Koi fish "gulping" air. Bad?

[ReignsAngel]

Hi, this is ReignsAngel's husband, Reign_Maker, I had a question, so she said I could ask you guys. So I hope you don't mind...

I'm doing a remoldeling job for this couple and they have a koi fish pond... It's WAY too small for the amount of fish that's in there, I would guess 7-8 koi, all are "big" and one is REALLY big... The couple has a river type water fall system for circulation, and today, the "river" was barely trickling... At the one little place where the water was still flowing they koi were on the surface "gulping" air... The really big one was the most active, he seemed to do it all day, a few others would join him from time to time...

Im concerned for the fish, however, I don't know if this is normal koi behavior... The pond looks like one of those 35g WalMart ponds... The family is living out of town while the work is being done, which has been going on since April of this year... I feed them every morning I go there and again when I leave, because I doubt anyone comes by to feed them... I am not familiar with pond pumps or filters, so I don't know if I can fix the water flow easily...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated... I would feel really bad to show up at the job and find any of these beautiful fish dead...

Thank you,
Reign

[bettagurl]

hmm, they do that if there is a lack of oxygen and/or ammonia.
That "pond" is wayyyyy too small, that's a very sad situation.. :(

When are the owners returning?
If they would part with the fish, I'm sure it would be fairly easy to find them a proper home.

[Dangerdoll]

yeap, there is not enough oxygen in the water exacerbated by the amount of bio-load in the water for such a small pond. The problem with the filter is the pump that is under the water surface sounds clogged. Usually, the part that pulls the water in is covered with a sponge. The sponge needs a good rinsing off, I can guarantee that it's full of debris/algae. I'll bet it can use a good water change too.

[ReignsAngel]

Im sorry I never got back to this, but I've been working this job insane hours, BUT, its finally done... Ok, so soon after I posted this, the owner came by and we talked about his pond... He went and bought a new pump, and that seemed to help the fish... Although, I noticed, they were still gulping a day or two later... His pump isnt the best I would guess... When the water flows well, the fish are "fine", but the pump doesnt seem to want to run properly all the time...

One of the modifications they are making to the home is removing the driveway and the walkway leading to the driveway: all ready done... Moving the driveway to the side of the home and the walkway out further from the home, they are making more room for a larger pond... I dont know how many gallons it will be, but from the design he layed out, it will be huge... He was saying he wants it to be 4 feet deep, wow... He's debating on one or two water falls for flow... I gave him this website to check out for info on the pond, so I hope he takes my advice...

Anyway, thank you for the advice, Tamara and I have a pond we will be asking you all about here shortly... *just moved into a new house with an existing 165g pond, it is in desperate need of attention*

Jake

[HellRaisin]

8 big fish in 35 gallons is never going to work well. But here's what's probably wrong:

1) Obviously, there needs to be enough air dissolved in the water for the fish to breath, maybe the waterfall is sufficient, but with such a small system, I'd add some additional aeration, at least until the problem was fixed, just to cover that base.

2) Nitrite. Fish make ammonia, and bacteria make ammonia into nitrite. Nitrite is bad because it enters the fish's blood stream just like oxygen, thereby displacing oxygen in the blood stream. Which means the fish doesn't get enough oxygen and starts gulping air.

To deal with nitrite, you can add nitrite detoxifiers and do water changes, but that's just a temporary fix. What you really need is enough bacteria in the system to change nitrite into nitrate for all those big fish. Which means that you need lots of some kind of medium in the system for these bacteria to colonize. Which means you need a filter, a REAL filter, not a sponge over an intake. Something like a sump or a couple big canister filters,

-tony

[wataugachicken]

salt would help if there was a nitrite issue, the salt more easily binds to the cells and takes the place of the nitrite.

it sounds like they are building a nice big pond and hopefully it'll be enough, but i have read that the recommended allowance is 80-100g per koi. i hope he doesn't try to add in a whole bunch of other fish too.