Please Make Sure Your Skimmer is Koi Safe

[Moneypit]

Quote: Originally Posted by Russell Peters Put her in a heated system if you can, it will help with the healing.

Yes the pond is heated to 72 degrees and salted to .3

[Moneypit]

Quote: Originally Posted by mstrseed Stacey, That looks pretty bad, at least she was alive. Many are not that lucky. I have seen people now placing horizontal bars across the opening. It would work for the larger Koi anyway. They do have skimmer intake guards but they do not look to Koi friendly..............................

I plan on making a guard out of plexi glass that should work well and be koi safe, I just wish I would have allready.

[MCA]

One way to improve the safety of the savio skimmers is to cut off the tab at the top center of the openning. It is intended to let you latch the weir shut. It does not work very well for that. But it sure has heck can injure the head and back of a nice koi. So cut that tab off and file the area smooth.

Next improvement would be onf the stainless skimmer bumper rails you see advertised in koi mags from UK. The bumpers look like they are a series of horizontal rods around 3/16" in diameter. They are spaced wide enough apart to let in debris such as leaves and yet keep out koi larger than fry.

The bumper idea should work with any weir-based skimmmer (not the no-niche units). Great business opportunity for someone in the USA.

[Swimming Jewel]

Good info MCA.

If I had all the money in the world, I would just make the skimmer big enough so a koi wouldn't get bashed around and scraped up.

[dick benbow]

my experience has been the same as Russ's, it seems sooner or later. In my Koi kichi's surface skimmer we wedged in 1/2 PVC pipes horizontally and that
seemed to do the trick for now. It seems it's always Murphy's law when it comes to koi

[peterlaurie]

I agree with Russ, we have had problems with the No Niche as well as the Savio Skimmer. When we completed our new pond last spring, the kids (Koi) were very interested in the skimmers even though they were well fed and we turn the skimmers off during feedings. Three koi got into the skimmer, one was injured similar to the Chagoi. An idea that was given to me by Bill at Mystic Koi was to use the egg crate lighting covers for fluorescent lights. Cut out a piece that will fit into the opening covering the edges with rubberized tape. I added some zip ties to keep the tape in place with the sharp ends tucked in so the inmates cannot cut themselves ( See Image). It is important to cover the insert edges as they are sharp. The unit is held in place with a rubber tie down clipped to the basket inside. The flat egg crate surface is smooth so the fish cannot injure themselves Needles and waste will flow into skimmer with out any trouble. The big leaves need to be scooped out daily, but we cover the pond in the winter so that is not an issue.

Sorry about your Chagoi, we hope she heals.

[Moneypit]

Quote: Originally Posted by dick benbow my experience has been the same as Russ's, it seems sooner or later. In my Koi kichi's surface skimmer we wedged in 1/2 PVC pipes horizontally and that seemed to do the trick for now. It seems it's always Murphy's law when it comes to koi

Thanks Dick,

the Asagi I got from you is doing well by the way, and has no interest in the skimmer

[Moneypit]

Thanks everyone, I just hope this thread will save someone from having their koi get hurt or killed.

[luke frisbee]

If it is any consolation, I have seen koi in alot worse shape come back totheir normal acting selves...but she ain't gonna look good once she's healed up.

[Russell Peters]

Acrually I did have a chagoi get stuck in my No-Niche skimmer. All of the damaged areas healed very quickly, the scales grew back but came in grey.