Pretty Upset

[Bob Huffman]

This is my first year trying to overwinter Koi in my pond. I am sure they did not make it through the winter. I used an air stone to keep a hole in the ice open. Ammonia stayed at Zero, General hardness at 60, carbonate hardness at 120, PH at 7.0, No2 and No3 at zero. 4 feet deep pond. 8 feet wide, 6 foot long, 4 Koi that are less than 10" and three 5" goldfish. Zone 6A. The pond never froze any deeper than 8 inches in any area away from the ice dome from the 8" hole near the bubbler. If my fish died during my first attempt, I will probably never try to over-winter koi again.

 

[Big Lou]

Hope they lived.

 

[Lisak1]

Is there some kind of evidence that is leading you to believe they died?

 

[MitchM]

The most important factor with overwintering a pond with fish is good gas exchange.
If you had a hole open using your bubbler the whole winter, I don't see why they wouldn't survive, if your pond was in reasonably good shape going into the winter to begin with.

 

[Tula]

Let us know how your koi are doing. I'm in Cincinnati, Ohio and mine made it through the winter. I too used an aerator and suspended the stones near the pond de-icer.

 

[j.w]

Maybe they are alive just still hunkered down waiting for things to warm up more. If you don't see bodies there is still hope.

 

[sissy]

I use a deicer and keep a pump running but my winters do not get that cold

 

[CometKeith]

In my opinion the spring is more dangerous than the winter. Low resistance and bad bacteria make for a bad combination. Hope your fish are okay!

 

[Lisak1]

Maybe they are alive just still hunkered down waiting for things to warm up more. If you don't see bodies there is still hope.

That was kind of what I meant - are there dead fish? Or aren't there dead fish? Because there's not much gray area!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

This is my first year trying to overwinter Koi in my pond. I am sure they did not make it through the winter.

May I ask why you are sure they didn't make it?
I overwintered some baby goldfish this year as a trial run and expected them to be dead, one day they appeared, swimming around like winter didn't happen.

 

[RobAmy]

I really do not understand the title and the post. Are they dead? Are you upset because you think they are dead? I live in the same zone as you and mine lived. If you maintained the hole on the pond and it never iced over then your fish may be fine. They are hard to see when it is cold. A couple of my koi are 12" long and I cant see them in the pond during the winter, they stay in the tunnels I have. Good luck

 

[Bob Huffman]

Sorry for the late response to everyone that replied (and thank you all). My concern is that I haven't seen any of my fish swimming around yet. I cant see the bottom of the pond because the water is dark and a little cloudy. I used a net to scoop the bottom of the pond and didn't find any dead fish, and only brought up a few leaves. I thought that putting a net to the bottom of the pond would stir the fishes interest. Hopefully they were staying on the bottom and trying to stay the heck away from my curiosity with the net.

 

[CometKeith]

Bob, I did not see my fish from early December to late March. I guess they didn't miss me too much because when my ice melted they were all fine! Hope your fish are doing well. They will swim when they feel like it. They probably are still in semi hibernation mode. If this is your first year with over-wintering them be sure to do regular water tests to make sure your ammonia and nitrite readings are good. I am a big believer of frequent water changes in the spring to keep the water healthy until the bio-cycle kicks in. Also I'll do some spring clean up to get rid of leaves that fell in over the winter, but I don't like to stir up the bottom too much early in the year.

 

[snoozer]

I have seen my comets but not the couple of koi I have. They have always made an appearance later than the comets

 

[addy1]

My pond is melted, I know fish are in there, they are very hard to spot until they decide it is time to swim around. They have been hidden by ice for months, the clear blue sky scares them, so they hide.