Do you think this guy is super cooling his koi? ;)

[adavisus]

As long as you can walk to the pond with a pan of hot water, its doable. Every other day will do.

Might be tricky when the power is out. Covering a pond with a cold frame is good, when the sun is on it, that good old solar power can really keep the ice at bay

 

[MitchM]

No, a pot of hot water is not going to do it.

 

[adavisus]

How deep is the ice. A pot of water might melt 2" deep at a time

 

[MitchM]

6 inches of ice will form within the first month or so after the initial ice over.
That leaves 5 more months of ice cover. (for me anyways)
You can have situations where you have 6 inches of ice, a heavy snowfall during the day and night that sinks the ice cap below the pond water line which forms a slush above the existing ice cap and come out to 12" of ice the next morning.

I agree that a pot of water would work with 2 inches of ice.
I presently have 2 feet of ice, however.

.

 

[Faebinder]

If you watched that video, his fish was covered all over in parasites when he looked up close with micoscope. Alot of people in the UK are just terrified of little bits of cold and they frequently heat pond when temps are still above freezing. Then if you look them up on UTube they are always so concerned about disease and parasites as they do not get enough long cold winters to kill them off. I seriously have not had a dead or sick koi in all my 27 years of running my ponds. Can't say the same about some of those fancy fat goldfish as they only seem to live about 10 years. I did have a old comet goldfish that lived to about 20 many years ago. Comets are heathier than fancy goldfish as they are not as inbred.
The point I would like to make, if you watched that whole video he said after checking his fish under scope, he come to the conclusion his whole pond was infested with parasites.

Meanwhile in MY Ice cold ponds with no heater for two weeks and night time temps down to -14 Celsius....

Agree with all that is said above. Common, Comets and Shubunkins will do fine. Put a small trough heater if you got some fancy goldfish. Not all the fancies need them, but some do.

 

[Faebinder]

Sometimes Mother Nature can create conditions where it's just not possible to keep a hole open in the ice through circulation or aeration.

Very true.. Especially if its windy.

 

[callingcolleen1]

You should see them in the UK. Most if them are already heating their ponds when its way above freezing. Then most of them a
Have super wicked set up with the most advanced filters and set up, and most of them all seem to own their own microscope and constantly checkiing for parasites as they get so many sick fish with the most advanced technology in the pond world, and they treat their koi with the most advanced medicine as well.
How come with the most advanced pond technology and medicine, then why are their fish not as healthy as the koi in a ice cold pond of running water? I will tell you why, its simply because they treat the cold water fish (koi) like they are tropical. Although young smarter pond experts are popping up in the UK and recommending they now leave koi in pond with running water all winter.
Japan gets cold weather as well, and sometimes the season is shorter or longer, and some years my winters were very similar to the winters in some northern parts of Japan.
They are way too paranoid about winter in the UK and they should quit treating cold water fish like tropical fish. Its that simple!

 

[audioenvy]

It's not "that simple" at all. Lumping every pond owner in the UK into a single group of paranoids with parasite problems is ridiculous.

I can say this... the state of koi keeping in the UK is on average quite advanced compared to the typical garden pond owner in North America. If your goal is to raise a pond full of 36" Japanese-bred gosanke to take to a koi show you are going to have a far different set of goals and challenges than keeping a few 12" mutts alive.

Just because a guy has a barn full of mules that don't die over the winter doesn't mean he knows more than Bob Baffert about raising thoroughbred racehorses.

 

[audioenvy]

I'm sorry if the above seems rude. I did take issue with your insinuation that Peter Waddington is clueless about koi though LOL.

I recently took the time to complete all of the coursework for the Certified Koi Keeper certification from Koi Organisation International. Since then I've been studying about how to manage the water at koi shows and how to judge koi. I'm taking online classes to learn Japanese. None of this makes me an expert. In fact, I can say that the more I learn, the more I realize there is a ton still left to learn. There are a lot of different levels of koi keeping. None is inherently better than the other but what is a simple issue to someone with one set of goals might be a much more complex issue to someone with a different set of goals.

I think it's fantastic that you've found something that works for you with your pond setup, your climate, and your size, quantity, and quality of fish. It clearly brings you a lot of joy and satisfaction--and that's the point of the whole thing.

If microscopes and TDS meters and ORP measurements and dissolved oxygen content and ozone use and reverse osmosis and the science behind the nitrification cycle and all of those "super wicked setup" things are unnecessary to you then that's 100% fine. What's important is that you enjoy the hobby and clearly you do--but that doesn't mean those things are unnecessary to koi keepers who have different goals than you do.

 

[Tula]

I'm sorry if the above seems rude. I did take issue with your insinuation that Peter Waddington is clueless about koi though LOL.

I recently took the time to complete all of the coursework for the Certified Koi Keeper certification from Koi Organisation International. Since then I've been studying about how to manage the water at koi shows and how to judge koi. I'm taking online classes to learn Japanese. None of this makes me an expert. In fact, I can say that the more I learn, the more I realize there is a ton still left to learn. There are a lot of different levels of koi keeping. None is inherently better than the other but what is a simple issue to someone with one set of goals might be a much more complex issue to someone with a different set of goals.

I think it's fantastic that you've found something that works for you with your pond setup, your climate, and your size, quantity, and quality of fish. It clearly brings you a lot of joy and satisfaction--and that's the point of the whole thing.

If microscopes and TDS meters and ORP measurements and dissolved oxygen content and ozone use and reverse osmosis and the science behind the nitrification cycle and all of those "super wicked setup" things are unnecessary to you then that's 100% fine. What's important is that you enjoy the hobby and clearly you do--but that doesn't mean those things are unnecessary to koi keepers who have different goals than you do.

You completed the Certified Koi Keeper classes in record time! I've considered signing up.

 

[audioenvy]

You completed the Certified Koi Keeper classes in record time! I've considered signing up.

It was very informative and piqued my interest to continue learning more. Every year there are quite a few scholarships offered so I'd recommend it to anyone.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I'm sorry if the above seems rude. I did take issue with your insinuation that Peter Waddington is clueless about koi though LOL.

I recently took the time to complete all of the coursework for the Certified Koi Keeper certification from Koi Organisation International. Since then I've been studying about how to manage the water at koi shows and how to judge koi. I'm taking online classes to learn Japanese. None of this makes me an expert. In fact, I can say that the more I learn, the more I realize there is a ton still left to learn. There are a lot of different levels of koi keeping. None is inherently better than the other but what is a simple issue to someone with one set of goals might be a much more complex issue to someone with a different set of goals.

I think it's fantastic that you've found something that works for you with your pond setup, your climate, and your size, quantity, and quality of fish. It clearly brings you a lot of joy and satisfaction--and that's the point of the whole thing.

If microscopes and TDS meters and ORP measurements and dissolved oxygen content and ozone use and reverse osmosis and the science behind the nitrification cycle and all of those "super wicked setup" things are unnecessary to you then that's 100% fine. What's important is that you enjoy the hobby and clearly you do--but that doesn't mean those things are unnecessary to koi keepers who have different goals than you do.

Peter Waddington has never wintered his koi in ice cold water, therefor he is not a expert in that topic.
I have seen so many videos on U tube of koi in the UK and they all seem to have to fight parasites' and horrible sickness, they claim to the "experts" but their fish seem to have lots of problems, and me with my humble pond setup have no problems. never ever any sick or dead koi, and despite there super advanced technology and they claim that koi cannot be wintered in extreme cold temps, but somehow I have managed to do it for 27 years. They are obviously wrong and maybe that is why my U tube channel is growing so fast!

I have a few followers from the UK and many who claim to be top experts with koi that are very expensive, they like to watch and see how my koi are doing... Maybe they are learning something new!

 

[callingcolleen1]

It was very informative and piqued my interest to continue learning more. Every year there are quite a few scholarships offered so I'd recommend it to anyone.

I should teach those experts about wintering their ponds. ha ha ha

 

[callingcolleen1]

I'm sorry if the above seems rude. I did take issue with your insinuation that Peter Waddington is clueless about koi though LOL.

I recently took the time to complete all of the coursework for the Certified Koi Keeper certification from Koi Organisation International. Since then I've been studying about how to manage the water at koi shows and how to judge koi. I'm taking online classes to learn Japanese. None of this makes me an expert. In fact, I can say that the more I learn, the more I realize there is a ton still left to learn. There are a lot of different levels of koi keeping. None is inherently better than the other but what is a simple issue to someone with one set of goals might be a much more complex issue to someone with a different set of goals.

I think it's fantastic that you've found something that works for you with your pond setup, your climate, and your size, quantity, and quality of fish. It clearly brings you a lot of joy and satisfaction--and that's the point of the whole thing.

If microscopes and TDS meters and ORP measurements and dissolved oxygen content and ozone use and reverse osmosis and the science behind the nitrification cycle and all of those "super wicked setup" things are unnecessary to you then that's 100% fine. What's important is that you enjoy the hobby and clearly you do--but that doesn't mean those things are unnecessary to koi keepers who have different goals than you do.

Peter Waddington never wintered his koi in extreme weather and so he is not an expert at that subject. And if you go look at the endless UTube videos of koi ponds from the UK, yes, they are almost every one of them, very scared to leave their koi in ice cold running water and cannot believe that my Koi can possibly do so well in Ice cold running water.
I could care less about his books, and there are lots of books of so called experts that were proven wrong over the years. I have already proven them wrong. I remember many of them horrified at the thought that I could keep koi outside and alive in -45.

I follow no experts, they now follow me on U tube now and that is a Fact!

 

[MitchM]

There are plenty of private zoos around the world that have kept animals in deplorable conditions for decades, and they certainly would not be considered "experts" just because they kept animals alive for so long.
- so unless you are able to describe why, in scientific terms that are applicable to anyone's pond, you assertions are not going to go very far.