Lee Calladine's video: Moving into winter

Hi its Lee from the Japanese Water Gardens, as the weather gets colder and the days get shorter our fish's metabolism will be slowing down and we will we need to make a few changes to our maintenance and feeding practices. In this video I am going to be discussing what we should be doing and thinking about with our Koi ponds moving into winter. When the water temperature has dropped below about 11 or 12 degrees cut back on the amount of fish food you are feeding. Feed the fish once or twice a day and only as much as they will consume within a few minutes. You can buy wheatgerm fish food. A special food made especially for winter that is easier for your fish to digest than high protein summer feeds. Check out my wheat germ video for more information about this. If the water becomes very cold the fish will stop showing much interest in the food and might become quite dormant, spending most of the time at the bottom of the pond resting. When this happens it is probably best to cease feeding entirely. It is not going to be a problem if your fish spend a month or two without feeding. If you want to toss in a few cubes of frozen blood worm or cockles then that's fine they will be easily digested and help sustain the fish. I would suggest doing this every other day or so. Don’t over do it though less is better than too much. In the old days it was common practice to lift the pump up off the bottom of the pond or even switch of the pump entirely and drain the filter. This is definitely not something I would recommend. It will not preserve the living bacteria in the filter system and stagnant water on the bottom of the pond will become a great breeding ground for parasites. Obviously if you are feeding less the filters are going to be taking less solids out the pond and have less work to do overall but it is still important to stay on top of them keep the sponges clean and flush away any sediment accumulation. Water changes should still be done in winter. You can cut them down to once a fortnight or maybe once a month but don’t just rely on the rain to keep the pond topped up. Its very easy to just assume that everything will be just fine with the water parameters during winter, but this is not always the case. So keep checking the Ammonia , Nitrites and PH with a decent test kit. Avoid the dipsticks they waste of time and money. A problem that is very common in winter with seemingly increased frequency is pH crash. A serious problem were the water becomes a strong acid. I did a video on pH crash that tells you a lot more about it. Do you need to heat the pond? This is a question that I get asked a lot and I am planning on doing a couple of videos on this soon. Weather you fit a heater or not it is definitely a good idea to try and stabilise the temperature of the pond with a cover or some insulation. It is surprising how effective a simple tarp can be. A cover over the pond will also help to keep out falling leaves and other debris from the pond. If the pond does freeze over it is important to maintain breathing hole for the fish. Don’t get out a hammer and start whacking the surface or it will stress the fish. Melting ice with salt is also not a good idea at all, it causes a rapid drop in water temperature that is likely to kill the fish. If you don’t believe me and still think this is a good idea, search YouTube for Salt Ice Challenge. The best way to make the breath hole is to melt the ice with hot water from a kettle. Winter is a time when you naturally be spending less time with your fish. But don’t ignore your pond entirely keep a watch on things and everything should run smoothly. If you like what you see give a video a thumbs be sure to subscribe to the channel post any questions in the comments below. Its bye for now from Lee at the Japanese Water Gardens.