What to do now?

[bighollywood]

So 2017 was sort of a wash for my pond. It was going good in the spring. Pond was probably the prettiest ever. Of course that was due to time and diligence to the hobby. It a miracle when you actually spend the time doing what is necessary, you usually get results. However, in late summer, we had a house fire and had to move out of our house for 6 months. So with the move, no pond care for a bit. We moved back a few weeks ago. That gave some time to start working on the pond again. It wasn't clear and leaves had fallen into the water and the tannins have caused brown water. I added some polyfil and carbon to the filter and today the pond is crystal clear. This gave way for me to be able to see all the leaves that have fallen into the pond while we were gone. The fish look good. Sitting on the bottom, hiding in the leaves. So with the long intro, the question is, what now? What should I be doing now? I will try to get some pics when I get home today if there is still daylight. Thanks in advance.

 

[Angel]

wait for consistent 55F or better weather drain and clean the pond of the leaves out.

 

[sissy]

I have quilt batting in my pond filter right now .Sorry to hear about your house fire but glad you are back in the house .I usually start it in my filter when ever the pond is not frozen .I can see all my baby fish that hid from me .4 feet down

 

[addy1]

I would not drain the pond, just get a pool net and net the leaves out. Do it slowly. You might want to wait until it is a bit warmer, right now the fish are in a fragile stage coming out of winter.

You don't really want to make them scurry around while they are still in winter mode. Mine freak out as soon as a net goes into the water.

 

[Tula]

So sorry to hear about your house fire. I don't drain my pond to clean it, I use a pool net to remove leaves and run my filters when the weather is warmer. I also net my pond in late summer and keep it covered throughout winter, which cuts down on leaves.

 

[brokensword]

what addy and Tula said...

 

[JamieB]

I figure leaves are natural, they won’t harm the fish. I did my best to clean all the leaves out before the freeze, the pond froze, wind blew, when I went out yesterday it had thawed and I saw more leaves! That is a battle I’ll fight after things warm up more. I know we will have at least one more freeze. Better to not disturb the fish yet.

 

[adavisus]

Leaves are very sloooow to decompose, let the fish have their little carpet to hide among in the cold chill of winter

Sweep a few out at a time after Spring has warmed it up

 

[bighollywood]

Thanks for the help. Ill start working on the leaves when it warms up...so i habe read there is a time when the bad stuff...parasites etc can be active but the kois immune systems arent at their best. Does anyone know that window of temps... and what can be done about it.... last season before the fire of 2017, which is what we affectionately call it, we redid a few things, added a waterfall and such. This caused quite a stir in the pond and a few fish got sick... with the cleaning of the leaves i dont want a repeat. Any suggestions?

 

[Jhn]

To me it's not so much worrying about a set temperature, but when their behavior changes from hovering around the bottom of the pond and hiding to actively swimming around the pond and are a couple weeks into feeding again. Then as was mentioned net the leaves out, your fish shouldn't get sick from this when they are out of torpor.

 

[mrsclem]

I think what you are referring to is what is called Aeromonas Alley. Its the spring temperature where the koi are the most suseptable to infection as the bacteria grows faster than the fishes immune system. Mid 40s- 60 water temperature is the usual range. Its best to keep the water quality at its best during that time. Make sure you have a good test kit and keep an eye on your water temps.

 

[sissy]

The quilt batting in a crate like I do will help a lot at collecting stirred up stuff .It is easy to hose off and reuse .When ever I can turn my filter on I use it .