Koi Friends Indeed

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KOI FRIENDS INDEED By Ed Kellar

The Near Disaster –Last Saturday night Feb 22 was a real lesson in the value of belonging to a club with such great koi friends and emergency resources. You may recall, we had a pretty serious storm front move through the area late that afternoon. I had gone into town from my Archer abode and was happily doing an extended mall crawl and movie evening, oblivious to what was happening at home. Little did I know that a tree limb had speared a fist size hole in my 12,000 gallon liner pond and the level was dropping rapidly!

Fortunately, my roomie ( and Pondhopper ex-President, Sebastian Camillo) was leaving around 6 pm and spotted the impending disaster. Unfortunately, his efforts to find me did not succeed. They did, however, reach Don Hellard and Art Manaker. Before the 3.5 pond was down to knee deep, these two heroes had mobilized with Don’s trailer and two hard side poly tanks and starting to transfer koi . When I got word around 7:30, it was just in time to run home and help with the last hour of transfers. By 9:30 -10:00 pm all 37 of my medium to jumbo koi were temporarily at home in Amquel treated water, complete with net covers. Whew! Even in knee-deep water with two larege koi nets, it is a slow process to safely catch koi in a 24 ft diameter pool. By 10:30 –11:00 pm everyone had wound down and made it home. Guys , me and my koi really owe ya.

Aftermath and lessons learned – Luckily I’m on a well because the 400 gal and 200 gal tanks require daily 10 -25% water changes to keep everyone happy/ I also split some koi into a third 500 gal. stock tank to even the load. The next day and most of the week were needed to clean algae from the liner, perform patching, and ready the system for leak testing and re-startng. Since it’s early Spring, I also used the downtime to de-sludge the filter system and make some long overdue piping improvements. So far so good, no koi and only a couple of scales lost.

In hindsight, here are some observations and lessons for the future in no particular order, not including medical treatment of koi because thankfully none were injured in the process:

Never put off trimming dead limbs or trees anywhere near a pond. I know, stay away from trees in the first place! Somehow they grow near the ponds.

Your emergency tanks and aerators are always loaned out or in need of repairs or fittings, extra extension cords, etc. when you need them, i.e. plan for the worst, but don’t forget the Pondhoppers have emergency equipment, including collapsible tanks. Don’t forget tank covers. There is nothing worse than rescuing a valuable koi and losing it because it jumped out of an unfamiliar place. In a pinch, float a piece of Styrofoam for a comfortable koi heaven to help keep them calmed.) Pg 8

Have a seine net longer than your pond diameter that can be used to easily isolate the koi in a small area away from rocks, intake structures, or anything else than can damage the fish or impede net handling. Also unless your poly tank has a drain you will need a transfer pump for water changes, and a discharge line long enough to avoid flooding the back patio.

Keep a stock of treatment chemicals, and sufficient patch kit materials always on-hand. This should probably include some rubber seam tape and an underwater patch hit. I’m also partial to 3M Marine 5200 adhesive sealant available at Home Depot for piping or bulkhead leaks. If you can’t move the fish at least have something to cover or plug the worst leak- slow down the water loss rate to buy time. Be prepared to go wading, and always wear rubber sandals, etc. to avoid nasty slipfalls on algae covered liners..

These things NEVER seem to happen in daylight or with sufficient time for daytime repairs thank goodness for my deck spotlights, but good hand or work lights are critical too. Be prepared for the extra daily effort involved in taking care of koi in tanks for a few days at least.

ALWAYS check your pond immediately after a storm or if possible have someone verify pumps, breakers, etc are all OK and operating. I’ve had lawn furniture and large pots blown into the pond on more than one occasion-prepare for storms. Unguided missles make holes! Consider what you would do if you lost your entire pond volume- would your hospital tank system handle the crisis?

Call in or leave a telephone number posted-preferable a cell that is always on, have backup contacts for emergency help, and…

Think about helping out your fellow Pondhoppers by taking care of their pons when they need help. We all go on vacation sometime. Get to know pond systems other than your own, and see how others cope. It’s fun, and will never fail to add to your friendship and being koi kichi. Besides you never know when you’ll need some real Koi Friends indeed…