Just checked in on my fish

[RobAmy]

Well winter has been a tough one so far. The temps went up today so I just used my underwater camera to check on the fish. I could not see them all but did see a few, so far so good. They where swimming about, I did not see any of the koi but no bodies either. This week is going to be really cold again. We did get some melting today. I cleaned off the ice a little, you can see the depth of the snow. It will take a while for this years opening. I would guess 4ft of snow around the pond.

 

[j.w]

Yikes that is a lot of ice and snow.........too much for me and I love the stuff!

 

[addy1]

It usually snows here and melts, very seldom do a load like that!
Hope it melts slow

 

[RobAmy]

It usually snows here and melts, very seldom do a load like that!
Hope it melts slow

Exactly, snows and melts but not this year. It will be a wet spring for sure. If we get rain we will have major flooding

 

[MitchM]

That's a lot of snow!
We've got bare ground in some places here.

 

[RobAmy]

That's a lot of snow!
We've got bare ground in some places here.

Your deserve a break after last year. It is my turn now

 

[C-Note]

Holy cow!! I would not know what to do with that. Even through the winter I like to visit my fish every day. The worst I've had is a thin layer of ice (stays open at the waterfall). And that's a rare occasion here. Glad you are not seeing bodies. I hope it thaws soon, and at a manageable pace!

 

[Tula]

Yikes! We too are getting more cold temps this week. I haven't cleared the snow from my taunt net, so can't peak into the pond. I hadn't planned on keeping the net on all winter, but got caught unawares and it does a good job of catching fine debris from the cedar trees above it.

 

[Lisak1]

Here's my pond - you could skate on it. In fact you can see the pups were walking on water this morning! Believe it or not, under all that ice our waterfall is still flowing. And I can't see the fish but I know they're under there, waiting for spring!

 

[Dave 54]

RobAmy really keeping our fingers crossed that all your fish made it through ,it being a hard winter for you with the polar vortex hitting the US like it did .
Are you worried about the koi my friend ?

Dave

 

[RobAmy]

Are you worried about the koi my friend ?

I am not really worried about the Koi, they all did great last year and it was very cold just not as much snow. It is a bit colder this year without many days above freezing. I would have felt better seeing them in the video I took but they do hide in the cave I have during the winter and they are hard to see in there. Keep fingers crossed but at this point I have no reason to believe anything bad is going on. I have good algae growth from the looks of the video and my air holes have been open the entire time, now and then had to enlarge them with hot water.

 

[RobAmy]

View attachment 78588

Here's my pond - you could skate on it. In fact you can see the pups were walking on water this morning! Believe it or not, under all that ice our waterfall is still flowing. And I can't see the fish but I know they're under there, waiting for spring!

Looks beautiful with the ice on the stream like that, amazing it is still flowing underneath with no issues, kudos for a well built pond

 

[MitchM]

I'm surprised that you have 2 big holes open in the ice.
How low has the temperature dropped for you this year?

 

[RobAmy]

I'm surprised that you have 2 big holes open in the ice.
How low has the temperature dropped for you this year?

Air temp -8 degrees with wind -30 degrees. The holes have closed up as much as 2 inches over night with a thin ice sheet, I just pour a little water on them to enlarge them. The holes are so big now due to the 38 degree temp we had yesterday, that is all changed now 18 degree high with a -4 degree low

The air pumps do very well keeping the holes open in double digits, when the single digits or negative temps hit, they struggle a bit. On average they usually stay open about 8 inches but melt quickly with some sun.

 

[Tula]

I'm really afraid I may lose my fish. My expensive mesh net is almost acting like a mesh used in dry wall, or surgery....it's formed a complete bond with the ice and snow . I can't budge it to see how fish are, and if there is a hole open. Temps are to be around zero all week. I'm going to try and see if I can chisle it a bit around the edges.