Koi Update

The fish survived their first night in the new water. The goldfish seem to have a hard time staying upright. One has been continually getting stuck in the filter. I hope they will get themselves oriented soon.

Koi Pond Maintenance

We have been having a huge problem with algae in the koi pond. I have been taking all the rocks out. Today I took out all the fish into temporary containers and drained the tank. I scrubbed the sides to remove the algae. Here is how it looked.




Here is a slide show of previous pictures. In the morning I will add the pond now. The fish seem to be doing well. I hope the trauma wasn't too severe.

New Deicer

I put in a new deicer for the koi pond. It's a 300 watt model in the shape of a rock. (I got it from Foster and Smith Aquatics, who were running a sale. They had great service, too.) When our old flat one stopped working, I put in the 1250 watt one for a while, but I was afraid it would use too much power over the long run. With the ice and rain storms we've had it also warmed up enought to melt all the ice. The fish like to line up like this for some reason.

The high power heater

After a night with the high power heater there is open water near the well intake, but an ice layer formed underneath. the fish are swimming slowly around, too.

Koi maintenance updates

12/31/2010 Filter running well. I took advantage of the melting ice to scoop out some of the leaves. I also keep checking that the circuit breaker isn’t out. I took the heating pad out. I’ll put it back when it gets really cold. I hope it works. Can’t always tell.

01/03/2011 Even though the cold came back, the ice stayed out except for a small amount.  I guess it takes time for the heat to be lost.

01/11/11 pond is almost completely frozen. I have noticed that the water level in the pump well gets low when the ice thickens. I had to add water directly to the well to bring the level up. The heating pad doesn’t seem to be turning on at the right time. I guess it’s all right if the pump is still working. I might need to buy a new pump.

1/22/11 The temperature got down to 7 last night. As the top freezes the water level drops and the pump isn’t getting enough water in the well. I have been adding water about 4 or 5 gallons at a time with the watering jug. I got the level up after three containers full. I hope the cold snap doesn’t last too long. I have been breaking up the ice by the water fall and at the intake.

The heating pad doesn’t seem to be working at all. I will test it on another plug today. I think I may have to buy another one.

1/23/11 The 200watt heater has stopped working. Because the forecast was so low I decided to install the old 2400 watt heater for the time being. I don’t want to use it too long because of the cost!

The Koi Pond

In December the fish were starting to slow down as the water got colder. No ice yet when these shots were taken on Dec. 4