Pond Plants & Tidying Up

Wheels · 31-07-2011, 01:34 PM

I have recently moved house and inherited a Koi pond, the pond is quite overgrown with pond plants and makes it hard to see the fish, and this past week 2 fish have gone missing, 1 reappeared this morning and the other is still missing, potentially lost in the plants?! Is it ok to remove the baskets and tidy the plants up as it seems to cloud the water when moved slightly? I didn't want to start moving plants if the cloudiness will harm the fish!
Many Thanks!

Doghouse Riley · 31-07-2011, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wheels

I have recently moved house and inherited a Koi pond, the pond is quite overgrown with pond plants and makes it hard to see the fish, and this past week 2 fish have gone missing, 1 reappeared this morning and the other is still missing, potentially lost in the plants?! Is it ok to remove the baskets and tidy the plants up as it seems to cloud the water when moved slightly? I didn't want to start moving plants if the cloudiness will harm the fish!
Many Thanks!

Hi and welcome.

It's difficult to pass an opinion without knowing more about the the surface area and depth of your pond and size and quantity of your fish.

I presume as there are a lot of plants this is a "natural pond" with no circulating water?

Any disturbance of the plants will cause the "gunge" at the bottom to get stirred up. Fish don't mind a bit of "muck" but I'd advise not to disturb it too much and do a bit a day over a week or so.
The fish will be naturally shy, if they don't often come in much contact with people, so one may well be hiding in the plants.
The other possibility could be depending on the size, that it was taken by a heron. They have their breakfast long before most of us wake up in the morning.

The health of fish depend a lot on the quality of the water.
Members could advise you better if you could provide some more information and possibly a photo or two.