DRAMA in our pond: all large (and expensive) fishes died!

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Yesterday will always be on our mind as POND-DRAMA-day!!
This is what happened...........

Because of a huge blunder, all our fishes are dead or dying...!My hubby added a product to the water to fight the "wire algae". On the packing was also written that it was good to disinfect the gills of all fishes. So he assumed that this product was harmless for them.... .He was so satisfied because if this that he forgot that he already added another product to the water 1 week ago, something that only mentioned it would fight the algae!! Result: the product did indeed fight the algae, but it also lowered the oxygen-level of the pound enormously
By the time that we noticed that a few koi's came to the surface because they were gasping for breath, the oxygen level had dropped so dramatically that it was desastrous for all fishes... .
We made the double fountain sprinkle continuously all day and night. Bernard also emptied the water to 1/3, and then refilled the pound with fresh oxygen-rich water. He put several fishes in our bath and stayed up all night to hold them (they turned on their side all the time) while he put on the whirlpool. No use, in the morning these fishes were dead too.

On the attached pics you can see some gasping for air, then dead fish in a plastic tank, and the dead sturgeon in our bad. You can see how huge that sturgeon was!

Result: Have died already: 3 fantastic and huge sturgeons (all more than 1 meter!!), 5 huge Japanese koi, several goldfishes and "winde" (no translation known).
Together they are worth a small fortune!!
We are so devastated. Bernard always took such good care of our pond and was so proud with his big healthy fishes!!
TERRIBLE.......
Today Bernard had to go to Amsterdam all day (by express-train->2 hours). I know he left reluctantly... !

I feel so terrible and down!! Some of these fishes are her since nearly 8 years ago, so we got really attached to them. These koi's and sturgeons are unpayable now, because of their size......

Who knows how many more dead fishes we will find in the days yet to come

[Medusa]

Oh my, how sad! I'm so sorry!

[jenluckenbach]

Oh my, I feel so bad for you Accidents happen, but I imagine the guilt will last a long time. RIP fishes.

[4 Dog Mother]

Oh, how terribly sad! I just have gold fish in my small pond but I hate it when any of them die. About two years ago, a couple of my original ones that were about 7 years old died. It was so sad to see something die like that. I also started 2 very small koi years ago but when they got to be about 18 inches long or so I gave them to my sister because they were knocking over plants to eat the roots, eating the roots off my floating plants and in general creating all kind of havoc. She had them for a couple of years until one died when someone sent off a firework that landed in her pond and killed several fish and then about a year later the other one died.

Knowing how much fish that size cost would give me heart failure as well as just knowing that they were gone. But as was said, mistakes happen and you have to be able to forgive yourself. I hope your husband is able to do that! It would take a few years to get the pond back to normal fish size wise but you could buy some really young ones - I was surprised at how fast they grew actually.

[pomtzu]

OMG - how tragic. I know that koi can be very valuable, and not only did you suffer a monetary loss, but a sentimental loss as well. I feel so bad for you...... Hopefully the remaining fish will survive.

[gini]

Lut, what a terrible event for you and your husband. I am so sorry.

[Pinot's Mom]

I am so sorry - but, as was already posted, accidents do happen. Don't beat yourselves up too much.

[kokopup]

Very sorry to hear of your loss. I had a similar situation where the fish were coming to the top mouths open screaming for air. My water fall pump had failed and when the sun went down the oxygen level dropped. I had to put an air pump in my filter and run it around the clock for several days to get the pond back in balance.

I hope your loss is limited to the fish already affected. I can imagine how you feel because every fish has a name and personality. I know my koi did anyway. I never had sturgeon but had dwarf catfish that helped keep the bottom clean.

Good luck.