[salem1912]

Can anyone tell me what this guy is doing? he the largest( 8 inch) of the six in my pond and I think about8 years old. Anyway he spent most of the winter at the bottom of the pond with the other fish but on his side. I thought he was dead but every time I went to remove him he would swim away. He doesn't seem to be able to "stay upright" like the others. Any suggestions?

[PMD1969]

Has he gotten to big for the pond?

[indymanjoe]

He thinks he's a stingray..LOL

[shawn e.]

Could just be dormant because of the cold weather?

Shawn

[mviker]

What you have there is a Flounder trapped in a Goldfish's body.

Sorry. wish I could provide you with a serious answer. Could he be blind in one eye?

[John V.]

We have 7 fish in our 300 gal pond currently. Couple Koi, couple goldfish, couple fantails. They huddle at the bottom most days in the winter (pond is pretty shallow, maybe 1.5-2 ft. deep where they congregate around a large potted plant. We don't get near as cold in north Fla as in King of Prussia.

Pond is probably 10 years old, but fish don't last that long, most likely birds snag them from time to time. We buy them cheap so I don't fret about losing one. Summer they get good cover from floating plants, but pretty exposed in winter when the floaters die off.

Our largest Koi is probably closer to 10". Can't say how long he's been around. He was 2nd largest until last year when the largest Koi disappeared one day. I'd guess 3-4 years at most. In my experience, they can't get "too big", they self-regulate based on the size of the pond. Don't know how, that's just what I've been told and seems to be true for our pond.

Only time any of the fish start behaving oddly, I figure something is wrong, and they usually don't last long when that happens. Don't think I've seen a Koi go "sideways" but goldfish or fantails have. If I prod them, they'll swim off normally, but then right back to flopping over.

From what I read, it may just be a Koi issue caused by cold water. Hopefully so and maybe all will be well come spring?

[bonneville Joe]

I worked in the pet/aquarium store business all through high school and for a while after I graduated. It either has lateral line disease or an air bladder infection. They use both of them to keep balanced and upright. Don't know what medications are on the market now but do a google search for both diseases. I'd be willing to bet a single medication would work on either disease.

[GT182]

Is your Koi pond covered Tom?

I had kind of the same problem back in the spring of 2011. The biggest female Koi [26's] in my pond was floating on the surface. Touch her and she'd swim off. 15 minutes later she'd be floating on her side again. I did this for over an hour. Finlly I decided to net her and see waht was going on. Found out that something had gotten to her and taken a chunk out of her belly flesh. You could see down to the meat. Nothing could be done so I let her die and buried her.

You might have the same problem. You need to get it out and check to see what's wrong. It's that time of year again and the pond thieves are back. Or it could be sick. They don't lay on their side unless something is wrong.

[Icefan71]

I have an 800 gal pond in front of my house. A couple of koi and many goldfish. Over the years, 3 or 4 goldfish had the same issue and they were dead the next day.

[daves57]

i have an 1800 gal pond this time of year they stay on the bottom largest fish is 18 inches only predator is the giant herron that can clean a pond out so some sort of netting is needed