For the first time all winter my fish were in the open area of water (the part the deicers melted). We counted 9 in there this morning at 9 am (from the second floor window). They all went back down to the deepest part when we went outside to look at them except the largest fish, a tancho. The tancho hung around more in the open area. Do I need to add a floating bubbler to add O2 to the pond? Right now the filtration is off and has been since late November, I have 2-3 de-icer in there depending on the wind and the overall cold. My water falls have been off also since late november and there has been no movement in the pond. The only thin I have been doing is adding winter bacteria and the de-Icers.
My feelings are that I probably need to add air to the water-someone please confirm my thoughts or add your own ideas. Thanks everybody!
Linda
Why are my fish hanging out in the open area of the pond?
Cold water retains oxygen quite well. There should be no need to add supplemental oxygen.
Why do you think they were all hanging out in the swallow waters this morning whereas they haven't done it all winter?
The answer may be in the deicers. You might have the warmer water layer at the top. I think I've mentioned this a few thousand times before but..........what's your water temperature? At depth and at the top?
If you've got three deicers running you're probably heating up that warmer than you realize.
But is that a problem that I am heating it that much? Can there be adverse effects? Should I shut the larger one down? I have 2 de-icers running (one already broke. . .)
No - I dont think it's a problem. Unless, you've got a warm layer at 50 or above. But if the water at the bottom is 38 and at the top it's 42 your fish will hang out by the heater or in the warmer water. Occaisionally I've seem my koi gather around the heater with their noses pointing towards it like spokes in a wagon wheel. I haven't seen that this year though.
The only other (side bar) sort of thing would be that if you are hitting slightly warmer temps now (even if it's because of the de-icer) then watch for any type of body ailment.....add something like Koi-Zyme to the water, of which you will HAVE to add more oxygen to the water if you do......BUT, it will keep away the spring heebie jeebies. I think at this point, it's too early for that, and they are just enjoying the sunshine...but take a water temp for sure. Don't get tempted to feed them!
Some inexpensive and expensive ways to remotely monitor your pond water temperatures. Know exactly
when to feed, what formula to feed and especially when not to feed. For cold zone ponders they are a God send. No trudging outside in a blizzard.
http://pet-supplies.drsfostersmith.com/search?p=Q&ts=custom&w=remote%20water%20thermometer&pw=remote%20water%20thermomter&rt=spelling&af=type:product&isort=score
http://www.weatherconnection.com/product.asp?itmky=659831&model=WMR968&phrase=wmr+968&expand=&sortby=&mfg=all&page=
The remote senders have to be protected from rain. Neither manufacturer supplies any weatherproof covering. You have to devise your own. Note: You can't enclose the remote sender in a plastic bag. The condensation that forms wrecks the circuitry. I mounted the senders on wooden stakes. I used a cheap clear plastic goldfish bowl and an empty clear plastic plant food jar, mounted upside down on the top of the stake over the sender. Works great and doesn't look terrible either. The sender is to the left of the Japanese lantern. I'm sure y'all can get your stakes straighter.
Okay, now I got an even better look at the tancho that has been hanging out near the heaters. It looks to have a small fungus infection on it the size of a dime or less. It looks like a piece of cotton hanging off of it. I turned off the more powerful heater to encourage the fish to the bottom of the pond where the cold water temps would slow things down until I can figure out how to get this fish out and treat it. I plant to use PP on a swab but how do I get this fish from the frozen water temps to an indoor set up with much warmer water without stressing/shocking the fish?
Also, if I were to run the pond vac in the middle of winter besides it being absolutely freezing here can the weather break the machine? I am concerned about the yuck on the bottom of the pond especially as this tancho is sick. I do believe he went into the winter with a very small ulcer where this fungus now is located.
Once you warm up the fish it will have to remain warm until the pond temperature matches the quarantine temperature. There's no getting around that. Can you treat the fish at the pond in the net and quickly return it to the water?
I wouldn't go stirring up any muck now. You run the risk of gassing off a lot of Hydrogen sulfide. It's lethal to fish. Wait until spring when you can run the pumps and filters to filter out any stirred up sediment and get the oxygen level as high as possible. Right now, in the cold water, any escaping H2S is minor and not a problem.
How would you treat it-topically with the pp with a cotton stick?
I just dip a swab in a few moistened grains of PP. I try for a paste consistency. Then I roll it over the lesion/fungus or ulcer. I make sure I cover the entire area. Hold the fish for about 3 seconds to allow the PP to do it's job and place the fish back in the water. Once is all that is needed. Of course, when you get the fish up you'll give it a quickie exam for any areas you might not have been able to see. It will have to be extremely quick. Up, examine, treat and back in the water immediately. You'll suffer more than the fish. Hopefully the fungus hasn't penetrated too deeply into the skin. There wont be much healing done while the fish's metabolism is this slow.
Is this fingus really that bad that it can't wait until spring to treat? I've had one koi come out of dormancy covered with it and once treated in early April, it did just fine. I had it two years in a row until I took out all those blankety blank rocks. The end of the rocks was the end of the fungus.
I will treat it now rather than wait until Spring-I feel like a Koi doctor after last summer. I can probably do it all under 20 seconds.
L
You go girl!
Kinda like tying up cattle . . . LOL!
I have never tied up a cattle - ROTFLOL
Okay, kinda like tying up children (or is that only me?)
Never tied up children although the thought was occasionally tempting! We did have a basset hound years ago that got his mouth taped shut with duct tape because he would not stop baying. Don't worry, I put a washcloth under the tape so it would not stick to him first. It did not do any good because he just kept baying anyway. His mouth ballooned up and it would come out the corners. Was the funniest thing you ever saw and I took the contraption off after I laughed at him for about ten minutes.
I had a Pomeranian - Pit Bull mix ( yes, really) that could mumble and groan wearing a muzzle. He only weighed 14 lbs but his attitude at times was more Pit than Pom. The muzzle went on when he went to the vets. One day during a routine checkup it unexpectedly came off somehow. He lunged for the vets face and..............licked and slobbered all over him.
MM, how did the koi PP treatment go?
Easily (because it is in the hibernating stage and moving slowly) but I am keeping a watch on the fish. She (I really don't know it's sex but I always refer to this fish as a she) is still hanging around the heater. In a few days I will take another peek at her fungus.
Was there just the one spot?
I don't know if it is normal, since this is my first winter with my pond, but on warmer days I've been seeing some of my fish hanging out by the deicer. I've spotted one of my wakin and some of the baby goldfish from last summer.
Today I saw my sanke(which I think is my nicest koi) and Chucky my female sarassa and mother of most of my pond babies. I didn't recognize Chucky at first because she is usually so fat and she looked so skinny! I was especially happy to see my sanke:) She looked good but her colors didn't look very vibrant.
I hope your fish is okay mothermole. Your pond must be pretty clear to see that kind of detail to see the fungus. My pond is mostly covered in ice and has been that way since Thanksgiving. I miss my fish but I kind of hate seeing them in the winter anyway. They look so out of it and slow. Like fish zombies... I know I'm projecting, but they look miserable:(
Here is to an early spring!
Only one spot of fungus on the tancho. The other fish are hiding in a koi castle (I think) which is covered in algae. I can occasionally see fish swimming under the ice (it is thin) near where the deicer is at. Mostly it's the same fish -the tancho.