Koi bed: Preparing Your Fish And Koi pool For The Winter
Winter is nearly here, and this will be the first time your koi pool will go through such a cold weather. You see, winter is considered as the down period for your koi pool, because during this time, less events happen compared to other seasons. To make sure that your fish and koi pool survive the weather, here are some special precautions that you need to take in your koi plot before winter comes to your doorstep.
First of all, clean up: Take your time as you go over your koi pool, which can take about a weekend. Remove the unwanted bulk material inside and around it. Inside the koi pool, remove all the materials like leaves and slits from the bottom. Remove those plants and flowers that won’t survive the cold. Around your koi pool, clean up those things that can be blown and pushed into it, as you will not see the debris until the end of the cold weather. This will also prevent harmful parasites and bacteria in the near future.
Second, stop feeding your fish: Remember that your fish needs to stop feeding during the winter. Feed your fish only once daily when the fall starts and temperatures goes at 55 degrees to 60 degrees. Stop the feeding completely once the temperature hits below 50 degrees (even if the temperature goes above this level, refrain from feeding your fish). Most take at least 4 days to digest their food completely when they’re healthy and temperature is above 50 degrees. If you forget this one, you will kill your fish! Never mistake it for hunger when your fish open their mouths to you, because it’s only a learned reflex rather than hunger. Don’t worry about you not feeding, because your fish will feed on something else besides the food that you provide them (especially if your koi pool has a great amount of natural plants). If you’re not feeding them and if ever they get hungry, they will feed on this.
Third, check up your equipments: Do a seasonal check up on your equipments, from your filtration system to your array of medications. The majority of the koi pools all over the world lie dormant during the winter time, you’d be able to less likely find the stuff that you’re going to need. Ensure that your emergency kit (including the nets, medications, bags, and water testing kits) is always ready and up to date.
Fourth, prepare for the cold times: Prepare for the cold weather by investing in the items that you’ll need for the summer. The fish can withstand constant temperatures as low as 39 degrees for short periods of time (including those slightly lower than 39 degrees).If you purchase a heater, research first on what size you’d be needing in order to heat your koi pool during the winter rightly. Otherwise, ice will still form, causing danger given by the gas content in the water, as it is trapped under the ice. You can put an emergency tank inside of the koi pool in case of extreme events.
Lastly, turn off all of the sources of water: Your heater will be working harder to maintain the kind of water temperature that’s enough to keep your fish alive in colder weather. If your koi pool has those additional koi field water features such as streams, waterfalls, or those fountains that move constantly, make it a point that you turn them off during the winter time (these will circulate water, constantly bringing new and cold water to your koi pool. Switching these features off will make the standing water in your koi pool the only water that your heater will be responsible for.