Monday night, our son's baseball game got cancelled due to lightning in the area, so we decided to make a trip into town to buy some Koi for our backyard pond. We knew there were storms on the way, but we made the trip anyway.
We got to town at about 7:10 p.m....located the fish store and went inside. We were shown where the tanks that housed the Koi were and began deciding which ones we liked.
About 7:30, the storm rolled in....and boy was it a doozy! I wish I had had my camera to take some pictures! The wind blew, the rain came down hard and the thunder and lightning was everywhere!
We decided on the medium Koi....they were priced at 3 for $26.99. A reasonable price considering the next size up were priced at 3 for $94.99!!
My husband wanted several fish to stock the pond, so we decided to get 9 Koi. He and our son picked out 5 and my daughter and I picked out the other four. The 5 they picked out were the bigger and "prettier" of the bunch, so my daughter and I picked what we thought were the best of what was left.
The guy at the fish shop bagged them up....the 5 hubby and son picked out in one bag, daughter's and my 4 in another...then placed the bags in a box so we could transport them home.
Hubby had recently put algaecide in the pond to reduce the amount of algae that had accumulated in the pond and along the streambed. He was worried that this might harm the Koi, so we completely drained the pond, cleaned and refilled it. Of course, this took time. We almost had it ready on Tuesday night, so we decided to wait to put the fish in till Wednesday.
I got home at about 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning from taking my daughter to summer school. I checked on the Koi.....
The 5 Koi that my hubby and son picked out were all DEAD!
ALL FIVE OF THEM!
I was sick! I was shocked! I was upset!
I felt so bad that those poor fish suffered. We definitely did not expect this. We thought they would make it at least 36 hours! We had read that Koi can be shipped by mail and have made it more than 48 hours....so no big deal....NOT!
The four that my daughter and I had picked out were still alive, but I didn't know for how much longer, so I called my husband to let him know what had happened and find out what I should do.
I finished filling the pond.....ran to the local Earl May Garden Center....got some pond treatment to remove chlorine from the tap water.....dumped it in the pond....set the container of fish in the water to acclimate them....waited an hour....then dumped them in the pond.
We've already named them....the light orange and black fish is Daredevil...he got this name after he jumped up into the streambed and swam about 10 feet in 2 inches of water! And then had to be coaxed back into the pond!
The white/black one is Ghost.....the Grey/Black one is Shadow. The darker orange/black one (not in this picture) is Orangeman (our school mascot).
I think they like their new home!
This is Daredevil and Orangeman trying to swim up on a rock...apparently they like the current coming down from the streambed.
All four of them like hanging out in the strong current.
This is a view from the pond side looking at the streambed....we had to build a "wall" with larger stones to keep them from swimming up into the streambed!
This is Ghost trying to get up on the rock to try to get into the streambed....but we were a step ahead and blocked his way!
He's trying VERY hard to move those big rocks and get through to the streambed!
Look at that tail splash!
Still trying....but getting tired.
Orangeman, Daredevil and Ghost just hangin' out in the pond...getting familiar with their new surroundings.
We'll eventually be adding more, but we thought we'd better get use to taking care of these four before spending more money on fish. The kids are loving it....they're constantly going out to watch them swim around.
I gotta admit....I love them too!
