Koi died this winter

[amerali]

I am in MOntreal Canada, winter was mildest ever. 3 weeks ago, pond just unfreeze. I had 4 large kois (12 inch got them last summer only), 6 small kois (4 inch) and 50 small red fish (2 inches).
All 4 large kois and 6 small red fish died. I have not yet seen other small kois as water still pretty cold. I used 3 100 watt Thermo Pond de icer. I noticed some accumulation of snow on top of the de icer. How long can fish during winter hybernation live if de icer is blocked with snow?

 

[kirscp]

I read somewhere that old, large, young, and small koi are less likely to make it though the winter.

This winter I lost two large koi, and several babies, but I wasn't concerned about the babies.

Over the winter I pulled 3 large ones out that were obviously sick. Two had fish bloat, and luckly I saved them. One of them didn't make it, and the other that died, I found dead in the bottom.

This winter I used a 2 foot by 8 foot pond deicer that I built myself and have a pond aerator. I used 3 60 - 40 watt bulbs to keep the 2 foot by 8 foot section open. It allowed me to keep an eye on my koi to see if they were sick. The previous year I lost 6 koi, and figured it was from them getting sick, not the winter themselves.

The deicer I made cost me around $50 and uses little electricity. Took a couple of 2x6's for the base, and 2x2's and 1x2's to build the frame. I stapled black plastic around it just to keep the wind out. It worked excellent. Kept it open, even on our -20f nights with -45f windchills.

I live in northern MN and we get cold winters. Lakes around here end up with 4 - 5 feet of ice.

 

[amerali]

Thanks KIRSCP
Does your de icer result in a surface not freezing at all ? I am quite intrigued by this. Are yu able to attach photoraphs of your de icer?

How do you detect a koi is sick? What product do you use to treat your sick kois?

Thanks a lot for your help

 

[koikeepr]

how many gallons is your pond? Sounds like a lot of fish for a 15' diameter pond.

I thought I had lost a few of my baby koi that I bought at the fall harvest in October, as we had a pretty rough winter this year. But once the water cleared up, i found 'em!

I did lose my platinum ogon. I have not found a corpse of any kind, so I do not know if some kind of predator got him or what? I had a number of heron sightings this winter, so am not sure what has happened. But I'll be sure to replace him with another ogon this spring.

 

[kirscp]

I will take some pictures of it tomorrow. It only keeps the 2 ft x 8 ft area open. I have thought about making it a little bit bigger for next winter and adding some insulation.

Sick koi are easy to spot, The one I could see was bloated, and second was just laying on its side. I actually thought it was dead, but moved after I tried to net it. I then just brought them in the house in a 30-40 gallon rubbermaid tote. Treated the water, added an aquarium filter, and aerator. When they warmed up I was also able to feed them medicated food. It isn't much fun having the totes in the house, but better then having dead fish. Next winter I'm hoping to get my 55 gallon aquarium set up to hold the sick ones once they are better.

I did throw a couple of old blankets on top of the deicer to help keep some heat in and the wind off the plastic. The only issue I had was cats that would scratch at the plastic, I'm sure they smelt food.

I use two different products to treat the fungus infections. I use Jungle's "Fungus Eliminator" and a product from AquaFish which is "Ampicillin", I used that when I had tropical fish.

I had the same fungus issue last year and treated the whole pond. I don't want to do that again, so I purchased medicated food from drsfostersmith.com, and of course pull the sick ones when I notice they just aren't acting right.

My pond is approximately 5,000 gallons total.

In the years previous, I've used the 100 watt pond deicers, left a pump running to keep the water circulating, and made a smaller sized pond deicer. They all kept the water open, but the large deicer allowed me to spot sick fish and save them. The last thing you want is dead fish making all the other fish sick.

 

[kirscp]

Here are a couple of pics of the deicer I made. The base is 2 - 8ft 2x6's. 2 - 8ft 2x2's, 5 - 8ft 1x2's plus 2 2ft pieces on the ends, and two 2 ft sections of 1x4's on the top.

The top was constructed of 1 - 8ft 1x4, and 3 - 1x4 2 foot sections. I added 2 - 2x4's for weight, otherwise those could be 1x4's also.

I only used bulbs in the hanging heated lamps. The other two I did not use. The one I added a piece that allowed me to plug the hanging heating lamps from. I believe I used one 60w and two 40w bulbs.

Thing's that I will be changing.

Adding some styrofoam around the bottom of the 2x6's to aid in floating or adding some 4" pvc pipe. I put it on after the pond had a layer of ice, but when it started to warm up I had issues with it sinking.

I may add a layer of some type of insulation around the deicer then adding another layer of plastic. I live on some flatlands and we get some 30-40mph winds during the winter with -40+ windchills.

I have also thought about making one that is 8 feet by 4 feet. If I insulate it, i think that I'd be able to use the same wattage of bulbs. The top made it easy to me to look into the pond and also check / change bulbs as the burnt out. It also let me net any of the sick fish that I found.

 

[amerali]

Thanks, this is very useful. I will take extra precautions next winter

 

[PS3]

sorry for your loss i lost my koi last fall. when iam done building my skippy
iam just sticking with nice gold fish no more koi for me

 

[ftsk420]

Maybe I'm just lucky but I haven't lost any fish during the harsh winters we have and I don't have a heater or bubbler just my waterfall.