temp of water before transfer

[onemean]

hi, my fish are currently in a temp holding area with a temp of around 64.5 degrees. my new pond is currently 60.9. is this a safe move. thanks in advance

 

[j.w]

Sounds fine to me............just float them in bags or containers for 15mins and then add a bit of the pond water to the container and float for another 15 and then add some more water and another 15 and then just slowly allow them to swim out into the pond and all will be good

 

[vertigo72]

As I posted elsewhere recently, my koi dealer tells me its better to put them straight in the pond, regardless of temperature or PH differences. The stress they endure because of the different water and environment is one that can take weeks of acclimatisation anyhow. Slowly changing over in 15 or 30 minutes by putting the bag in the water with or without holes, does nothing to alleviate that. They will be stressed, you cant avoid that. Keeping the fish in the bag, deprived of filtration, oxygen and moving space, is a lot of additional stress that can be avoided.

Thats what Ive been told.

 

[j.w]

I've just always put mine (goldfish) in a tupperware container and tied it off to the pond edge and done it that way and I put a dark cloth over the top and they have done fine for me but if you are just concerned on the temp then it seems that the two temps are close enough :lol:

 

[koiguy1969]

while your fish are acclimating in the bag, you slowly add some of your ponds water, just a little at a time. this allows some "chemical" acclimation as well as temp.....99.9% of anyone you ask would advise acclimating. a drastic temp change is dangerous enough , but a big ph swing is even worse.

 

[fishin4cars]

As I posted elsewhere recently, my koi dealer tells me its better to put them straight in the pond, regardless of temperature or PH differences. The stress they endure because of the different water and environment is one that can take weeks of acclimatisation anyhow. Slowly changing over in 15 or 30 minutes by putting the bag in the water with or without holes, does nothing to alleviate that. They will be stressed, you cant avoid that. Keeping the fish in the bag, deprived of filtration, oxygen and moving space, is a lot of additional stress that can be avoided.

Thats what Ive been told.

I would only agree with your koi dealer on large fish. I've accumulated literally hundreds of thousands of fish, No exaggerating! The smaller the fish the slower the acclimation time. Large fish do very much stress more in tighter containers and should be held only for short periods of time for viewing. but you have to think of it like taking a baby outside versus a big hefty fellow like myself, I can take being thrown out in the cold far better than my grandson can take. Anyone trying to move fish under 12" for sure really should accumulate them.

 

[vertigo72]

I would only agree with your koi dealer on large fish. [...] Large fish do very much stress more in tighter containers and should be held only for short periods of time for viewing.

Makes sense. All fish I ever bought where put in plastic bags, not containers, and you can simply see how stressed they are if you put that bag in the pond, trying to swim out. I guess small fry in a large container wouldnt be nearly as bad, and the tradeoff might be worth it.

 

[koiguy1969]

fishin'...its acclimate, not accumulate. to accumulate is to collect.
IMHO...i still wouldnt advise it. a larger fish may very well handle it better but. a big shock is worse than a smaller shock... dont you think its easier to deal with one swing at a time? or atleast a minimalization of both... i know the way i do it is the only way i do, or will do it...i take the bag as soon as i get home, open it and add maybe 5% of the bags volume (1/8 cup) from my quarentine tank and continue to do this every 5 minutes or so for 30 minutes or so. this not only aids in temp, but in acclimation of water chemistry. the bigger the difference in ph the more beneficial this is...."ph swings" are a big threat to koi and thats basically what your exposing the fish to. just my thoughts on it!

 

[vertigo72]

Consider this though.. in a large pond, the difference in temperature between your surface water and pond bottom might be larger than the difference between the bag and your pond. I dont think your koi stresses when it dives down or comes up. Its the average temperature that its metabolism is adapted to or needs adapting to if it changes, and like with humans, that takes a while. Much more than a few minutes.

A pond obviously doesnt have any large Ph differences within the pond, but again it takes a long time for a fish to adjust to a different PH. Its not done in minutes, its done in days or weeks.

Anyway, Im not talking from experience, just saying what someone with experience told me. And it kinda makes sense to me. Feel free not to believe it, just tossed the thought in the ring :lol:

 

[koiguy1969]

ph swings can easily be fatal...that said...
if you buy a koi from a 8.6 ph pond...take it home and throw it in your 7.4 ph pond, and youve just significantly cut its chances of survival..

 

[addy1]

onemean, I would think the temp is close enough and if I recall right you said your ph was the same between the two, or very close. You should be ok.

 

[talal101]

I agree with addy, as long as ph is very close and temp is very close you should be fine. But with that being said I recommend floating first and releasing after because it allows the fish to adjust far better then throwing a fish into a pond or tank right away.....but like other people have said that if the fish is larger I would think it's best to just release it and reduce the stress

 

[fishin4cars]

fishin'...its acclimate, not accumulate. to accumulate is to collect.
IMHO...i still wouldnt advise it. a larger fish may very well handle it better but. a big shock is worse than a smaller shock... dont you think its easier to deal with one swing at a time? or atleast a minimalization of both... i know the way i do it is the only way i do, or will do it...i take the bag as soon as i get home, open it and add maybe 5% of the bags volume (1/8 cup) from my quarentine tank and continue to do this every 5 minutes or so for 30 minutes or so. this not only aids in temp, but in acclimation of water chemistry. the bigger the difference in ph the more beneficial this is...."ph swings" are a big threat to koi and thats basically what your exposing the fish to. just my thoughts on it!

Spell check didn't catch that one! LOL If you only tried to read some of my posts before I spell checked!!!!

 

[onemean]

hey all, thanks for the advise. everything went very smooth. i did bag them and slowly add water to the bags. i used a 50 gallon bag, needed two people to lift them. before the swap i added old and new water to even out the ph. the temporary holding area was low at 6 ph and the new pond was 7.5. over the course of 10 hours i had the range at 7. the temp was a difference of 4 degrees. I'm not sure how accurate it was as the temp tank was shallow and the pirometer may have been measuring the bottom surface. It has been 3 hours and they are already attacking my new plants! can anyone tell me the formula for adding salt. i cannot find my card that goes with the test kit. also, does the biomedia go in the waterfall or the skimmer? sorry if this is a dumb question but my old set up was very small and simple. I appreciate all of your input and help.just have to hook up my uv and its done:lol:

 

[addy1]

I would think the biomedia would be in the water fall, do you have a pump in your skimmer, or is it external. Sorry can't remember......