Shrinking air (gas) hole

Of course the purpose of the air is two fold. Utmost, it allows bad gases that accumulate on the bottom of the pond (where your fish are sitting all winter)to rise and escape out of the pond and help replace much needed O2 in your dormant water. Water changes even during the winter are still recommended. I look for those warm days and drop a sump pump down that hole. We run a hose I've kept in the basement from the kitchen sink out there to refill. If you were a fish, would you want to live in the same water for 5 months? In our part of the country, water changes help restore Kh levels which help to stabilize the Ph. Even though we've quit feeding and the fish are at rest they are still breathing down there and while the colder water helps to convert the ammonia to lesser dangerous ammonium, as the water warms up it will convert back, so water changes still help maintain good water quality. Living in near freezing water for 4 months is stress enough, lets help them out by keeping their water fresh.

Well, this year is about done. Thank goodness. While not horrible, I'm kind of glad to see this year pass. Suppose to get a couple more inches of snow today and the temps are suppose to drop back to single digits for the next 7 days. Tromped out to the outside pond last night to check the water level. Many a pond has emptied out under the ice and owners not even know it. I hear pond members say their aerator system keeps a hole open all year, but mine ices over quiet often. I've watched the hole recently shrink from about a 3 foot hole down to a 1 foot hole. The fish continue to hang out directly under my inner tube style heater. I took a picture of them last night and if you look real close you can see my Bekko (White with Black spots) koi sitting there hopefully enjoying the warmer temps. I can see the air stone I dropped right in that area is not working. I suspect the clear air hose I used has frozen. The problem with clear line is the sun shines on it and causes it to condense inside the hose then it freezes and the air gets shut off. My main air lines going into the pond from the large aerator all have weighted black lines. The sun can't penetrate those lines so there is never a problem with condensation inside the lines. Fish inside all seem to be doing OK again. Harry is in southern Iowa ice fishing. Something he's been trying to talk me into doing for a long time. I have to say the ice scares me. I look forward to ringing in the new year with a little get together with other pond club members. Happy New Year everybody.

Merry Xmas...more pump problems..

Shewww!! The Christmas holiday is finally over. I ate and ate and ate. In fact yesterday I spent the whole day on the couch with either the flu or my stomach simply finally saying " no MORE"! I'm back to work, where at least I'm not in a constant state of grazing. Had a couple incidents happen with the fish pond in the basement over the long weekend. If you recall, the Wed. before Xmas there was an ice storm. Ice covered the trees and electrical wires. I sat at home that evening hoping the power would not go out. No air or filtration on the ponds or aquariums is a real concern for me. Well, the lights only blinked a couple times, sending all the clocks on every appliance and in every room into blinking mode. In an earlier blog, I worried about my filter restarting after being shut off for who knows how long, and sending Co2 into my pond in the basement, which the fish totally did not like. But this time, since it was only a mere blink, I thought there was no way the filter went down long enough to effect anything. Regardless, there they were all huddled in the corner again, clamped and acting like they had been traumatized again. So the only explanation was the submersible pump itself. It would have quickly stopped and restarted. Did it make some sort of noise change that scared the fish? Did it actually send some small amount of electricity into the water? It shouldn't have done that. But those 2 short blinks in the power had definitely effected the fish somehow. Even though it may not have physically hurt the fish, I know these type of things can stress a fish and stressed fish can more easily become sick. They are under a "watch" anyway since the Kojaku incident. Christmas day they still were not out of the corner. Hovering there like so many leaves blown against a fence. Saturday morning I do my routine check first thing in the am, and I'll be dang if the pump and filter are not running!!! The pump is DOA. This time I immediately flip my filter to the "back flushing" mood, so when it does restart it will not go into the pond but to the drain first. Not knowing how long its all been shut down,I immediately do a WQ check. Ammonia and nitrites are OK, so no immediate danger for the fish. Then, I pulled the pump to try to figure out the problem with it. After removing the cover, I tried several times to restart it, by just plugging it in, unplug it, plug it back in, unplug it.. No response. I can see the center of the pump is spinning, so the motor was working, but the pump propeller is not going around with it. So, once again, I call in the troops (husband, Harry) to help me. He tears the pump apart even further to find out the plastic propeller has worn so much that the motor rotor was just spinning inside the propeller. So I need to see if I can get a replacement part. But more importantly, what do we do for now? Got to have something. I have a spare pump, but its way too large for this little filter. Can we get some kind of tee in the line? So for the next hour we scramble around going through boxes of excess plumbing parts to see if we can rig up something. Harry finally gives up and makes the drive to town to buy a new pump. He comes back with a small sump pump and we're back up and running within the next 1/2 hour. A sump pump is not our preferred pump and most are not really rated to work 24/7 and some even have oil in them, but for now the filter is running and I'll attempt to go on line to see if I can get a replacement part. With the replacement of the pump, by this morning (Monday) they were again starting to come out of the corner and eat and swim as normal. Not sure if it's just my fish then or all fish, but mine seem to be super sensitive to anything "out of the normal" going on in the pond. A pump quickly switching on and off, an interrupted water flow, seems the least little thing gets them all upset again. So we're up and running again, fish again seem to be OK. It's only December, I have 5 more months of this to go yet....Bringing fish inside may be warmer for the fish, but definitely more work for the owner.

Just when you think everything is going good...

Just when you think everything is going well with the fish, something happens to upset the apple cart. This morning I went to the basement to feed the inside fish and check on their well being and was shocked to see my brand new Kujaku lying dead at the bottom of the tank! Gosh dang it anyway! Now what the heck happened? I rush to do a quick water quality check. At least the ammonia and nitrite levels are ok, so what's going on? I pulled him out to get a closer look and can see an obvious ulcer on his tail, but not really something that should have killed him. He was up and eating just last night and swimming around ok as far as I could see. His gills were pale, but that could have happened from him dieing. They weren't chewed up or looking bad otherwise. Coloration was good, no bloating, no obvious signs of trouble other than the ulcer on his tail. So since I had to get going to work, I left it at that and heaved him out into the snowbank by the porch. So, now what? The rest of the fish are definitely on "Watch" now. I have 3 very small fish which I would expect to see problems with first if this was something catchy. Any signs of problems at all and I'll be scraping and scoping for parasites. May do it anyway if I can get one caught. I'll do a big water change tonight, just for the heck of it and help to lower any possibility of bacteria build up in the water. I'm at work and I'll be worried sick for the other fish all day. Hopefully its an isolated thing and everyone else will be fine. Ulcers usually indicate parasites, so I'm anxious. The Kujaku is one of the 5 new fish I recently added to my collection. They were treated in the QT tank for parasites, but you just never know. I'll keep you informed. Dang it, dang it, dang it!!!!!

On angel's wings.....

It's the 21st of December, the first day of Winter. The days and the amount of daylight will at least begin to get longer. There's a large storm again predicted to come in just before the big Christmas holiday. Glad I don't have to travel anyplace. I sit here listening to a CD of "Relaxing Christmas Songs". Quiet music, almost depressing in nature. Beautiful stuff though. I know its been a tough year for many of my friends. And, although I know I'm OK, I worry about them, the world, and the place where my grand kids will grow up to. Merry Christmas everybody. And hopefully, it will be a prosperous new year for all of us. Peace on Earth, Goodwill to you all.

New koi,,,, Who could resist?

It's Friday and only one week before Christmas. The weather is cold and work is slow, so not much to do here but read Koi Forums and daydream about next years gardens and fish. I thought I'd mention that I did recently buy some new koi on line. Bid on them from ebay. Something I once told myself I'd never do again. Many moons ago I purchased a box of 50 koi babies on line. I think maybe I liked 1 or 2 from the whole box. Since then, I decided I just wanted to buy fish I could see. They just cost too much to purchase sight unseen. I like to see how the fish behaves as much as its coloration. So out of boredom and because I can be an impulsive koi buyer, I bid and won a small Doitsu Lemon Hariwake. Then, and theres always a catch, since the freight is more than the fish cost, I purchased an additional 4 fish to accompany the original fish. So with the Hariwake came a Kujaku and 3 Shusui. The Shusui where sight unseen and reminded me of why I told myself never to do that again. But, I liked the Kujaku and loved the Hariwake so since the Shusui are very tiny, only 4", maybe they'll improve with growth and age. Time will tell as with all Koi. I took the box of fish home while Harry was away hunting. "He'll never notice" I told myself!!! Sneeking things home, isn't that a sign of a true shopaholic? (Koi-aholic in my case)Into the basement, where Harry seldom goes. I'll just set up this qt tank over here behind the existing tank. He won't see them here. So it's Christmas and they've sat in a smaller Qt tank for over a month and I'm now conserdering adding them to the larger tank in the basement with the rest of my koi on their winter vacation there. The babies all seemed to survive their trasporting in good shape and seemed to adjusted to my water. I did shotgun them for parasites, as I always do. They are eating well, so will add them now with the other fish and keep a close eye on them and my own fish for any changes at all. I did not run them through any KHV protecal and will pay the cercumstances if they are infected. The chance I guess I'm willing to take. Since they are American breed, I feel a little safer for some reason. Anyway, so here's a picture of the Lemon Hariwake. He/She has no scales on it's body, is light yellow with white metalic fins and tail. No butterflies allowed. And oh ya, I did finally tell Harry and he just raised his eyebrows at me and shook his head. When he asked "how much?" I just said, "I got them off ebay, they were cheep!!"

Bickal's new Koi house addition

In an attempt to make this blog just not all about me, today I just want to mention a recent visit to Greg Bickal's Koi Farm. I stopped there recently to pick up some of his mother-in-law's yummy homemade Tamales. Anyway, the stop included a tour of his newly expanded Koi house. To say I wasn't a whole lot jealous would be an understatement. He has doubled the size of his indoor facilities. It always amazes me how he manages to hold down his ammonia in his heavily stocked tanks. He's now more than doubled his water volumn in his greenhouse style facilities. His fish are continueing to grow and looked very nice in the crystal clear water. It was a cozy 65degrees or so in there. Per normal, I could have sat and watched the fish for hours and would have loved to take more than a dozen home with me. Maybe in the Spring when the QT tank empties out. Belated Christmas present to me. I'm sure I'll be revisiting his site to see what new and unusual fish he's managed to spawn. Wish I had his indoor tanks.

Antifreeze for the pond?

The weekend was actually pretty nice. Temps have at least held to about freezing. I took advantage of the warmer Sunday to put on my boots and trudge out to the pond in the snow to check things out. The aerator has kept a hole open despite the colder temps and my homemade innertube heater is doing a good job of keeping an additional hole open too. I added some of my new "Artic bacteria" that I'm trying. It's blue and looks like antifreeze to me, so that's what I've been calling it. The fish were still lined up at the gate I put at the creek, so I took the net and gently tried to persuade them to move out of this shallow area and into the depths of the main pond, where I believe it will actually be warmer. I then dropped an additional air stone in this area, just under the innertube in hopes that if they persist in staying in this area, then at least there will be additional air there.
We finished the day by building a snowman to help watch over the ponds and gardens. Kind of like a scarecrow watches over the vegetable gardens in the summer. The snow is really great for packing and it's hard not to feel like a kid again and not prompt a snow ball fight or two. Hard to believe Christmas is only a couple weeks away.

Snow, snow... and 4 below....

All I want for xmas is a...generator??

The temperature indicator at the bottom of my computer is "flashing" 4 below today. It never flashes! Harry, the avid sportsman and ice-fisherman would say "We're making ice today", in excited enthusiasm. The fish under the ice, I'm sure are not sharing his exuberance. Guess we all survived the blizzard yesterday. Losing power was my main concern not the snow and missing of work. Kind of got me thinking that maybe I should be asking for a generator for xmas. Not for the same reason most people might want one, like keeping their refrigerators or furnaces running, but to keep the aerators and filter going in the basement pond. My upstairs aquarium accidently got unpluged (maybe for a couple of hours) a month or so ago and by the time I noticed it all the fish were already on the bottom like so many sinking submarines. An awful site. I turned everything back on and muraculously only lost one ciclid. It did prompt me however to give away a dozen or more of the fish. But, the event does make one realize how quickly a body of water can loose all its
O2 if its overstocked. The outdoor pond is completely drifted in. The floating light is no where to be seen, and its a huge tire innertube! I'm hoping its still on, but its entirely too cold to even go out there and dig it out to see. Harry is wonderful about doing pond chores for me, but even I don't have the nerve to ask him to go and dig it out. Yet, anyway. Maybe by the weekend. I'm not worried about it being off, but don't want to go too long either. I know the air is on so that eases the unknown tension. The sun is shining bright this afternoon but is generating little or no heat. The phone is quiet here at work as winter sets in on the roofing business, too. Like my fish under all the snow and ice, our business quiets down this time of the year too. That would be a bad thing other than it gives me more time to surf the net and read all the pond and koi forums. And xmas shopping, there's always that this time of the year.

Waterfall Ice Sculpture

Blizzard on its way....

This morning the weather man is calling for 6-12 inches of snow and high winds. I'm not a big winter fan. I have to drive 40 miles one way to work everyday and it gets harder the older I get. Harry is home from hunting and will unhook and pull the last pump we have running in the pond. The waterfall has turned into a giant ice sculpture standing brilliantly at ponds edge. The lights shine on it at night making it appear even more beautiful. Other than the xmas lights, the gardens are pretty much lifeless so the giant ice waterfall at least adds some much needed interest out there. Although, I do think winter with all its pure white snow is actually quite beautiful I hate the cold and having to wear heavy coats and attire. The sloppy mess from snowy boots that deposit ice and snow on my kitchen floor as we enter seems never ending.
The fish outside are lined up gill to gill at the gate I put across the creek area to keep them out of the shallow area where they all went to die last year under the ice. They look like so many starving prisoners standing at the cell doors begging to be saved. The gate is put in at the bridge so they still sit in the shallow part of the pond, I'm hoping once the air is shut down and the pond starts to be still, that they will retreat to the deep end for what little warmth will be available from the grounds natural insulation. We'll be turning down the air to a trickle, adding our homemade inner tube light (which we use to keep a hole open), and start praying for the best as the koi basically go under the ice for the next 3-4 months. Something that pains me greatly. Inside the fish frolic in the 70 degree water, eating and playing like they are vacationing in Margaritaville. What a sharp contrast in the two ponds. The fish outside lay almost dormant while the fish inside dart in and out of the water currents oblivious to the plight of their other fishy friends.

Buying "Bug Juice"....

Talked to Donovan this morning from Waterloo and he said it was snowing there, while bits of sun keep trying to shine threw the otherwise dreary sky here in C.R. Computer says it's 29 degrees out, 20 degrees colder than Monday. Think the outside fish are a little stressed from that? Even I'm stressed from that! I ordered a new product off the internet this morning to try. It's called Artic Blend, and "suppose" to help "protect fish from poor water quality all winter". Claims to work in temps down to 35 degrees. Another one of those "bug juices",(bactera based products) but after loosing several of my largest and oldest fish after the record long/cold winter last year, I'm looking for a little added piece of mind. Last Spring I said I wouldn't leave fish outside all Winter again, but after a few pond adjustments, here I am again, doing just what I said I wasn't going to do. I checked on them this morning and they were all huddled in a group like so many hobbos gathered around a burn barrel trying to keep warm. At least none were on their sides, like some fish will do in protest to the cold water conditions.
Fish in the basement continue to improve.

Welcome....

Thank you for stopping to check on my new "ponding" blog. I will try to keep this blog both entertaining and educational. Wednesday's weather marks the end of the 50 degree weather we've all been enjoying. Harry (my husband and avid deer hunter) is cheering, but the fish are definitely not. The outside fish, while not displaying any severe cold stress reactions are moving rather slowly. Pond has been holding at about 49 degrees for about a month now. I'm sure the impending 16-17 degree forecasted lows will send that plunging. I saw ice on my ponds for the first time this past week, but fortunately it melted off quickly with daylight. A couple weeks ago, in preparing for winter, we took the big pond down to within a couple feet and made sure we got all the leaves and walnut sticks out. All but the largest waterfall pump are pulled and stored for the winter. This past Monday, Harry did another water change out and we will continue to do them through the winter as best we can. As some of you know, I hold 13-9 to 12 inch fish in my 1200 gallon tank in the basement. They've been there since the end of October and all has been going well with them until this past weekend. One of the first things I do in the AM is check on my babies in the basement. Friday morning, I got up and as soon as I opened the basement door, I could hear the filter was not on. Air was still on, but the fish seemed a little squeamish and were not their usual friendly selves. I figured it was just because the filter was off. The filter is on a auto-shutoff mercury switch, which for some reason was off. I'm thinking maybe a fish hit it or something, I simply flipped the switch and the filter came right back on. I tested the water and ammonia and nitrites were still OK. I constantly drip water through the tank anyway to help with filtration and that had not stopped either. I check on them later in the day(per usual) and they are all OK, but still not quite right. So Saturday AM I get up and by gosh the filter is off again! But this time the fish are all down and huddled in the bottom corner of the pond. Nobody came out to say "feed me, feed me" or anything. As a side note: the night before a babysitter had babysat for my 3 grand kids at my house as the whole family of adults went to a Whitetail banquet. Well, when we came home the entire house was full of natural gas!! She or one of them had accidentally flipped my stove top burner on and fortunately we got home before the whole place blew up!! Anyway, I left windows open all night to air the place out. It was that bad and very scary. So, back to the fish in the basement. Could my aerators have picked up some of the gas? Or was it just because the filter was off again. The water was already a little hazy, but no ammonia or nitrites. I flipped the filter on again. Now, I know it has to be a water quality issue so I did a half tank water change. I'm wondering if I didn't do it all myself by simple starting the filter without first back flushing it. Shut down filters can quickly turn toxic and produce CO2 or hydrogen sulfide. Did I inject that into my water by simply turning on my filters? I decided to test for CO2. Well it has a 2 drop system and after the first goes in then you count the drops of the second bottle till the water turns pink in order to get the reading. My water turned pink with the first bottle's drops. It isn't suppose to do that! Now what? Does that mean it is really really full of CO2??? I have no idea. Maybe it's just out of date. So, what now? Filter clears the water quickly, so it looks good. For what that's worth. I know something is wrong. I add a little salt, just for good measure. I watch my babies all day hoping they will respond to the water change. Not much change. Sunday, I wake up at 4:00 am and start worrying about the fish. Can't sleep and I know I'm going to go to the basement and find them all dead. (That has actually happened in some long long ago koi experience)so might as well get up and check on them. Hours can make a difference if they are all up sucking for air or something. So at 4 AM I'm up to check on the fish. I open the basement door....well at least I can hear the filter running this morning. And, actually the fish are out of the corner and swimming a little. They still retreat back to it once I get to the tank side, but I'm felling relieved enough to at least go back to sleep. When I get back up at 8, I do another half tank water change. By afternoon, the fish are responding much better. They remain a little skittish for the remainder of the weekend, like they are mad at me for trying to poison them! This morning they were back to their normal selves and feeding again for the first time in 4 days. I feel like I dodged a bullet. I bring them inside to save them from the toxins of winter and almost killed them myself. Moral of the story? Natural gas, maybe, I have no way of knowing. Turning on filters with out back flushing first, probably and I for sure will not ever do that again.