October is the Time to Start Winterizing

By Nancy Moore

 

We have had a beautiful late summer and early autumn here in the Northwest, but winter is right around the corner.  Here are some reminders about what we as koi keepers with outdoor ponds must think about.  Many of you know all this information, but we have new club members, so let’s review what needs to be done before really cold weather, wind, sleet and snow, hit us.

 

As winter approaches, it is ideal to have on hand:

  1. A generator for when the power goes out so we can keep air pumps and pond pumps going and an instruction booklet for how to use it.
  2. Gas for the generator.
  3. A pond de-icer.
  4. ClorAm-X or Ultimate to gobble up ammonia if something happens to our filter.
  5. A back-up pond pump, just in case.
  6. A back-up air pump, just in case.
  7. De-chlorinator, like Harmony, Sodium Thiosulfate, ChlorAm-X, or Ultimate for use with water changes.
  8. Baking soda (bicarbonate of soda), so that the KH level can maintain at 80 ppm or higher all winter. I keep my outdoor pond around 100 ppm so I don’t have to deal with pH swings during dark, gloomy winter months.  Remember that filters and fish use carbonates all the time, so the KH level must be maintained.

 

Before winter gets here, get the muck and debris off the bottom of the pond.  This is crucial.  Vacuum it or call a professional to clean your pond.  It may be too late to contact someone else now, but we can clean out a lot with debris nets.  I got mine at Aqua Quip and it works great.  I personally have a pond vacuum that works well, called an Oase Pond-O-Vac 4.  It is very effective at pulling algae, needles, leaves and crud off the bottom.  Fir cones jam it up, so I try to scoop those out first with my debris net. Before the cold hits, we should strive for a mulm-free pond bottom.  It absolutely kills me to be pulling out my water hyacinths and water lettuce, but it has to be done soon.  Winds have already blown leaves and needles into the goldfish pond, so there is a lot of debris to vacuum, and, of course, the skimmer now needs to be cleaned out just about every day.   If it is possible in your situation, put up bird netting to keep leaves from falling into the pond and sinking to the bottom.  In the Luna Park goldfish pond, this is impossible, hence the Oase Pond-O-Vac.

 

Now is a good time to cut back pond lilies and remove the decaying foliage.  Chris Moore, of now defunct Moorehaven, always argued that fall was a good time to pop a fertilizer pellet into each lily pot, arguing that the water was warmer now then it would be in the early spring.

 

Rinse filters before the onset of Winter; pond water is best, but Spike Cover indicated that the filter bacteria can withstand tap water with a hose sprayer.   A filter caked with muck and debris does not nurture and cultivate the appropriate “good” bacteria one needs to handle ammonia and nitrite, even though we are going into lower temperatures.  A dirty filter now will be way dirtier in the Spring, when parasites really perk up and start to multiply, and when we need the filter’s bacteria to multiply.

 

 If test kits are out of date, get new ones.  Look at the bottles in the store to see what the expiration date is…. some test kits in pet stores have been sitting on shelves for a long time.  And when you test, remember to really shake each bottle first.  Make sure you have a KH (carbonate hardness) test kit so you can make sure you avoid pH swings during the winter.  This is crucial especially during cloudy and dark days, typical of the months ahead.  It is helpful to read the directions on how to use the KH kit as it is a little more intricate than other kits.

 

Many of us stop feeding when the pond water in the morning hits 50 degrees.  This is a good general rule.  Some koi keepers may experiment with feeding tiny amounts of food during the winter; novices should probably not do this.  Remember that a koi has no stomach…. just a long gut.  Koi are temperature dependent, so everything really slows down when it gets cold.  We don’t want a big wad of koi food sitting halfway through the gut if the air temperature drops to 16 degrees and the fish are in torpor for 3 weeks. That said, some club members have been experimenting with feeding Kenzen in   small amounts during cold weather.

 

By-pass your waterfall in cold weather so that you aren’t chilling your water; not everyone can do this because of the way their ponds were built (consider adding a by-pass to avoid super chilling the pond water next spring if not now).  Also, before winter hits, if we have salt in our ponds, we need to do change outs until we get it down to 0.1% (1 ppt) or less before really cold weather.  Heavy salt is another way to super chill our water.  The only way salt leaves the pond is through water changes.

 

Continue to rinse or backwash filters through the winter and do small water changes to refresh the water and rid the pond of fish pheromones.

 

Look at the koi closely.  If there are any problems, deal with them now.  The water may still be warm enough for fluke treatments or other parasite treatments.  For example, Pro-Form C, which I happen to use now and then (good for trichodina, chilodinella, Ich, costia), requires water temps of at least 52 degrees F. and a salt level under 1.5%.  Praziquantel, on the other hand, which is a fluke treatment, can be used at any temperature and salinity isn’t an issue (according to the compatibility chart at Koi Care Kennel). If your fish do not have flukes, don’t treat for flukes.  Scrape and scope first.

 

Our goal as koi keepers is to have the fish emerge in the spring as healthy as they can be; they will be less likely to have disease and parasite problems if they are overwintered in a clean pond and if we continue to pay attention to water quality.

 

One other thought: If you have a standby generator, like we do, that is right at the edge of capacity, and if you leave on vacation, you’d better have a list for the house sitter or fish sitter delineating what appliances to unplug to reduce the generator load if it becomes overloaded and stops. How do I know?  While in Hawaii, I spent an hour on a midnight call from the house sitter, talking him through what to unplug, and how to re-start the generator.  He was out there with a flashlight in a howling rainstorm, making sure the koi had filtration, for which I am grateful.  The alternative is a new higher capacity generator, which is not in the cards right now, or never leaving home, which is not likely.

 

P.S.  No one ever said koi keeping is cheap or easy.