25 below in WI - do I attempt a rescue

[callingcolleen1]

My koi are all outside in -30 and 40 below zero. I keep all four connecting ponds running year round and one 1500 watt heater will keep all four ponds from freezing with the cattle panel coldframe structures over top to keep in the moist warm air created by heater. (Feels moist and warm when I stick my head inside when it's -30 Below outside) pond water is always cold and barely above freezing so not to worry about ice cold water as long as its not frozen solid like ice, cause then you have a problem... Koi will be fine in ice cold water as mine are always fine since 1991. Never lost a koi ever and I just keep water moving so water is evenly heated.

Would not ever rely on that pond breather alone as they would not suffice for large koi ... And its good you have big heater to keep your fish pond from freezing solid.

 

[sissy]

petco is closing it's stores here ,but not dr foster and smith

 

[sissy]

I am sad because of this stupid e-mail stuff .I am beginning to hate e-mail

 

[kbn316]

Curious to know if your fish survived? I'm in Southern Wisconsin (Madison area) and all my koi were dead this spring. It's about 2500 gallons and 4' at the deep end. We're ponding newbies and this is the 3rd year of our pond. The fish were fine last spring after their first winter, but not this year. I had aerators running all winter but no de-icer, plus 2 potted plants fell in last fall unbeknownst to me (dogs knocked them in, I think). So maybe having no hole in the ice plus the decaying plants were too much for the fish.

 

[Lisak1]

Curious to know if your fish survived? I'm in Southern Wisconsin (Madison area) and all my koi were dead this spring. It's about 2500 gallons and 4' at the deep end. We're ponding newbies and this is the 3rd year of our pond. The fish were fine last spring after their first winter, but not this year. I had aerators running all winter but no de-icer, plus 2 potted plants fell in last fall unbeknownst to me (dogs knocked them in, I think). So maybe having no hole in the ice plus the decaying plants were too much for the fish.

Oh that's sad... believe me, I know. We lost all but one of our big koi this year. It was a hard winter for us in the midwest.

How many fish did you have? Often people say "my fish were fine until now" but what they forget is your fish continue to grow and your pond can reach a tipping point where one more stressor is just too much. No hole in the ice would definitely be a concern. The plants shouldn't have hurt anything - lots of ponds have plants that are in the pond year round. What kind of filtration do you have? Do you shut it all down for winter? Pictures are always appreciated, because basically we're nosy!

 

[kbn316]

Aww, I'm sorry most of yours didn't make it either. We had 5 koi and about 6 sucker fish. The koi were young and not nearly full grown. We use biofiltration with a skiimmer, two aerators and a waterfall. The system gets shut down for winter but we left the aerators on.

Attached are a couple pics from yesterday showing all the muck and algae. We had this algae on the rocks last year, but not nearly this thick! We put in the pond in summer 2017, so we're still pretty new to this. I hope to get the muck/algae cleared up and add more fish this summer. Any suggestions for that?

So sad, I'd gotten kind of attached to those silly fish!

 

[Lisak1]

That algae is telling you something about your pond right now - excess nutrients that are feeding the algae. Do you have plants in the pond? When you say "sucker fish" do you mean plecos?

 

[Big Red Comet]

So sorry you went through that KBN Yes you do become attached – they are pets after all! Not "just fish.". My sincere sympathies& to you Lisa as well, don't remember if I said that or not.

My guys came out of it skinny and bedraggled but survived and now are looking pretty good – I was just crazy obsessed with buying and trying stuff and going out every 2 minutes to monitor the situation

I think what worked was: putting up a quick improvised greenhouse structure over the pond (ie framing plus plastic over it) to keep the cold wind off the pond + pond breather + a small 120 watt deicer - I liked having the combination of the two for added security, in case one failed. That little 120 watt deicer worked surprisingly well – only at the very lowest -20 temps did it seem like even the center hole iced up- slightly. I don’t think it would have kept up though, had it not been for the other things (greenhouse + breather, both of which add some slight amt of warmth.)

At first I had that big 1500 watt monster which the first day melted a nice size hole… but then the hole kept expanding to almost the whole pond and water temps kept rising - to 44 and climbing. This wass like when air temps were around zero and below! NOT GOOD! It’s a balancing act, since ammonia converts back to the toxic form if the water goes over 45 degrees. So you don’t want water to get too warm.