Am totally pissed… dead fishes + stinking pond water + major pond cleanup + PAIN..
I came back from overseas late last week after being away for more than a week. When I checked my pond, I found out that all my kois had died! It stank and I had to remove most of the water that very night! I still have a backache today after having to manually drain the water and clean the filter chambers over the weekend. I get really upset when this happens. No one was home so I had to ask my neigbours to take care for me. Don't blame them though as I believe some other joker came into my garden and accidentally ( I hope so anyway!) switched off my main pump which also aerates the water in it. Luckily my tank that houses my arowana in the house was ok!
Anyway the moral of the story is always do your due diligence and provide proper instructions and thorough checklists when you go overseas to whoever is looking after your precious fishes! Sigh! Once bitten twice shy. This is what I recommend.
1) Check the power in your house in case there is a power trip! Your fish can probably survive for about 2-3 hours without aeration. (more for larger fishes and not guppies ok) If you have more fishes in the tank, this survival period drops ofcourse.
2) Individually check the tank/pond to make sure that the pumps are still running. This was the mistake I made! BIG MISTAKE! I assume that because the power did not trip, my fish tank/pond pumps are definitely working. WRONG! This is the extra step ok you need to put in the checklist… Make sure that the power to the individual tanks/pond is not switched off! This is especially true for ponds as the switches to the pumps, waterfall features, etc are usually located outside the house and someone could accidentally switched them off. I would go the extra mile to maybe paste a sticker over that pump switch to warn people NOT TO TOUCH IT AT ALL!
3) Clear instructions to feed your fish just enough to minimize water pollution. Usually when you ask someone to help feed your fish, they will just throw the food into the tank not caring whether your fish is hungry or not. Bad idea ok! All uneaten food will foul up your water big time! I know it can be a chore for whoever is helping feed your fish but tell them you will buy them a bottle of wine or something when you come back if they feed them correctly. 
If it is your arowana, throw in one piece (prawns, etc) at a time until it stops eating. If they are kois or other fishes, throw the food (pellets, etc) in bit by bit.
Why I said this is because when I drained my pond, I found quite a lot of uneaten pellets at the bottom of the pond!
Learn from my mistakes ok… When you get a sore back like me, you tend to think better and prepare better next time! 
Adious and take care!
Steven
Filed under Arowana Care Tips by on Jun 18th, 2007. Comment. 
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Comments on Am totally pissed… dead fishes + stinking pond water + major pond cleanup + PAIN..
Steve, I'm really sorry to hear of your trauma's! Its gutting when any thing like this happens, and frustrating! I hope you recover soon, my thoughts are with you xxx
p.s. Thanks for all the tips and the advise you provide here, its very usefull x
Hi Steve,
Sorry to hear about your koi , I've not set up my arowana yet! -but koi I do have experience with. If you believe a 'joker' turned off your pumps-a sign left on it not to be touched, might be the first thing they go for?
In my experience, It's best to have all your switches locked away in the pump house, and where possible have your air pump on a different circuit to the rest. With a back up generator-just in case.
I'm a firm believer in you can never have enough good bacteria and air supply for koi. So I have a filter block that is half the size of the pond, nothing special just tubes and rock. No vortex,skimmer or any of that high cost filteration equipment. Koi are hardy fish and the more you add-the softer the fish become! and prown to diesease.
Sadly, alot of people do not realise, primarily, you are keeping water-and the fish come along for the ride! I've just had a simular thing happen to a friends tank of 'gold form' ancistrus. They awoke in the morning to find over 8o of them dead. They thought they had a perfect set-up? Flugel filter that adds air through a venture at the surface and a tank full of plants and fish. With the warm weather not helping(less oxygen in water), the amount of baby fish-together with the breeding pair and off spring from other breedings, together with the plants that supply O2 during the day-but give out deadly CO2 at night(something else alot of people do not realise)-The system was on borred time!-All I could do was and a decent air pump so hopefully it wont happen again?
A fresh supply of constant air(pond/tank and filter) is most important and the only expensive bit of equipment I bought is a jap made 'MEDO' air pump with a 10inch airstone disk. Theres lots of makes on the market-but most have flappers that have to be replaced, This one is like the old fashion british enginnering pump you used too be able to buy-with a piston instead. In the four years it has been running constantly?-it has never broken down or stopped. Once a year it just needs the external air filter washed out, and I've hand no health problems with my koi-since!. Simon
Simon,
Thanks for sharing.. Very detailed stuff that will be able to help all the hobbyists out there who's thinking of building a pond in their house. One point that I will take to heart if I ever build another pond is to have the switches build inside the house so no one can touch them!
Steven