mtpond said:
The last three days have been sunny
. Reached a high of 42 today and the extended forecast for next week are day time highs in the low 40's and the night temps in the low 30's. No ice on my pond for over a month all my fish are accounted for and look good.
Good grief, MT, no ice for over a month??? I've had maybe 1 or 2 days with NO ice in the last month. You must not have been a part of that arctic blast they called it. I'm thrilled when 1/3 of my ponds are open! Today, they should go more open than they are right now, sun shining, high near 40. But, as if we didn't expect it, going down to teens next week and highs of 20's, so heaters will be turned back on. Ho hum ....
Sissy, totally agree with your comment cold is ok, just hate the wind. I know now that 20 is just perfectly fine, with no wind. 35 and sun no wind and I actually have to take off my chore coat! Definitely no sweatshirt under it. Get way too hot. But, out in the wind, need it all.
John, I feel your pain! I'm still wondering how many, if any, of my goldfish will be alive come spring. I had so many die last year, late summer/early fall. Thinking the spraying done by plane on the fields surrounding my property was the culprit. But, that doesn't make it any easier to lose them. I want to have fish in that pond, and if goldfish won't live, then I'll put all the gin rin koi in there, and ay babies will for sure be gin rins. But, first we have to see what happens with the goldfish. Nope, it does NOT get any easier, even losing one fish is sad, very sad.
BTW, Dave54 suggested two REALLY good books when I was having all my problems. My son got BOTH of them for me for Christmas. The first one sounds like it's only for goldfish; however, it pertains to koi as well and has tons of health issue sections. And, the best part, it's fun to read. Usually that is the LAST thing I want to read, but this one was great, started reading it when I lost power, read it during the daylight hours. "Fancy Goldfish - A Complete Guide to Care and Collecting" by Dr Erik Johnson and Richard Hess, and the other one is "The Interpet Manual of Koi Health" by Keith Holmes and Tony Pitham. I found this on bacterial gill disease: The gills of fish that have died from bacterial gill disease are red, with patches of rotten tissue." However, there are LOTS of issues when fish are sick that their gills look bad. That's the first place to check a fish, I've learned, for problems. With this any everything other problem, the first course of action is to test the water quality. I'm learning how to do scrapes, give shots, etc. in this book. Good luck with your fish! I hope you figure it out and get things straightened out.
