Completely bummed!

[Shdwdrgn]

As Colleen mentioned, I too was wondering why you shut off your pumps for the Winter? With your proximity to the ocean, it seems like you shouldn't have any issues with keeping the water running. Of course I'm probably 300 miles further South than you, but I'm also at high altitude right next to a mountain. This past Winter I had a lot of ice over my pond, but I never shut off my pumps for any reason. This prevents anything from building up in the filters over the Winter, and on warmer days I can still flush the system if needed.

At the very least, when you first start up your pumps for the Spring, I would recommend a complete flush and clean of the pipes and filters. Completely flush all the old water from your lines, and throw away any water that has been standing in the filters. Or even better, drain them out in the Fall so there's no chance or anything harmful building up over the Winter. And if possible, when you start up the pumps, dump the first few seconds worth of water straight out onto the lawn so that anything that was dislodged from the filter media doesn't go back into the pond.

How does anyone keep their kh above 200? I'm lucky to keep mine above 40.

 

[addy1]

Our water is soft and acidic, the oyster shells help, I add 100 lbs every spring to the bog. I am lucky to get to just below 100

 

[callingcolleen1]

I have lost fish, but not in the dead of winter usually. I lost one big fat goldfish last summer that jumped out while spaning, by the time I found him he was dried up. Before Christmas I lost a fat goldfish that had a nice fantail, but I dropped a rock by accident on him and he never recovered from his injuries. Then a couple years ago a big blue heron came and ate lots of little goldfish. But I still have all my KOI, been lucky and never lost any of my KOI yet. I too have had fish my whole life, goldfish since I was six or seven, tanks everywhere, then ponds in 1991. I had three original goldfish for many many years, like over 25 years or so, till the one big white one died several years ago. It is very rare for me to lose any goldfish in the winter, just does not happen very often, I think in the 22 years that they have been outside, I can count the goldfish that actually died over the winter on one hand! So it is very rare for me to have fish die, and I think it is because the cold winters kill off parasites and diseases and keep some very healthy. I also keep the pumps going and I think that is a big factor in my success as well and I almost never ever move the fish as that is very hard on them too. The only time I move the fish is if I have to take the whole pond apart for updating or making it better, and that does not happen very often at all, maybe every 10 years or so. Sometimes I move the odd fish from time to time from the bottom pond to the middle or top pond. I try to keep the koi in the top two ponds, but sometimes they smaller koi get down into the bottom pond with the goldfish.

 

[Dave 54]

That reminds me about when we took our elderly next door neighbours goldfish in to treat it for her, I had put it in the bottom tank of one of those double stand you can get.
Val got up out of her chair to go to the loo and all of a sudden screamed Dave.
Being the brave hero of many a spider hunt Val hates spiders I sprang into action only to find Val looking hoorified at her feet she had stood on and squashed our neighbours goldfish killing it instantly , I should have put the lid back on the tank but had forgotten ( my fault )........
We buried it in our garden and told our neighbour sorry the goldfish didnt respond to treatment and it had passed away.
She never did get told the truth we didnt have the heart to tell her, she has since moved away into a purpose built flt for the elderly, the pond was filled in by our new neighbour who is a relative of hers .
We did however tell them the truth they found it quite amusing sad as it was.

rgrds



Dave

 

[callingcolleen1]

Yes, things can happen. One time many years ago I had a big tank with goldfish and I accidently dropped a glass pane into the tank with fish and water. The glass hit the gravel and broke into many pieces. Tank was fine, so I took as many pieces of glass out of the tank that I could find, but must has missed a couple of shards. The next day I noticed two of the fish with severe head and eye injuries, one was missing the whole eye! I was so freaked out, and the fish were still alive and looked fine other than their horrific injuries. I was so traumatized by the whole event that I took the fish in a bucket and set them free in the nearby creek. There was no way I going to be able relax and look at the "freak show fish" that I just created!

I can laugh about it now, cause it was so long ago and I was still fairly young.

 

[CometKeith]

Nstcott, sorry to hear about your fish. Keeping fish is an empirical science. Everyone's pond and conditions are different and there is no exact proven method that is one size fits all. I agree with Waterbug's advice about 42-62 degrees to do nothing. I started my water pump as soon as possible this year when there was still ice in the pond and netted a few leaves in the shallow ends, but that is all I will do until water temps stay consistently above 60 degrees. I find it helpful to keep an airstone running year round. O2 deprivation can cause fish to die very quickly. You will see it first in larger fish because they need more O2.