Hiding Fish?

[parvenza]

Hi
I have a small wire covered 40 gallon pond that are home to three feeder fish that I have had for 3 years.
They just came out of hibernation about a month ago and seemed to be doing fine.  Lots bigger than the last time I saw them.
About 3 nights ago I went out for the usual feeding and only saw two, but that is not unusual.  Then 2 nights ago I sprinkled their food and none of them came to the top, then last night the same thing even though I only put out a smaller amount of food.  Today, Since it is a very small pond, and very dark, I used a stick and slightly swirled it around and nothing ... I do have an upturned milk crate in there so they can hide inside if they want.  Nothing is floating to the top and I haven't seen signs of them looking sick.  Is it normal for this to happen or could they be dead without me knowing?  Nothing can get to them because of the wire cage that is covering the pond, but it went from warm whether to damp whether as I live on the coast but I am worried.  They are hardy little fish and looked fine after hibernation but I am worried just the same.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[SueSTx]

You say they are covered, so a raccoon nor a bird could get to them?

Can you remove the cover and try to net them?  Maybe it is time to do a partial water change and have a closer look.

[parvenza]

Hi
Yes nothing can get to them.  I made the cover myself after a Raccoon ate a couple of former fish.
But it was real warm here a few days ago and now the weather has gotten much colder, damp as I live on the Northern California Coast. 
I think I will wait until it gets a little warmer and I will stop putting food in the pond.  If I still don't see them, I will remove the milk crate and remove some of the water.  It is a very small pond but dark so I can't see much unless they swim close to the top.
Just makes me sad because they just woke up on April 1st. and seemed to be doing fine. I keep sneaking out to the pond to see if I see anything and there is no activity at this time.
Do fish float to the top at all if they die?  I had a couple of other fish do that so I am not really sure.  Thanks for your help.  Will try and remove the water as soon as it gets a little warmer.

[SueSTx]

Could they be caught in the milk crate?

I ask this because one of mine did get wedged in and I had to rescue him.  I think I'd check incase they are caught, but still alive.

[parvenza]

It is possible, although there are holes that are pretty big for them to pass as they are not huge fish.  But could check that out.  Seems strange that all three would get stuck at once though.  But I can pull the crate out tomorrow when I can see better.  Hopefully that is not the case.  I am just hoping that the weather has something to do with it and that tomorrow I will find them swimming around again. 

[miguynmkoi]

Maybe they got scared are hiding...really really well.  I hope that's what they're doing!  See them yet?

[parvenza]

On Saturday, I took the pond water down to about 6 inches.  I saw one of my two white fish and nothing else but the water had become green with algae since the tree behind the pond came out and now the pond is always getting sun.  I scooped out a ton of mud from the bottom which only made the viewing harder to see.  There were no fish caught in the milk crate.  I then replaced all the water with Dechlorinate Water.  It made it a little cleaner but still hard to see.  The next morning, I used some drops to rid the pond of some of the green.  I was careful not to use much and then later that evening for the heck of it, I put in a few drops of granulated fish food.  I was surprised to see my gold colored fish came up and grabbed some food and immediately went back down again.  We have had nice sunny days (it never gets more than 72 here on the coast) and I have been adding a few granules of food but no takers.  No one has floated to the top as yet and I go out and check several times once I come home from work until it is dark.  I can't imagine what could have frightened them that badly.  The cage over the pond has a few spots that are opened that could fit a mouse, but nothing other than that could fit in.  We have no snakes here except garter snakes but I am not sure that it is warm enough yet for them to even be out.  I am just mystified as to why they are hiding.  Perhaps once the green clears up I will be able to see them better.  In three years this is a first.  Should I still continue to feed?  Is it possible they are laying eggs on the bottom?  I don't know what to think. This are my first pond fish ever so I have no Idea. 

[SueSTx]

I guess they could be spawning.  Mine aren't interested in eating while they are consuming all those eggs.

[parvenza]

Oh I never thought of them staying there and eating the eggs.  I have never seen any baby fish before so I assumed that they were all the same, either all females or males.  I really don't want any more fish.  So should I continue to feed them or not would you know?  I don't want them to overeat.  What would you do? 

[parvenza]

Also I scooped a lot of stuff from the bottom of the pond and they had laid eggs, most of them would have been scooped up along with the mud.

[SueSTx]

If you have three spawning size fish in a 40 gallon pond, you really don't need a bunch of babies to overcrowd the pond.

[parvenza]

No I really don't. I guess I could find someone that had a big pond and give them the smaller fish.  That is if they are spawning.
I still am not really sure why they are hiding.  It is just strange.  Like I said I pretty much cleaned the bottom of the pond so I am not sure there is a whole lot of stuff down there.  I really hope that is not the case.  Three is all I really want.
I tried feeding them tonight again and nothing.  I am not sure how long this process is.  How long do they spawn for?  Should I continue to feed them even if they are not coming up to eat? I really need to know?

[SueSTx]

I have five 8' stock tanks with fish.  One of them didn't eat their food yesterday for some reason.  I dipped out the floating bits and vacuumed the bottom and did a water change. 

I don't have a clue if they were spawning (sometimes they do not eat when they are), but didn't want to leave all that food in there to make the water dirtier.

I think each female probably spawns only one morning at a time.  Mine spawn every time I do a big water change though.  If you have two females, shouldn't be more than two or three mornings.

Maybe the water will clear up later today so you can get a good look, or try looking with a flashlight tonight.