fish more active and near surface?

[chilligirl]

So I wound up taking the cover off my pond the other day because it was so beat up it was more hassle than it was worth (water kept pooling on it, instead of running off, and it was falling apart).

Within 24 hours, my fish became more active, and started swimming at all levels, including a few inches below the surface. While the cover was on, they all hung out on the bottom.

It's only the goldfish who've perked up, the koi are still pretty sedentary (although they are still swimming), and staying at 3 feet depth and deeper.

We did have a couple days of sunshine, and the temps have warmed up a bit, although it's still pretty cool (hovering around 40F).

Water temp was 45F when I checked it this morning.

Meanwhile, my goldfish are cruising through the parrot feather and the last straggling bits of creeping jenny and salvina, and seemingly looking for food (I'm NOT feeding them).

What gives? I'm inclined to worry something is wrong to cause the change, but nobody is gasping for air, and they all look healthy, no visible signs of disease.

 

[koikeepr]

was you cover clear/opaque or the kind that would cause more darkness?

 

[chilligirl]

It was heavy duty clear poly. It did block some light (was semi-opaque), but not all.

 

[chilligirl]

Well, I think I solved the mystery. I moved the thermometer around today, checking temps in different spots. It seems that, while most of the pond is around 45-48 degrees, the water in and around the plants is about 5 degrees warmer. This is no doubt due to the heater in that corner (meant to keep the pond ice free), and I guess the plants are reducing circulation and holding the heat.

So, warmer water in the semi-floating plants in that corner, combined with "brighter" light since I took off the cover has perked the fish up. This morning even the koi are investigating it, although still staying at least 2 feet down. It's supposed to stay mild for the next week and a half before dropping back down to around 35F. However, January is typically our coldest month and it's supposed to stay above freezing for the rest of the month, so I think my pond has wintered well!

I expect it to warm up enough to start lightly feeding again by mid February. Here's hoping!

I'm REALLY excited that all my fancy goldfish (oranda, several moors/telescopes, a ranchu) have wintered just fine. For some reason, nobody keeps them in ponds here, yet all my reading shows them as tolerating the same temperature ranges as single tails (they are the same species after all). They're a bit more delicate, but since my pond is quite deep and sheltered, there's no quick fluctuations in temperature, and they seem to be managing just fine

 

[koikeepr]

but you are in a zone 8a--so tho goldfish are all in the same genus, some are of a tropical variety and do not do well in ponds.

Just putting that out there, as I wouldn't want those in zones that are lower than yours thinking these fancier varieties of goldies can survive ice and such.

 

[chilligirl]

Well, I did have ice for about a week (but kept a hole open with the heater). The ice got up to an inch thick. Granted, that's nothing compared to say, Ontario. But it was pretty cold out.

 

[chilligirl]

gah! All the fish are awake and active now. The water is sitting at 50F (which was our high temp today, it's now dropped back down to 48F). The fishies are cruising the plants, mooching for food, and even some chasing/spawning type behaviour going on. We've still got a full month of winter weather ahead here.

I turned on the spitter to provide some extra aeration since everyone's decided to be active (pump is off until the water is reliably above 50F).

I also moved the heater out to a more central location (better circulation around it) for now, since icing over is not a risk and I don't want any "hot spots". It's near the spitter's output, so that should help circulate the water.

I'm a bit worried about the fish getting their metabolisms going again right now - it's too soon. I worked hard to fatten them up for winter, they need to keep brumating so they don't use up those stores all at once!

Anything else I should do? Should I be worried, or is this fairly normal?

 

[koikeepr]

Don't feed 'em. Perhaps this shows that in your zone 8a, you don't really need a heater. Just let 'em go dormant in the cooler waters.

Just let them rest 'til spring.

 

[chilligirl]

Oh, I'm not going to feed them.

It's not enough of a heater to heat the pond. It's just a 300W submersible aquarium heater. The idea is just to keep a hole open in the ice. Granted, it's not cold enough to form ice right now, but it was here and there last month, and for about a week in November.

Honestly, I'd love to find a 1000W heater. I think that would be sufficient to keep my pond at or above 50 for all but a couple weeks of the year. I'd love to "shorten" my winter that way

And yes, I'm zone 8a. Remember though, that just tells us the average minimum temperature, which isn't the whole picture. Your hardiness zone doesn't account for rainfall, snowfall, daytime temperatures, day length, wind, heat, or extreme cold snaps. While my city's average minimum temp is pretty mild since I'm in Southern BC, in a sheltered valley, and reasonably close to the coast, you have to remember, I still live in Canada, lol. That's north just by nature, which means long winters with short days, and some wicked arctic outflows now and then.

 

[koikeepr]

i can't wrap my brain around anywhere in canada being a zone 8. LOL!

 

[chilligirl]

lol. We're about 140miles north of Seattle. It's less than a half hour drive to the US border crossing for me, and in fact in Columbia Valley (an outskirt of Chilliwack I lived in as a kid), the US/Canada border runs along the edge of town. It's unmanned and unpatrolled, and as kids we used to have fun riding our bikes out to the border marker and "crossing" back and forth. They've had a significant problem with cigarette and drug smuggling there in the past...Although smugglers wind up on a very rural road part way up the base of Mount Baker - a long walk to get anywhere!

There are places on Vancouver Island (further North than Chilliwack, but coastal while Chilliwack is inland), such as Tofino and Victoria, that are zone 8b. Also, Vancouver, our major city here in BC, is zone 8, but has a lot of little micro-climates, and some spots in Vancouver you can even grow zone 9 plants.

BC has some interesting climate. Everything from rainforest, to coastal, to alpine, to prairie oil fields (up north of Fort St. John), to arctic, we even have a desert! And we grow great grapes and make great wine in the Okanagan!

 

[koikeepr]

amazing!