Spring, Winter and Successful Fish Pond Keeping
Quote from Genesyz web site: "Spring Fever kills thousands of Koi each year and up till now Koi and fish keepers have been relatively helpless. There are of course loads of medications and potions all claiming to eradicate this or that but all are basically chemicals or antibiotics and while some work they all have a downside, as they are all basically chemicals and who wants to put chemicals into a fish pond?"
Many ponds meet serious problems when weather starts to warm up as it does in Spring. The problems encountered are often bacterial disease problems such as ulcers (this is probably most common) identified by sores appearing on sides of your fish that even develop into holes. Treatment is difficult and expensive and often leads to other problems because antibiotics are involved.
There is only 1 product I am aware of that prevents this type of disease. It is called Lymnozyme in USA and Genesyz in UK and RSA.
It does not cure diseases caused by aeromonas and pseudomonas bacteria (those responsible for many problems) but reduces their population to very very low and non-dangerous levels using a well known biological process called "Competitive Exclusion".
If you want to know more take a look at www.water-garden-websites.com under fish health care.
Other problems to look forward to in Spring and early Summer are green ponds - one simple reason if you have an UV - your lamp probably needs changing. These UV lamps do not last more than 8,000 hours (less than 1 year). They may still shine but they are not emitting UV in sufficient concentration to be effective.
Often with the increased feeding rate that will start to happen in Spring your filter may not be able to handle a sudden and large increase in ammonia. Do things gradually is the simple message.
I hope you have been feeding your fish during winter unless they were totally motionless in water below 8. Fish in poor physical condition after a difficult winter are most prone to disease attack.
Ponds in Winter
My main web site www.practical-water-gardens.com will lead you to some excellent over-wintering articles (for the Northern Hemisphere) written by Peter May, one of the UKs top water gadren landscapers.
This article refers to winter in South Africa (not winter in harsh climates like Canada, Northern Europe and so on). Be aware of this as you read it.
I am often asked if a biofilter could be commissioned successfully in winter when temperatures fall.
In winter in Johannesburg and other highveld areas (parts of Arizona, parts of California and so on) night-time temperatures fall dramatically and as we all know swimming becomes impossible. In ponds and especially large and deep ponds temperatures can fall to and remain at temperatures around 8 degrees centigrade for short periods of time. In these ponds you will notice perhaps that koi tend to go to the bottom and remain there motionless. This is the sign to definitely STOP feeding but I will come back to this point later.
With regards to filtration it is still possible for a biofilter to be commissioned but it will take longer to mature and high doses of ammonia will take longer to get under control using even a mature filter ammonia becomes evident. The important point to bear in mind therefore is if temperatures are low feed less and preferably feed earlier in the day while water is warmer giving time for fish to digest the food. In this way the load on a biofilter is reduced anyway
As far as a new filter is concerned put less fish in than you might under summer conditions.
Now lets talk about winter feeding.
Point 1 - there is a school of thought which says stop feeding your koi when temperature reaches 10 degrees. This rule is responsible for many fish deaths - the fish might not die in winter but they die in Spring when general pond activity picks up.
Point 2 - imagine yourself being denied food in winter when you were hungry and moving around. Come Spring you would not be in very good condition. If you are in poor condition you become susceptible to all sorts of disease. One reason why HIV is deadly in humans and particularly in under-developed nations.
The truth is as follows:
If your fish are swimming around they are hungry and need sustenance. Sure they need much less food but they need it and make no doubts about this. Fish are very clever - they do not waste energy and move only in search of food. When food is no longer important they lie motionless on the bottom - almost hibernating to conserve energy.
Of course there is a lot of technology and science in a pond environment and exploitation of this science allows koi to be well looked after, live for a very long time and grow large. Most koi keepers however have limited funds to implement technological solutions (like heating a pond in winter to maintain 15 degree temperatures) and just want to enjoy their pond. This is where common sense plays a very important role.
Common sense should always be a test of any "rule" particularly when this "rule" is passed from mouth to mouth to the extent it becomes dogma. The koi world we enjoy so much is full of dogmas!!! I am going to get sharply criticised by some people for expressing these views again but the truth must come out.
Therefore feed your fish small amounts if they are swimming around.
What is critical is the quality of food at low temperatures. The food must have easily digestible protein sources and all correct vitamins and trace elements - wheatgerm is the common and often recommended source of this type of protein but this food lacks almost everything else the fish requires.
So apply the common sense rule. Is it better to feed wheatgerm or a balanced food that contains highly digestible proteins AND trace elements AND vitamins or is it better to supply wheatgerm? Dealers make more money out of selling wheatgerm in addition to normal food.
So how do you know if the proteins are higly digestible - the one very quick test is to read the ash level on the food label. If more than 5% ash then the protein source is suspect - good protein sources do not have a lot of ash in them.
Ash is an indication of the fact that low grade raw materials are used - bones, scales, inorganic fillers etc all of which show up as ash in the final food. If a food does not supply reliable analysis figures on the label DO NOT BUY THE FOOD. Also ask the dealer the questions as to analysis.
By the way ash and moisture add nothing to the food and are a waste of money - unfortunately it is impossible to avoid ash and moisture altogether.
Consequently if a 5 kg bag of food contains 12% moisture and 13% ash then 25% (a whopping 1.25kg) of what you bought is just going to pollute the filter since it will come straight out of the rear end of the fish. This is what I mean by a common sense approach to pond keeping and saving money and improving your system. Have you ever noticed the large amount of faeces on the bottom of your pond? This is mainly ash from low quality food.
If you want to cross reference this point compare what you see on your lawn if you feed your dog a common dry dog food as against what you see when you feed one of those more expensive foods you only find at the vet. You will see very very much less mess. Your dog will also eat less kgs and will be in better condition. Makes sense to me.
In the same way a food containing 35% protein contains 40% more sustenance than one containing 25% protein. This is a major difference and not just in value. Koi need high protein levels to develop well.
Ask yourself a simple question. What is the point of spending good money on ponds, filters, pumps, koi and then trying to save a few Rands on food? In any case a fish needs a certain amount of protein. A fish will need far less food of 35% protein than it will of one containing 25% protein - in fact 40% less. At the end of day the total food bill will be the same although good quality food may cost more per kg.