Winter prep

[111whalen]

Well, it's time to talk about fall. What do you like to do to get ready. Here in Southern Cal it's not extreme bu there are several areas I watch: parasites (now or nver), lots of water change and get the filters clean so that they are left mostly alone through the coldest months, food reduction. What did I miss?

Mark

[Nancy M.]

Quote: Originally Posted by 111whalen Well, it's time to talk about fall. What do you like to do to get ready. Here in Southern Cal it's not extreme bu there are several areas I watch: parasites (now or nver), lots of water change and get the filters clean so that they are left mostly alone through the coldest months, food reduction. What did I miss? Mark

We first take stock of what is in our ponds, and figure out what didn't turn out the way we thought hoped or planned. And off to the auction they go.. Now we have room for a few new girls..
As winter time approaches( So Cal... LOL) we will start slowing down our feeding in another month or so. After our koi show in November, we will do a winter treatment on our ponds, ( also will be adding 1 or 2 new fish from the October trip to Japan). to our QT pond.
We will still do our usuall daily settlement tank flushing throughout the winter.
And water changes as usuall.

[MikeM]

Nancy: What do you mean by "winter treatment" ?

[dick benbow]

here in the pacific Northwest, rains cold and lingering can often be our luck for fall and spring. The farmer's almanac is predicting a wetter than normal fall this year.

Around here two things are extremely important. The fishes health going into the slower months and cleanliness. watching the temps fall and feeding the correct food in smaller increments is paramont to good luck in getting the pond thru winter.

any sores/flashing etec have to be dealt with immediately and correctly.

I am fortunate in so much as i have two ponds. An indoor and outdoor. The girls come inside in 2-3 weeks, are de bugged and slowly brought down in temp to 55 F where I hold them for winter. they are feed once every three days with wheatgerm and the other two days with cooked barley. this procedure keeps them satisfyed hunger wise while not giving them anything extra to turn into eggs. At 55 F "bug Alley" is not a problem as they're clean and yet the metabolism is not entirely shut down.

This approach seemed common sense to me after watching what most breeders did in japan.

for koi keepers with small ponds the biggest thing you fear is a sudden drop in temperature ( more than 4 F ) as this will cause problems. In the past we would have freezing storms where electricity would be lost and the pipes would freeze and burst. we may be due that again. Keep in mind an air stone
to keep the ice open and draining of the pipes can save you a lot of grief afterwards. I invested in a honda generator for my inside pond just in case.
That way I can run pumps, air and heat without any "bump" in the road!

[Nancy M.]

Quote: Originally Posted by MikeM Nancy: What do you mean by "winter treatment" ?

Mike,
We treat our pond in the winter for parasites, we use dimalin for anchor worms ( our new 2 year olds that we will purchase this fall in Japan). We also will treat with parasite green, and supaverm. all at separate intervals.

[aquitori]

As far as winter treatment starting to cut the protein in the fish food...They will be completely back to wheatgrem in the comings weeks...As far as the filter goes I will back wash alittle more often to clean it out....That's about it for winterizing.