Filed under: cats, cold, fish, Minnesota, pond, winter | Tags: cats, cold, Koi, leaves, Minnesota, pond, snow, trees, winter
I thought after my experience with my goldfish pond I had it all figured out. Obviously not.
My new, larger, Koi pond has had more than a few problems. One of the worst has just surface now that winter has truly set in. I’ve been losing koi.
During the fall, the falling leaves fell freely into the pond. This has never been much of a problem before, so I ignored it. The water that once was so clear, turned brown and started to stink as the leaves rotted. I netted wheel borrow loads full of dead leaves out of the pond. Every time the wind blew, more leaves blew into the pond.
The first cold days came, with the pump hose threatening to freeze up, I turned off the pump and drained the hose. The pump was removed and stored in the house. I added a heater to keep the water open, and fish started to die.
Today I have a small air compressor running to pump air into the bottom of the pond. My theory is that the rotting leaves were using up all of the oxygen in the water leaving none for the fish to use. With four large koi and several small ones dead , it is emergency time. I’m not sure how long I will have to run the compressor. It is not meant to run constantly, but I hope that with the cold weather it will not over heat. As long as the air filter stays clear, it should run for a while.
It has been an expensive lesson. The two largest koi were the first to die and they cost me $50 each. But nothing goes to waste here on the farm. My cats have been eating well.
Michael
