KOI.

Thanks pondaninal. That's what I thought, but wasn't sure. I lost my bluegill last winter and now there are baby koi everywhere. Looks like I'm going to be going fishing for a new bluegill real soon. lol

Jenny

Yep....they are koi. Be really careful with bringing wild fish into your pond though. It's a great way to bring in lots of nasty parasites that the wild fish can tolerate much better than our domesticated koi can handle.

Thanks ccombs:

I am going to see if the nursery that has been trading me plants for my excess water lilies will take them off my hands. They have a koi pond there, but I don't know if they sell them.

I remember when my brother had a 30 gal aquarium. He went to the park and caught a school of about 5-6 sunfish. He had them for a while before he saw what looked like a tapeworm that was growing out of the side of one of the fish.

Maybe I should go looking for a garter snake. Although I may have one living around my pond. I was sitting out at dusk the other night when I saw something zig-zagging across the surface of the pond. I jumped up to see what it was, but it dived to the bottom.

Jenny

If you can quarantine a bluegill long enough to observe and treat it, then that would be better.

Observing a bluegill for symptoms of parasites probably won't work. they are much hardier than koi or goldies and can usually live perfectly well for years with a population of parasites aboard. I don't know how you would treat a bluegill to remove parasites. Not all koi products are safe for use on other species.

I have had koi and bluegill cohabitating for years but they were all from a fish hatchery.

I have found the bluegill to be FAR more sensitive to water quality, etc. They are not as tough as you might think!