Any advice on catching a koi in a 2500 gal 25 x 30 pond? I've got a koi with a head wound from a heron attack that I think needs treatment. I've been watching it carefully and it's not improving on its own. The injury happened 5 days ago. A last resort would be to drastically lower the water level. Last fall I removed close to 100 gold fish from the pond and it was an awful ordeal. I lowered the water level and used a sein net for the most stubborn ones. My DH and I snuck up on some of them at night - he with a quick flash of a spot light and me with the net. That's a disaster looking to happen because both of us came close to falling in several times in the dark. I have a very large shallow net specifically for koi and I have had good luck with it, but is there an easier way? This koi is eating and behaving very normally.
BTW, I am goldfish free. Now I'm overrun with mosquito fish. Sheesh.
Catching a Koi?
I was going to say--I remember hearing about someone on this forum being a really good koi catcher. Went back and looked at the thread and see it was you!! LOL! Hmmm...no help.
Would your husband help you during the day light? Maybe one of your at one end to scare them toward the other with the net?
What kind of treatment will you give him once you catch him?
You're right about the thread and koi catching. It was me! I've made it more difficult by adding to the pond volume this year plus in the last 20 months a knee surgery, a back surgery, a shoulder surgery and two foot surgerys have DH and me moving quite a bit slower this year. However, we have now fully recovered and we still have all our parts and they function after a fashion. LOL
I will make a paste of potassium permanganate and apply it to the wound with a cotton swab. One treatment will clear any bacteria or fungus and it should heal right up. If I see more problems once I get him out of the pond then I will dip the whole fish in PP. 1/8 tsp in ten gallons for 30 seconds, plus the cotton swab treatment on the head wound. I use the pure form of PP. This is serious stuff to use and extreme caution is advised.
This message was edited Jun 19, 2008 12:57 PM
Yowza! You sound like the bionic couple! :) I am glad you are healed well though!
Guess no one else has any better ideas than yours to catch koi. Some of those guys can be really hard to catch--that I know... And I was just fishing the little ones out of 60 gal aquarium this spring. Not 2500 gal!
I'm glad to hear you have a good treatment plan in mind. I have no idea what I'd do if one of my koi had a wound. Ask you, I guess. Let us know when you catch him and how it goes. Good luck.
Sigh - heading out to the pond tonight with DH, the net, the spot light and a prayer. Hopefully the fish will be the only thing that gets dipped.
Hope you caught him Snapple!! Without injury to you or your DH.