Pond fish hiding

yram_slim

Can anyone tell me why my goldfish and koi have suddenly decided to hide - our pond is very murky at the moment with algae etc. but the fish were there one night, and seemingly gone the next day. We swished around with the net to no avail but they never came up. After putting in some clearing products we can make out at least the bright orange ones. This morning the pond is nearly clear at the front but where are the fish? They must be in the very deep section at the back, but why are they not feeding? Normally they are like a pack of wolves when the food goes in (or should that be sharks?). Any clues as to this odd change of behaviour? We honestly thought someone had stolen them, or can a heron take quite big fish (our ghost koi are about 30 cm).

alanobrien

Could be they are skittish after a heron attack but it could also be lack of oxygen due to algea etc making them lethargic. Do you have a pumped filter system or waterfall or fountain ? This would help with the oxygen content of the water. If it were me, i would be changing some of the water just in case.

kazwookie

Mine are also hiding in the blanket weed, and do most years.

I put it down to a mixture of
1. water too hot
2. too much sunlight
3. lack of oxygen
4. the local heron has been by, but pond is netted !!
5. the cat/s have been sitting on the edge watching them!

They are all there and fit, but just atthe bottom / in the weeds

yram_slim

Thanks for your tips. I did wonder about herons, as we have a large boating lake nearby and I have seen herons flying over our garden. Also we now have three cats living nearby who like our pond. One of our fish completely disappeared recently. I had noticed it pulling itself up into the reeds, which I thought was a spawning type of behaviour, anyway it's gone now, so maybe a cat got it. I wondered how big a fish would hve to be before a heron wouldn't tackle it.

We do have a small waterfall and a fountain but it sounds like a water exchange might be a good idea.

johnfensom

Slim chance I know for a post so long ago ..... but did the fish behaviour return to normal?

The fish in my pond are behaving in the same way since a heron visit some 3 weeks ago.

Money_Grabber13579

Yea they'll get over it eventually. It took ours a few weeks when it came earlier this year but now they're back up looking for food, just as before!