Dead koi. Egg bound. How to prevent?

[DieselPlower 2,123]

Howdy folks. Pond was frozen over for a good month straight. Been very cold. Water pump kept a small hole open but not big enough to see anything. Going into this period, all of my fish looked and acted fine. We had a warmup where the pond totally thawed. I looked in and saw on of my fish on the bottom looking pretty clearly dead. I netted it pulled it out and put it into some warmer water to see if it would come back. I moved it around to pass water over the gills etc but no luck. I cut the fish open and it was filled with eggs and I mean filled. Probably 5000 of them. I took a couple pictures and am wondering if there is anything I could have done to avoid this short of netting and inspecting all the fish. I really can't catch them without dropping the water level way down. My first clue to the egg bound issue was the red and swollen vent.

 

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[Arctic Mama 3,627]

Poor fish!  She’s a beauty too.  I honestly haven’t see a lot that can prevent females from being eggbound, but I wonder if the colder temperature can impact that, since vigorous motion and current helps with ejection of the eggs. But I doubt it the egg issue is a new thing, that looks like more than one spawning’s worth of eggs to my eye, unless she has always been a very heavy producer?

 

I’m looking forward to what the pond folks have to say on the subject.  

Edited January 19, 2018 by Arctic Mama

[FishyMandy 6,277]

Hi DP, Good to see you around, sorry for the circumstances though! She was a beautiful fish.

 

I'm really not sure on what can be done to prevent this either, Sharon might have more ideas. It does look like it might have been going on for a while like Taryl said

[shakaho 6,312]

I suggest doing some searches on the subject in Koiphen.  Normally koi that are eggy in winter absorb the eggs.  Koi spawn much less often than goldfish.  I know people with koi ponds who say the fish haven't spawned in years.

[DieselPlower 2,123]

Poor fish!  She’s a beauty too.  I honestly haven’t see a lot that can prevent females from being eggbound, but I wonder if the colder temperature can impact that, since vigorous motion and current helps with ejection of the eggs. But I doubt it the egg issue is a new thing, that looks like more than one spawning’s worth of eggs to my eye, unless she has always been a very heavy producer?
 
I’m looking forward to what the pond folks have to say on the subject.  

This is the first year of eggs for my koi. I did have a ton of them this year but couldn't say from who, when etc.

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