Koi pulling apart fake plants

My koi has been pulling the leaves off & branches off the fake plants in his tank. Him & the goldfish get fed twice a day. Could it be he's hungry or is it something else?

It could be as simple as boredom.

Koi can be very destructive, especially to live plants. Not sure I have ever see a koi attack plastic plants, but then again I have never had plastic plants. They will attack just about anything in their surrounding, the drain is one of my fish favorite target.

It could be there is some algae growing on the plants and he was just having a snack. I don't clean the sides of my tanks and the algae that grows on the sides provides them a between meal snack.

As far as feeding is concerned, Koi have no stomach and as a result can not digest food properly. The only digestion that happens is in their intestine as it fly's out the back door. They claim that a koi can eat 5% of their body weight a day in food. So do the math, that's a lot of food as the fish get larger. My fish are always hungry and I mean always. I could literally stand over the tanks and constantly feed them all day long. In the summer I feed the ones outside 4-5 times a day when the water is warm. As the temperature drops I cut back the number of times a day i feed them until it reaches a point where I don't feed them at all. I have a chart somewhere as to the amount and frequency to feed Koi but I base it on how the fish are acting. The more aggressive they feed the more I feed them. I also keep an eye on the waste that ends up in the sediment filters. If i see a lot of undigested food, I am feeding to much.

just keep in mind, "a hungry fish is a happy(and healthy) fish"

Steve

There is some green algae growing in places in the tank. I believe there to be some brown algae on the fake plants as well.
So should I feed them more or.....?

I think they are probably fine, twice a day is plenty for koi in a tank at room temperature. Just remember what goes in must come out. Koi and goldfish will constantly forage anyway.

Steve

I wonder if I should feed them better food? Been giving them Tetra pond sticks.

I was never fond of those sticks, there is not much in them. I feed my beasts a medium floating pellet.

The best food is from Hikari, all the grand champions are raised on it. It's expensive so I don't often get it. Second choice is anything from Blackwater Creek or Blue Ridge. When I can't get my hands on any of these i go to Pets Mart and get a bag of Top Fin pellets.

http://www.petsmart.com/fish/food/top-fin-color-enhancing-pond-fish-food-zid36-18137/cat-36-catid-300055

I also supplement with some food off the table, they love green peas and honey Nut Cherrios. They will eat lettuce and watermelon as well for a treat. I have never done it but some people throw in orange wedges for them to fight over. There is actually a video online somewhere of a guy feeding his koi orange juice from a baby bottle.

Steve

I have a bag of Hikari here but have to keep it zipped up as it stinks REALLY bad.