Hi,

I've never posted to this forum, but have spent time lurking. Many of you seem to be quite experienced and may be able to help me. I have a small pond - 700 gallons - with a skimmer and biofalls, 2,000 gph pump, and 10 decent-sized (8-14inch) koi that are like our kids. I know, too many fish for the pond, but they are happy and healthy. (Does the phrase bonsai koi come to mind?) We have brushes in the skimmer, clean the filter pads in the falls regularly, and do trickle changes twice a week. Which brings me to my problem....

I turned the hose on the pond this morning to do a trickle change and promptly forgot it and left. Six hours later I came home to find the clearest water I have ever seen! The GFCI tripped off when the overflowed water flooded out the outlet, so I'm not sure how long the pump had been off. I re-started the pump and things are circulating, but now what should I do (if anything)?

I have a private well, so chlorine is not a problem. The water is icy cold, and the fish are all hovering at the bottom - usually they are begging like little piggies when I come around! I'm sure they're freaked out. Do you think the biological bacteria in the skimmer/falls survived? Should I add Microbe-Lift, or salt, anything? The water tested fine. (The Ph is neutral for the first time since I've started testing!) But I'm sure the nitrites/trates will spike. I probably should lay off feeding the fish for a couple of days, do you think?

Has anyone else ever done anything this bone-headed? What did you do and what were the results?

flora