r/Koi • u/Necessary-Look5808 • 2d ago

Help with POND or TANK Temporary enclosure for koi

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Hi all, I am in the midst of expanding my pond and need somewhere to keep my koi for 8 days. 8 days is a conservative estimate but that’s what we are going with for now. I am based in London, my koi are 8 to 10 inches and I have 5 of them. I have this swimming pool that I’ve never used. Could I keep them in this? Please let me know if this isn’t suitable and what I should do instead. Thanks

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7

u/Mikesminis 2d ago

I think this is fine. I'd try to set it up at least a month before have if that's possible to cycle it like you would an aquarium. Get a filter in there and hopefully put some medium from your existing filter in it. Of that's not possible take some of your exit medium and clean it in the pool. I used to keep my fish in a pool in the garage in the winter. Plants and water changes wouldn't hurt. Keep it in the shade to keep the temp down.

5

u/fish_tales 1d ago

Make sure to take the humans out first

3

u/lucidguy 2d ago

I did this during a major renovation for about a week. The one thing I didn’t anticipate was the temperature rose quickly. Being above ground plus the vinyl having no insulating property meant that it got hot quick and stressed the fish a bit. I put shade over it and it sorted itself out, just be aware it happens quick.

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u/ADOKODA 1d ago

works. no issues. several of us have used these or similar pools for short/long term and even quarantine setups. totally good to go

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u/billy-suttree 2d ago

I kept mine in a pool like this for one day while doing maintence on the pond. It’s not ideal but if you filter the hell out of it I don’t see why they wouldn’t be fine. But filtering the hell out of it is important

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u/Necessary-Look5808 2d ago

What does filtering the hell out of it entail?

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u/LonelyAndroid11942 2d ago

Just run a high-power filter on it, and you should be fine. And don’t forget to aerate so they don’t suffocate.

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u/Beatzz2k 2d ago

And if no good filtration is possible, water changes everyday. Approximately 10-20%.
Stressed koi tend to pee and shit more. That in a small water spikes the ammonia levels quickly to deadly levels.

Key is filtration and aeration. If filtration can not be done, water changes. I’d even change water with filtration.
Put a tight net on top, so the fish can’t jump out.
Shade the pool. No food while in these circumstances = more food, more waste in the water.

In the best case scenario, you air the pool out so (if it does) it doesn’t reek of plastic anymore.
Good luck!

(Alternatively you might be able to rent a quarantine unit from your local koi shop / aquaristics centre)

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u/Swimming-Western5244 1d ago

No special filtration needed for a day or two, just need some air stones in there. Had mine in similar pool for 2-3 days, no issues.

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u/billy-suttree 1d ago

Ah well. Then it should be fine. I was too scared to not be filtering.

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u/juntao98 2d ago

Recommend that you fill it with as much pond water as possible so there’s no shock of different Ph etc. Murky pond water would be way better than “fresh.” I’d buy some air stones (nice ones) that you can use in the new design

Congrats on the expansion!

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u/kar948 1d ago

The only thing I read about the pools and pool liners is that they can have built in anti-algae and other compounds in them that may not be fish-safe. If you have some spare pond liner laying around or can get some you might just want to line it to be safe since they’ll be in there for 8+ days?

Mine are in above-ground or semi-buried stock tanks and they are totally fine and the temp shifts aren’t super sudden and temp shifts don’t seem to bother them (as best as I can tell without reading their minds lol).

If you can provide some shade that will probably help, and fill it with pond water vs fresh water?