Hi All, i found this post on another forum and thought that this would be a intresting topic to discuss.

Quote :

if you allows the water to circulate in a clockwise or anti-clockwise flow direction , you will see fishes growing with bended bodies, some will bend left while some will bend right as the circulation of the water flow will ends up strongest at the middle of the pond at the bottom in a circular motion . You can see these from the sight of Shit going round and round at the bottom spot sometime . When fishes needs to stop to rest at the corners of these ponds at the bottom ( Weakest point of the pond ) , they would simply go against the flow of the water and bends itself against one corner of your pond . In the long run , these jumbos are not going to grow straight or grow with straight bodies .
I had this experience from one of my older pond , but rectified it in time to save a few from seriously going out of shape . It took them almost 6 months in a straight pond with straight flow to recover from growing with a bending body .

You need to keep your flow straight from one end of your pond to the other end Kelvin , that's why somebody in the forum also did mention about having the over-flow outlet and Skimmer installed over the other end corner of the pond , opposite the water-outlets . I can assure you , by having the straight water flow , parallel to the length of your pond , you will experience lesser fish bending when they grow .

So what are your thoughts?

It might be true with a round pond with a huge flow rate, where the fish constantly try to swim against the current which is unlikely, and hard to believe when it comes to a decent size rectangular or square pond with an average flow rate. In my experience, the koi plays in the current by entering the current from all directions, going in and out of the main stream all the time, and going against and with the flow(causing bends of the body in all directions).

So, I don't believe it at all.

I was trying to imagine the pump and flow rates that i would need to create a vrotex type enviroment in my pond...where the debris spin around on the pond floor....mind boggeling.

Hulle praat seker maar van ronde vlak damme.

Kyk die skewe visse...

Is dit van sterk strome?

I bet they were exposed to an overdose of medication or electric shock.

I find it highly unlikely that high flow rates will deform fish ... they will get fitter ... that is for sure.

Lightning