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It's about koi whose winter conditions were not properly managed, thereby stressing them out, degrading their immune systems and making them susceptible to parasites and bacterial infections they would otherwise shrug off.
That is absolutely true and this applies more so high quality koi . A surprising number of people think that koi can be kept under the ice for a long winter by just useing a bubbler or a pump to circulate water . With no water changes through the winter and poorly designed ponds that have a great heat loss . I t is a matter of time that if winter does not kill the fish then spring will and while a few domestic fish especially the low quality fish survive it is the show quality fish that will die first as they are a lot weeker .
The minimum water temperature is critical . I keep my adult fish in a greenhouse the females I maintain the temp at 48f and the males at 44f . The females are in a 1000gal pond with a daily complete water change from a well . The water then flows into a 7000 gal pond so that gets a complete water change weekly . As soon as spring comes I put them in my mud pond so that completes the recovery from a hard winter .
If fish do need to be kept outside then a tent like structure should be built over the top of the pond as well as water changes . Although water freezes at 32f it starts to get slushy at 36f and that makes it difficult for fish to move their gills . Our building regulations are ,a ground frost wall should be 4ft deep as that is considered a safe depth so frost will not heave the foundation . That is one of the meny reasons why Aquasccape style ponds are not suitable in colder climates . I f you are going to build a pond in a colder climate consider insulation 2ft wide around your pond as well as make sides 3ft deep this will insure that you loose less of the precious heat from the base .
Regards
Eugene |