How would you rate the success of you pond this year

[keokoi]

I know the year is not over but some northerners are knocking on cooler weather soon.

How would you rate the success of your pond this year. I know many of us had just started the pond from remodels. But how would you rate it.

was the pond eveything you expected and more

Growth
Quality of koi
filtration
fish health
ease of maintenance
Will you be making changes to it this winter or next spring and for what?
Your gunning for the complete remodel by spring 2006

I will put myself out there and say because of where I live near the coast with coastal fog year around and no temps to peak over 90 for more than a day. I had a slow start because of monsoon rains and showers that went into early summer. This year I am only gonna have a 2 month growing season. The change in temps made it tough on water and koi. I didnt really start to feed until late spring. So my plans to get some growth didnt happen so far.

The filters were fine fish health fine no injections this year (Knock on woody)

I might add a heater and 1 more chamber to my 3 chamber system already for kicks. Oh yeah also an almighty bakki shower for kicks...


Joe

[keokoi]

I forgot our breeder friends...

How would you rate your year and what changes would you make on your farm?


Joe

[luke frisbee]

I haven't even gotten a final draft together and you are asking me what grade I'll get on the paper?
well, the lake has water in it and the vortexis making the water cleaner, and the half-horse prop pump is humpin tens of thousands of gallons an hour...and the fish are growing too fast.....
i'm workin' on it

[Brutuscz]

The absolute worst I could ever imagine!!!! Lost fish to costia, flukes, bacteria, low oxygen. Everything that could go wrong..DID!!!! After 6 yrs of koi keeping, you figure things would be under control. Hope I never have ayear like this again!!!

[Nancy M.]

I have to say that this years temps, in So Cal, have also been much cooler than usuall. On fish that we purchased last October as 2 year olds, we have seen an average of 3 inch growth. On our koi over 24" this season our average growth so far is right around 1.5 inches. We have been able to add some weight to all of them, but nothing extrodinary. Our ponds have all been in great shape as far as filtration. We had 1 koi bump her mouth and had to give her 2 silver bullets. She is 100% recovered with no visable scaring. Maintenance is very easy. Husband wants to distroy turtle pond and 2000 gallon pond and make one larger pond for koi. Turtles all went to a new home so it looks like he will be starting his new profect this winter... Great more mess... new landscaping... dirt everywhere.... On the bright side more room for New Koi

[ucpondguy]

Well, first the bad points of the year...
1)I had a health issue with the koi in my main in early spring but that was taken care of and no reoccurrence
2)Had a huge tree removed by my pond which took away from koi funds and while they ground down the root a wood splinter punctured my liner. I did not notice until weeks later when suddenly I was losing a lot of water. Water pressure had made the tear into a huge hole. I am still working on it.
3)Had one jumper and one heron stab victim
Now the good points
1)Learned how to inject the correct way with the onset of the health issue in spring
2)With tree removed, I can look forward to buying/installing a vortex chamber after seeing the difference it makes
3)Growth rates were good for the most part. I started feeding high protein in mid June. Some koi grew from 8 to 12 inches, others from 11 inches to 17 inches to date. This was the first time I kept track of growth rates. Skin quality of koi hve improved.
4)Despite having 1/3 of main pond drained right now, water quality is still ideal so I know biofilters are mature even after 2 weeks at running at 2/3 pond volume
5)Had unplanned spawning. Fry are now 3-4 months. Learning a lot from the experience.
6)Learned the benefits of a using a proper filtration system firsthand when someone helped me set it up

[MikeM]

Well, Joe, we still have 3 of the best growing months of the year ahead of us before forcing a fast. So, let the 'canes blow elsewhere and all will be great. I'll report in a couple of months.

[keokoi]

Well, Joe, we still have 3 of the best growing months of the year ahead of us before forcing a fast. So, let the 'canes blow elsewhere and all will be great. I'll report in a couple of months.

Look forward to it MikeM..

You guys are so lucky to have such long growing months..... But those canes are a setback for sure....

Joe

[junglegeorge12]

So far a good year--lost some fish early on due to stupid error of leaving a gallon of muraitic acid next to the pond within reach of neighborhood kids, learned to keep such chemicals up high and out of sight--

really good growth rates, best I have ever seen in almost ten years of keeping koi, had a set of three go from 6"-14" and still growing, one unplanned spawning from a 12" sanke, no fry kept as I didnt want any from that group of koi

built a nice waterfall and learned alot about the newer methods of filtration

cleared a site to build mud ponds, as many as I want for the future

started today on a larger pond with mud bottom, won't be done for a couple months, but felt good to get the blocks and start laying out the lines for the borders

one other thing--I found out about alot of things this year in depth, much more than in previous years, ran some very successful experiments on improving coloration and growth rates

had lots of parties this year with pond right there drawing lots of attention and compliments, the time with friends talking to them about koi and answering their questions was really enjoyable, so the plan is even more parties and more and bigger koi for next year, and two more ponds!!!

We are going to make a kind of walk around theme with patios on two sides of the house and different ponds with private viewing areas and patios, so folks who visit can gather in smaller private groups can chat and enjoy the view from different angles---

we have a huge front porch that gets loaded at each party, and we have noticed folks having more 'private' conversations and time needing a nice but intimate and semiprivate place to go and talk

so this year was a good pond year and also gave us alot of info needed to make next year an even better one

oh yeah! I almost forgot the highlight, I stepped in the pond to clean some stuff out of the drain, when walking back into the shallow end I slipped and went feet up in the air, butt in the water, and wound up looking at my shocked koi face to face, they seemed to be smiling and sort of snickering at me.........my son stood on the the side of the pond and hooted and laughed at me, he thought it was hilarious and reminds me about it every day now (he is four)

[junglegeorge12]

almost forgot, the hurricanes have been whizzing pas us and wreaking havoc on all sides, but we have not been touched this year and are very thankful and will be especially thankful if we can get through this season cane free........out here in the carribean we feel a little like a ping pong ball with huge paddles whizzing past us, I do not think there has ever been a year in our history with this many big canes without one hitting us---