HELLO FROM SUNNY MICHIGAN, POND IS STILL FROZEN :(

[Tootsie]

Hi Everyone,It has taken me awhile to get here! I love to garden, grow trees and flowers from seed. I just checked out the pond..it's still frozen I can't wait to see what will come up for food this summer? Pond is about 150 X80 18ft. deep at the back and 5 ft. in front. It has a clay bottom, looks like there may be a few springs coming up? In any event I drill holes all over with an auger, so I am sure fishes get air I did see 2 minks running along the bank of the pond last fall I lost all the koi due to thaw and freeze Hopefully, I will be able to have more Here are a few pictures I chose


Tootsie

 

[sissy]

Welcome and thats a lake wow .Minks too .With that depth how could you have lost your fish .I mean most of us had a mild winter and I have friend in Flatrock and he has not lost a fish in 3 years but he has a pond heater for his .So you are all natural then and no filter .

 

[addy1]

No kidding that is a lake! Post us a over all picture, so we can go wow over the size. Agree with sissy, that seems deep enough to protect the fish from the cold

 

[koiguy1969]

WELCOME ABOARD TOOTSIE...FROM ANOTHER MICHIGANDER!!

 

[taherrmann4]

Welcome to the crazy group of ponders.

 

[j.w]

Tootsie
We need to help you figure out what went wrong so you can keep the fish living and thriving in that big,huge, wonderful pond

 

[Tootsie]

Hello and Thank You for asking Several years ago, the beautiful Koi I had were so much fun to feed!! I would get near the side of the pond and yell ,HOW ARE MY BABIES, LOL pretty soon just as I would walk to the side, I could see them deeper in the pond, but they had a Koi train...no kidding, when they would swim and I was there, they started swimming right to me! I had to teach them when I threw their food it was in the middle of the pond. The reasoning was if they got close to the edge, the darn herons would nab and poke them to death My babies were very large, beautiful colors and patterns One day the ice got slushy , I was not there at the time. One of them swam up and thru the slush, from nose to tail fashion. Poor babies, they all followed each other, them the temps went down...I had stayed at the hospital with my Daughter, and was not able to get back until the next afternoon. They were all frozen in the ice , along with the darn bullheads! I have some movies of them swimming, leaping out of the water, trying to snag the melon rinds I get so depressed just thinking of my babies, one just gets attached to their fin kids
Your Friend in the Garden and Pond,
Tootsie

 

[j.w]

What a freak accident to happen to them! Gosh I don't know how you could prevent that from happening again. All you can do is try again and hope you are there if it ever happens. Never heard of that happening. Have heard of koi jumping out of ponds but never what happened here. I imagine your horror when you found them all. I too would be heartbroken and devastated. I hope this kind of thing never happens again to you. My heart goes out to you and your koi :sad:

 

[addy1]

Darn, that is horrible. Never thought they would even move much when it is so cold. My goldies just sort of hang, hardly swimming, in the deepest part when the water is cold.

 

[sissy]

gosh amazing they would do that as my koi hang on the bottom until I call them .I invested in a pond heater for this winter but only used it twice as it did not get that cold .Sorry to hear that as koi are just friendly critters and they get very social the older they get .Maybe it is because as they get older they get to be bigger pigs and figure wow she's here and let me show off so I get more food .They sure do love there veggies and fruit .

 

[DrCase]

Welcome to the Forum

 

[Tootsie]

I am so happy to be here, Thank You :goldfish:
Tootsie

 

[sissy]

Will you be getting new fish again and restocking your pond .I have never seen a heron here and only know what they look like because of posted pics .

 

[Tootsie]

Hi Sissy,
I am not sure what I will do about getting more fish? There is a huge truck that comes all the way here from Arkansas. The first time the driver let me climb up the ladder and look down into the big tank with so many Koi If I can find their pictures I will post them.
The darn herons are always at the pond The great blue, the white and brown, and all the others that make their way in I know they have to eat, but e-gads why don't they just eat all of the bullheads ? They gobble up the fish food, and if some unlucky person gets a feel of one of their tentacles , ZAP, you will NEVER forget the pain!!
Your Friend in the Garden and Pond,
Tootsie

 

[sissy]

There are no local places to get koi .I guess with that size pond you can't net it ,shame .With all the lakes there you think the herons would go there and fill up .Have you tried flags around the pond .I know mine scared off the owl .I just used pvc pipe as the flag pole and hammered a piece of metal pipe in the ground and put the pvc pipe inside that ,this way I could take it out to change the flag .To attach the flag to the pole I just drilled holes in the pvc and wired the flag to the pole through the holes