Considering a Rebuild or Repair? Make Sure to Store Your Fish

August 24, 2017

August, 2017

Koi
Pond
Maintenance

When maintaining, building, or repairing a koi pond or water garden, one should consider the immense undertaking such an endeavour can be. We had an emergency call today from a client who attempted to clean their koi pond without proper equipment, and lost half of his fish in the process.

Know Before You Clean Your Koi Pond

Do you have enough room to store your koi fish during a thorough cleaning or repair? Replacing pond liners, both cement and rubber can require an extensive amount of time for your fish and turtles. Often times our customers will be half-way through with their rebuild or cleaning when they call for help (in which the price doubles due to our emergency fee established just for this issue). Do you know how long it will take to repair or clean your water feature? Knowing before you drain the pond is crucial and you should prepare for your fish to be out for days if not weeks before they can be safely relocated to the pond.

Hi, I am a happy Koi Fish. My friends and I love a clean home and appreciate quality pumps, filtration, and UV-lights, don’t let us down

Storing Your Koi Fish & Turtles Safely

Do you live in Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego, or any other part of Southern California? If so, listen up! Both land and air predators exist, and love to eat koi and turtles, just like we love our sushi – so do they. (Can we blame them!?) Of course oddly enough, when you decide you need to clean your pond and relocate your fish or turtles for a short time, these predators often take notice and follow up when allowed. We always recommend storing your fish in a place with shade, cover, and enough water motion to keep them happy and aerated. Refer to our images for some samples of places fish can stay during your renovation or cleaning.

“We rent out fish tanks just for this reason, it’s almost like a luxury resort we setup for your fish and turtles while we repair or clean your pond”

Fish Transport & Holding

Believe it or not, companies do offer this service. If you have a pond, lake, or water feature and do not have a place to safely store your fish and turtles. You can contact a company who specializes in koi fish transport and can hold onto your fish for you during your rebuild or cleaning. It mostly makes sense to pay for this when rebuilding or relining your pond, but some ponds do have large surface-area and can take days to clean. Many properties in Southern California do not have room for a large fish-tank to be stored on their property. That is when a professional aquatic company comes in to do the job.

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Established 1976

If Your Pond Liner is Older Than 10 – Watch Out!

Yes – we see them everywhere! These rubber lined ponds people build on a budget. They are great for the first 3-5 years. Until invasive aquatic plants takeover your water feature, including dogs, landscaper, grand-kids, rocks, trees, and many other factors come into play. Holes popup and your water-loss begins. Hopefully the pond or waterfall isn’t too close to your house either, or else you should contact someone to fix this ASAP. We don’t recommend patching any pond liners with 10+ years of life due to the lack of bonding between the patch and the pond liner. It’s throwing good money towards bad and it might be time to replace your pond liner entirely (which typically starts at $3,000-$5,000 due to it being a 60% rebuild most times.

Cleaning Cement Koi Ponds and Water Features

Did you build your pond with cement? If so – great! These are easier to clean and don’t typically leak as easy and rubber ponds when built and maintained correctly. Cement koi ponds are like little jacuzzis, they aren’t cheap but when built correctly and maintained the right way, they can last over 20 years before needing a reseal. The process of resealing a cement pond or lake is similar to that of any cement water feature. The surface should be washed and cleared of any vegetation, a base-layer thoro-seal applied, and 2-3 layers beyond that applied every 24-48 hours with proper drying time. Before embarking on either a thorough cleaning or repair, please make sure you have proper fish storage to last the entire duration.

Need to Speak to Someone About Your Water Feature?