Customers told to stop throwing coins into pub’s wishing well after carp die

A pub has urged its customers to stop throwing coins into its wishing well after three carp died in contaminated water.

Staff at The Fishpond, in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire, have put up notices warning against the practice as the coins contain toxic zinc and nickel.

A koi specialist is said to have told staff that the chemicals in the coins were killing the fish.

Three valuable koi have died in the last five months and one of the five remaining fish has begun to develop sores and ulcers, according to Liley Henderson-Hirst, the pub’s events manager.

She said her team had hauled £130 worth of coins out of the pond when it was cleaned two months ago along with several vapes.

A number of the koi were suffering from “koi pox”, a common herpes virus, Ms Henderson-Hirst told the BBC.

She said: “We have had notices on the wall throughout the years but we have had to put more round the pond.”

The notices read: “Please be aware that coins contain zinc and nickel. Every coin thrown into the water kills our fish.

“Please do not throw any coins or food into the pond.”

Ms Henderon-Hirst said of the five fish left, one had a little sore but the others looked “really healthy”.

Staff are tackling the outbreak by regularly filtering a recommended treatment into the water.

Rob Whittell, chairman of the British Koi-Keepers Society, told the BBC: “Any metals are not good for carp.

“Copper is not ideal and is toxic to fish. In fact any metals can cause problems.”

He speculated that an “old vape” leaking chemicals may have been responsible for the deaths but added that there was “not always a single cause”.