly so we can fill it up a little bit once ir twice a week to help
 
We've had my uncles fish for about 2 weeks now and we've lost 5 of our fish. Two beautiful platinum ogon, a couple others, and one of our gorgeous gin rin orenji ogons (solid orange with sparkles) is out there on his side. I don't know what to do. We didn't get any duckweed because it snowed. Our well is dying so we can't do water changes
 
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can you test the pond water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH?
post some pictures of the fish
what did the dead fish look like?

is there any chance you can do a water change on the pond?
what is wrong with the well water?
 
is there any chance you can do a water change on the pond?
what is wrong with the well water?
I've been afraid to even test the water. I will do it first thing tomorrow as it's night here now.
Our well doesn't hardly make enough water for us over the day, much less enough to do a water change on the pond...
 
can you get a truck load of water in to flush out the pond?
any neighbours of family/ friends who can bring some water around to help water change the pond?
 

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