# Pond Water Gone Milky



## REDSTEVEO (20 Jun 2012)

Came down this morning to feed my fish in the pond before going to work only to find the water looks like someone has poured a few litres of milk in the water  

This is a mature pond, planted, with plenty of filtration and UV. The water for the last few weeks has been absolutely crystal and the fish have been eating well. I also noticed that there were lots of bits of pond plants floating around on the surface of the pond. Even worse one of my four Koi Carp which is about 14 inches long was lying on its side in the corner of the pond looking very distressed  

There are 3,800 litres in the pond and only a total of 14 fish, 4 Koi and 10 mixed variety of goldfish ranging from 5 to 8 inches long. I am fully expecting to get home tonight to find that the distressed Koi has died  

Anyone got any theories?

Thanks,

Steve


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## Ady34 (20 Jun 2012)

over zealous breeding? was the distressed koi a female, did it have any lesions to its sides?


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## GHNelson (20 Jun 2012)

Hi 
Sounds like bacteria bloom or plant tissue breakdown.
hoggie


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## REDSTEVEO (20 Jun 2012)

Ady34 said:
			
		

> over zealous breeding? was the distressed koi a female, did it have any lesions to its sides?



Sorry I don't know if it is a female or not, I have never bothered trying to sex them and because there was no breeding activity last year I assumed they were all males or all females. How do you tell the difference. I could not see any lesions but I will look again tonight and let you know.

Thanks. :?


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## REDSTEVEO (20 Jun 2012)

hogan53 said:
			
		

> Hi
> Sounds like bacteria bloom or plant tissue breakdown.
> hoggie



Plants have been fine, no sign of deterioration previously. I though it may be algal bloom, but if this is due to over zealous breeding there must have been a lot of sperm to turn the water that milky


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## Ady34 (20 Jun 2012)

REDSTEVEO said:
			
		

> but if this is due to over zealous breeding there must have been a lot of sperm to turn the water that milky


yeah your probably right, i only say it as my goldfish are fairly aggressive when breeding, the females get a hard time from numerous  males and they hurtle through the plants looking for hide outs. I imagine if they cant escape the vigourous advances then they will tire and could show distress like your koi. With koi you can tell the males from females by body shape, if you look from above the males will be slimmer following a line no wider than the gills, the females tend to get broader from the gills. There are other ways to more accurately tell with fin profiles etc, heres a link: http://www.nishikigoi-info.com/koi-care/sexing-koi.html
How are all the other fish?
Is it possible there has been a disturbance of some kind, heron, people? the floating bits of plants indicate a disturbance below. Are all the fish accounted for or is it too difficult to see.
It could be a bacterial bloom like Hoggie said, it may also be that the two are unrelated (the milky water and the ill fish).
Id carry out a large water change regardless.
Is it a large pond with large fish, filter working correctly, no power cuts?
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## REDSTEVEO (20 Jun 2012)

Thanks Ady,

3,800 litres, all pumps working and all fish accounted for. No signs of water splashed about around the pond. I'm thinking that maybe if there has been some breeding activity there has been some dashing about amongst the pots containing the plants which do have soil in which gives off a cloudy mess if disturbed :?: 

I will check the girth and things of the Koi and will check things out when I get home and post an update.

Thanks


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## Ady34 (20 Jun 2012)

hope all is well when you get home.
Could be disturbance, especially with big fish like koi. 3,800L im sure youll have a v. good filter so if it was just disturbance it would have cleared by now so youll have a better idea when you get back.
My little pond goes cloudy occasionally when there has been early morning activity, however my maintainence is a little infrequent so detrius is easily disturbed! 
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## REDSTEVEO (20 Jun 2012)

Well...there's a turn up for the books. Hooray  I got home and guess what? The water is clear as a bell and the severly distressed Koi seems to have not only survived but was up swimming with the rest and looking for food.  
There were no bumps or lesions on any of the fish.

I fed them and touch wood all seems okay. I assessed the Koi using the method you described and although I can' be 100% sure it looks like I might have two females and two males from the four Koi carp.

So if this was all down to 'over zealous breeding activity' can I expect to see baby Koi fish fry swimming round any time soon?

Thanks again,

Steve


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## Ady34 (20 Jun 2012)

Pleased to hear that mate.
With reference to the breeding and baby koi, if this is indeed the reason, they are greedy egg eaters but some roe may have slipped their big mouths!....if your lucky. I have one baby goldfish from last years activity without intervention so if you have some reasonable plant mass you never know.
Hopefully this is all that this was and nothing else, youll obviously be keeping an eye an the fish anyway but it maybe worth checking in early mornings to see if you can witness any courtship to make sure. The reason i mentioned the lesions was that sometimes after long courtships the sides of the female fish can look a little sensitive due to the rubbing and chasing.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## REDSTEVEO (28 Jun 2012)

Ady, sadly the Koi took a turn for the worse yesterday and just lay on the bottom of the pond on its side. It made no attempt to move when I put the net in so I did the humane thing and brought it quickly to an end. Strangely enough the other fish seemed to be stressed out by the appearance of one of their own in a bad way. They were all swimming around it as if they knew something was not right. The next day they seemed fine again.

A couple of days ago I had also put one of those long green brushy things in the pond and I noticed it was full of eggs. I don't know if they were from the Koi or from the goldfish though. They all went white and fluffy so I guess they could not have been fertilised so I am not expecting any fry any time soon.

Cheers,

Steve


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## Ady34 (29 Jun 2012)

Sorry to hear that mate, sounds like there may have been something more serious going on with that fish. With the 2 incidents and the same fish, with the eggs identified in the pond it looks like a problem carrying/laying eggs but i dont really know.
Hopefully the rest will be fine and it is an isoloated incident... looks to be that way.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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