should I worry?

[Steve knight]

my little pond is finally getting 60 degree water most of the time. I changed the filter before the water was reaching 60 well I took out some of the bio media but still had all of the pads in place. I added a bog and added a bunch of plants too. the fish have been eating ok but they don't get all worked up and are acting bit shy about eating. I thought it was all the plants and now the splashing water as it was very quiet till I changed things. so I finally decide I better test the water. I was only going to buy the ammonia kit as everyone was out of the nitrite kits. ammonia tested 0. I finally got a full kit and nitrites read between .25 .5 should I do anything besides weekly water changes?

 

[fishin4cars]

Monitor the water and small water changes are good things to be doing! Feed lightly, even skipping days to make them more hungry will help more than hurt. How is you PH, Nitrate and hardness, Coming out of cool weather you need to be on top of them all.

 

[Steve knight]

ph 7.2 we don't have hard water here it's pretty good water. nitrates seem to be between 40 and 80. the plants are just really starting to grow.
the water went from 55 to 60 in one day and stayed above 60 for the last week or so,

 

[CometKeith]

hi Steve knight, I didn't feed my fish this year until it was almost a month above 50 degrees. Their metabolism is still slower and don't really need much. Are they spawning at all? That might be a sign they are munching on something tastier than what you are feeding them!

 

[Steve knight]

no spawning the fish are too young.
a lot of days it would get above 50 all day and drop at night. one week in the middle of winter it was above 50 for a week. poor fish were getting pretty hungry.

 

[CometKeith]

Personally I think it's a misconception that fish in ponds need a lot of food from us to stay healthy. I know some of my fish grew quite a bit this spring with no food from me at all. Then again my pond is not overcrowded and there is plenty of natural stuff for all of them. I think until the pond is fully cycled and you have consistent water temps at least 55-60 they may beg for fish food but they don't really need it.

 

[addy1]

I didn't feed the fish I did not know we had for over 8 months, they grew nicely and are responsible for all the fry we have this year.

 

[Steve knight]

my wife is blind and the only way she can see and touch the fish are when they are getting fed. so if they don't eat she can't enjoy them and they are for her.

 

[CometKeith]

Steve, That's really nice that she can enjoy the fish in that way. There are probably other ways you can help cycle your pond quicker so you don't have to worry about overfeeding like using media rich in bacteria from other ponds to start yours up like maybe a small indoor pond over the winter that you could borrow from. Also she could enjoy the fish in winter too that way. Your comments reaffirmed to me how important it is not to judge other people too fast because you do not always know the whole story. Thank you for sharing that information and good luck with your pond.

 

[Steve knight]

I thought about bring them indoors but thought of all of the hassle. I have to keep this simple or I will get tired of it.
I think it was just the big jump in overall temp. but they seem to be going down so I bet in a week it will be cycled.