Please Make Sure Your Skimmer is Koi Safe

[Moneypit]

I do not post here much but wanted to try and warn new koi people to make sure your skimmers are safe for your koi, I have a Savio with an 8" Weir and all of my koi are 20"+ and I did not think it would be possible for them to get in it, well I was wrong last weekend my 15 month old 23" Chagoi from a grow out last year got in the skimmer some how I do not know how long she was in there but it was long enough to tear her self up pretty bad.

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by Moneypit I do not post here much but wanted to try and warn new koi people to make sure your skimmers are safe for your koi, I have a Savio with an 8" Weir and all of my koi are 20"+ and I did not think it would be possible for them to get in it, well I was wrong last weekend my 15 month old 23" Chagoi from a grow out last year got in the skimmer some how I do not know how long she was in there but it was long enough to tear her self up pretty bad.

I have not seen a Koi safe skimmer yet. I am sorry to hear about your Chagoi.

[KoiCop]

Ouch, Stacey, those pix really hurt. Sorry to hear about what happened.

We had a Savio skimmer on our first pond (a watergarden) and had several instances of koi caught in the skimmer box.

Our current koi pond has two no niche skimmers. End of problem.

[Moneypit]

Thanks,

live and learn I guess, now I am just trying to save her.

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by KoiCop Ouch, Stacey, those pix really hurt. Sorry to hear about what happened. We had a Savio skimmer on our first pond (a watergarden) and had several instances of koi caught in the skimmer box. Our current koi pond has two no niche skimmers. End of problem.

End of problem for you maybe..........I can't tell you how many times I have come to the store to see a tail sticking out of my No-Niche skimmers. It happened so many times that I disabled all of my No-Niche skimmers ..........end of story.
I absolutley think there is no safe skimmer. They may work for some but not for everyone. Buyer beware.

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by Moneypit Thanks, live and learn I guess, now I am just trying to save her.

Put her in a heated system if you can, it will help with the healing.

[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..............................

[KoiCop]

Merry Christmas, Russ.

I think the fact that you're a dealer with relatively shallow, highly stocked and lightly fed tanks whereas I'm a hobbyist with a deep, lightly stocked and highly fed pond might have something to do with fish ending up stuck in a no niche skimmer?

[kntry]

Stacey, that looks pretty bad but she should be ok. The tail and dorsal where the bones are gone won't grow back, though.

Keep her heated and .3% salt. Now that you've cleaned the wounds, don't go back over them because you'll remove the "scab" that has formed, that whitish looking film.

If you keep her in QT in clean water, she'll be fine.

I've been lucky so far. I had a DIY skimmer made from a laundry tub and never had a problem with the fish going in it.

I've heard a lot of stories about fish getting torn up in Savio skimmers.

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by KoiCop Merry Christmas, Russ. I think the fact that you're a dealer with relatively shallow, highly stocked and lightly fed tanks whereas I'm a hobbyist with a deep, lightly stocked and highly fed pond might have something to do with fish ending up stuck in a no niche skimmer?

Actually all of my tanks that have, had, the skimmers are four to six feet deep, three thousand gallons each and not highly stocked. The last time it happened I had only 8 12" koi in the tank. I absolutely beleive that NO skimmer is 100% safe. it is the luck of the draw. You have been lucky.

Merry Christmas Don.

P.S. I feed my Koi as much as they want to eat as I do not beleive in starving them to keep the systems clean. I just spend more time cleaning the systems.