Winterise Your Koi Pond

Winter is coming, and this could be the first Winter that you go through with your Koi pond. Think of Winter as a down period for your pond, as less events happen during Winter than any other time. However, there are special precautions that you need to take before Winter arrives, to guarantee that your pond and fish survive.

Clean Up- Spend an entire weekend fully going over your pond. If your pond has bulk material that has built up around it or in it, you need to remove it.Try to make sure that there aren’t any leaves or silt built up on the bottom of the pond. If there are any plants or flowers in your fishpond that will not survive the winter months, you need to remove them. Cleaned up all of the debris that is around your pond which could end up blowing into it, as this is most likely going to be looked over during the winter months and won’t be noticed again until spring. By taking this time and removing this rubbish, you’re helping to remove the possibility of potential bacteria and parasites damage from happening.

Stop Feeding- You must remember to stop feeding your Koi during the winter. When your water temperatures get around 55 or 60°F, you should only give your Koi food one time daily.  Once the temperatures drop below fifty degree for the first time, stop feeding entirely. Even if the temperature goes above 50 degrees, still refrain from feeding your fish. Koi in general, take about four days to completely digest their food at temperatures above 50° mark. If you go ahead and give food to your fish anyway, the food will not digest in the stomach properly and will rot and kill the fish. Do not blunder you Koi as hungry when they open up their mouths to you. This is something that they do out of a learned reflex and not hunger. If you are troubled about starting your fish, take into thought that the food that you give them is not all that they eat, especially if your pond has any type of plant life in it. If they get hungry and you’re not giving them food, they will eat the stuff.

Check Up- Doing a seasonal check up on your fishpond equipment is vital.Be sure to include everything from your fishpond pumps and filters system to your store of medicines for your fish. During those extended winter months it can be a little more difficult to come up with these fishpond supplies as a lot of carriers don’t keep them on their shelves during this time. You also need to make sure that you have an emergency kit ready and up-to-date. This kit   needs to include your water testing kits, bags, nets, and any of the medications required.

Be Prepared for the Cold Weather- Try to make preparations for the cold winter months by getting everything you need during the summer months. Quite can withstand temperatures that are constant at 39°, and perhaps even a little bit lower for short time periods. When you go to buy a heater, you need to remember to properly research the proper size that you’re going to need to adequately heat your fishpond during those winter months. If you don’t, and you get one that is too small you could still have ice forming your pond which can cause dangerous amounts of gas to form. If the area that you have drops into the extremely low temperatures, you might really want to think about having an crisis tank available inside your home.

Turn Off All Water Sources- In temperatures that are extremely cold, your heater will have to labor extremely hard to sustain the water temperature that will keep your fish alive. If you have things like a waterfall or a stream that move through your pond, you need to make sure that you turn these off during those cold winter months. The circulating action will only work to thwart your hard work at maintaining a warm temperature your pond. You’ll be cutting down on the work that your heater will have to do by turning off these features.

I hope you can understand now how imperative it is that you prepare your koi fish pond for your Koi now before winter hits. Many species of Koi are extremely expensive, and it is very appropriate and wise for you to want to protect them. You can learn a lot more information about taking care of a Koi fish pond, and other garden fishpond tips by visiting gardenpondtips.com.