Mark

Don’t Feed Your Fish In Cold Water!

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I noticed a fairly common but disturbing post on a pond forum today and I wanted to share this with you here in the hopes that it will help you avoid this with your Koi in particular.

Here’s the post

This is a story that would usually start with “A friend of mine…” but I’ll fess up.  I made a major bone-head mistake and fed my koi while the water was still too cold.  The weather was warm and they were obviously very hungry, but I didn’t think to check the water temperature.  Now I have some very sick koi, including two that are near dead.  They’re behaving strangly, some are losing scales, and a few even have blood streaks in their fins.

They’ve always been very healthy, and all of my goldfish appear unaffected, so I was baffled.  After testing the water (all normal levels) and some serious googling I think it’s septicemia caused by the food rotting in their digestive tracts.  I’m now trying to warm up the pond and running to the store for some salt.  Any other recommendations for this emergency case?  As always, thanks in advance!

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Ultrasonic Algae Control – Facts And Fiction

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Ssunit3

As the years go by, more and more pond owners are hearing about the use of ultrasonic algae control devices and how they might help one’s pond look better.  More retailers are certainly offering the systems now and with that, there’s been an increase in mis-information and one might say the promise that ultrasound is the perfect and complete solution for algae reduction.

In this article I want to address the real facts surrounding this technology and tell you what it’s good for, and at the same time I think it’s important to expose it’s limitations, and finally how you can be sure that the device will actually do what you want it to do regarding algae control.

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How To Choose The Right Pond Air Pump

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Small Pond Aerator

Not every pond will need aeration, or adding air and circulation to the water, but every pond will benefit from it.  There’s no question about that.

If you look around online, or even at some local pet or hardware stores you’ll find a ton of different aerators for small ponds or water gardens.  There are so many that it can get really hard to choose which one to buy that will find your pond and needs just right.

In this post I want to share with you what I think are the things you should look for and consider when buying an air pump and system for your pond.

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Do I Have To Use Beneficial Bacteria In The Winter?

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Sometimes in talking to a pond owner who’s kept their water feature open all winter, it comes as a surprise to them that algae can grow, even in the coldest conditions.

As I always do, if they ask how it should be treated, I suggest using a good quality pond bacteria, and one that is specifically designed for cold water, and see if that helps the cause of cleansing.  Sometimes it does, but you can be sure that any warm water bacteria will not.

The normal tools, like your biofilter will simply not be operating normally in cold weather so other than perhaps filtering physical debris, it’s not going to do much for the water quality as it would in the warmer months.  Many people may simply decide to bypass the filter or shut the flow of water down altogether, and that’s fine.

Keep in mind, it’s not that the cold weather kills off these good microbes, it’s just that they go dormant.

So the question comes up, “do I really need to add any bacteria over the winter?”

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Winter Pond Aeration – Is Ice In Your Airline?

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Aerating your pond in the winter time is useful at keeping ice from forming at the surface.  It’s crucial that fish get adequate oxygen from the atmosphere, even in colder weather, so keeping a spot of ice open is very useful.

You can use a pond heater of course, but many people also like, and might even prefer a small pond aerator to do the job.  Some advantages are they can use the device year round, and they usually cost less to operate than a heater.

But there are potential challenges with them.

First, just like an electric heater, if your power goes out, you may find that your pond can freeze over pretty quickly.  You can often get around this with a small generator.

The other issue we see from time to time is that ice can form in the airline and block airflow to the pond.  This happens because condensation forms in the airline, and once it’s cold enough it will freeze.  Initially, the problem is that you’re not getting any air or agitation into the pond, but if this goes on long enough, damage could occur in the pump itself.  Usually the diaphragm will be damaged and would need to be replaced.

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How Long Can You Store Dry Pond Bacteria?

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So here’s a great question on pond bacteria.

Dry pond bacteria to be exact, and it’s timely, in the sense that many people simply won’t use it as much, or as frequently as they might during the spring and summer.

The question is “How long can you store dry bacteria and still have it be good?”

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