Carolyn it is doesn't look like the ice is very thick on the pond. How thick do you think it is?
Pond warmers
Hole in our ice yesterday over the deicer.
Picture of pond, well somewhere under those timbers is a pond
You know, your yards look a whole lot like mine. amazing. I always think of your guys 'down south' getting out from under the snow much sooner than us. and maybe you will, but for now...not much difference.
Right now, the ice on my pond isn't ice -it's slush. I threw a snowball to check and it went splat! The ice was off my pond on Saturday...
that's what I thought. I wish mine was that close. The sun is shining every day and where the rock breaks through on the falls the snow is melted by the warm rock. By the end of March I should have some open water around the deicers. maybe even see some fish?? I hope.
I did see some of my fish through the murk. I could identify several of them, but I did not see all of my fish. Before this storm, they seemed to be waking up. Bet they went back to sleep now.
You have big fish, don't you?
Ahhh....good or bad...I'm so happy the pond group is back! Get Snapple back in here too, and together we can cure the world! ;)
where is Snapple and AgedGardener I wonder?
I'm right here. Thank You! Been busy with school, a new puppy with a bad skin problem, a death in the family and a bad bout of bronchitis. I NEED SPRING !!!!!
Snapple -
so sorry to hear about a death in your family. That is always so hard. I can deal with most anything, but I have a lot of difficulties in that area.
MM - you are so right, we could cure the world (It would be a far better place with women running it, wouldn't it?)
mstella - my larger fish are 20-25". I do have smaller ones as well. I know Snapple and MM have larger fish as well. How big are yours?
I let my husband think he runs the house :)
Sorry to hear of the troubles you have been having and going through Snapple. My kids were sick for what seemed like a very long time. Ear infections, and sinus infection and one had bronchitis, and just couldn't seem to get over this stuff this year.
We got a new puppy too, at Christmas, so I'm definately w ya on that one. Our is a tiny poodle, but now I am allergic to him. :( Just started bothering me about a week ago! Every time I mess with him, I start sneezing and itching, tried bathing him, that didn't help. I think I will go to the dr and see what I can do that route. Just stinks being allergic to everything all the time.
Come spring come!
Well, since I have trouble over wintering I am ashamed to admit that my fish are mostly only about 6-8". I decided to stick with gold fish until I could figure out what to do. It really bothers me a lot when I lose fish I have grown attached to each summer. Mostly the koi. And it seems that the larger fish are the ones I lose. Carol and I have pinned it down to oxygen perhaps. I have been trying for four winters now. I have about given up and may set up a tank in my garage this winter. I have ordered two koi from a fellow in Kentucky. he belongs to KoiFace, as site I go to. The biggest fish I had was a koi that was about 18" and about 5" in diameter with huge lovely fins. Looked like a shebunkin. Musashi was given to me by a pet store owner because she was so homely no none wanted her. And she was crammed into a 20 gallon tank. couldn't even turn around. Well, she had a good summer in our pond playing with the other fish. We found her jammed into the rock by the skimmer late in the fall. We can only surmise she was frightened and jammed her self in there and couldn't get out. I buried her under one of my peony bushes.
mstella
it does sound like an oxygen problem. Do you run a pump during the winter? That can superchill the water.
Some of mine started out that size and much smaller. I spent a fortune on 4" fish and some were born in my pond. They do grow.....
For the most part I start with smaller more affordable koi. Evenutually they grow and growwww, but I believe they also grow according to their enviroment. As long as they stayed in my smaller pond, they stayed around 12-14inches. The few I moved into the larger pond, grew like crazy.
One year, I dropped almost $600 on a number of the 3-4" koi. That was a number of years ago. I think that is why I have so many that are at 20". They were all in that batch. I am not going to spend that on fish again though....
Ironically, my largest fish is not my oldest fish. My oldest fish pretty much stopped at about 17", but she also went through a period of time where she had a lot of health issues. Truthfully we thought she was a goner, but she took all of that summer and healed..... She is still going strong.
My largest fish is my kohaku. He is 25"....
Mary - I had always heard both that they will grow to their environment and also that they will grow to their full size regardless of their environment. I find your posting comforting as I really don't want my fish to outgrow the pond.
Last year we sunk a pump in the shallow end (24-30") and ran the hose up out of the pond and around the edge allowing it to dump into the deep end. Seems like that would cool it a little as it was in snow, and eventually fell into the pond to freeze in the ice. Kept a nice spot in the ice open, but yes ,,,what did it do to the water temp. We hoped it stayed on the upper surface. Last year we tried an aerator but shut it off in December. Seemed to be exacerbating the water loss. Mostly it is just three deicers, deep end, shallow end, and the skimmer to prevent freeze up and cracking. i am going to remove all gravel from the bottom to try to improve water quality (although our water is clear as a bell and we clean it regularly). Also toying with a dome for winter. Michiganders do it with success. My pond is about 20' long and on average 8-10' wide. Kind of like an irregular kidney. 4' deep at deep end. Oh, also am going to take in my water lilies rather than leave in pond. I cut them down each year and sink them in the deep end but they take up space and add vegatation breakdown no matter how much I cut back and clean them. I figure i need every edge I can get for the fish. I am reading on how to keep the lilies over the winter. And if not, well I would rather have fish and I can always buy new lilies.
May I ask what the electric bill runs for those pond de-icers? One year I had one in a horse trough and the January electric bill was $400! My husband nearly had a heart attack when he opened it. That January had two weeks that never got above 0 degrees F. I never figured out if that was normal usage or if something was wrong.
Sylvie -
my electric bill always spikes in December and January, however, my thermostat uses electricity to start the furnace. Typically my electric goes up around $50 or so in those months and then starts coming back down. I also have the deicers in my pond in November, February and part of March.
wow for that kind of money one would think the horse could wear an electric blanket LOL
Yeah, I wonder if maybe it had a short in it or something.