I agree with Rita.

That was my thought as well, glad to get some similar opinions. I don't feed them much in the Summer either, they seem to do just fine on algae and plant roots. So I thought if they were eating they could munch on the plant roots if they wanted.

My son and I will be gong to Central Fl. Koi Show this Sat. Can't wait. He is 52 but acting like a kid. We are both interested in finding a couple of little Kahakues. Can't afford the large ones. There is always a vendor there from Japan but the fish are very high priced and I wasn't too impressed with their colors. I don't mind growing them out. That way if they die we don't loose so much.

Pond cleaning time is near at hand. Also pruning of all garden and pond plants and repotting them. That's what keeps us all so young. LOL I'm 77 now and hope to enjoy ponding for years to come.

To all who are in cold climates. Spring is just around the corner and hope your ice and snow are melting and you can see your fishies again and enjoy them.

Bonnie

I've never been to a koi show, but the more time I spend raising them the more I want to go see them. Hope you have a great time (will they let you take pictures?).

I'm not ready for pond cleanout yet... But then, I have my greenhouse ponds to keep me company, so I'm not in a hurry, either.

I have been to Koi shows. It is fun to see the ones that won the judging. But just as much fun to do the local pond tours set up by the koi clubs and see them in peoples ponds both big and smaller.

I love pond tours. A local pond builder puts one on almost every year, most of the time we seem to miss it due to other commitments but the ones we have seen are just great. I bet a Koi show would be fun.
With the rise in temps we turned on the pump to fill the bird bath. The birds are loving it.

Enjoyed the Central Fl. Koi Show. I didn't buy anything as prices were higher this year it seemed than last year. I did see a toncho I liked but $700. for 1 fish doesn't fit my budget. My son bought a platinum o-gon for $100. about 1 1/2 feet. Brought it home quarantined it, did preform-c and released it today in my smaller pond. Seems very docile nature and ate good the first day. I'm going to try to train it to hand feed.

There were a few Chinese high fin sharks which I would love to try but they were $100. and only 4 or 5 inches. Passed them up.

I as sad before we left for the show. Went out to small pond and 4 beautiful fish were dead. All over a foot. Talked to some of the judges at show and they said oak bloom not the leaves forms a high concentrate of ammonia and I know that will kill fast. Plus I forgot to turn pumps back on the night before when I fed them. Took what fish were still alive, put them temporarily in large pond and drained it all completely. Then pressure washed it, vacuumed it thoroughly and refilled it along with good bacteria. Put 3 little ones back in. When we clean larger pond will get a couple from there and add to it. I've been ponding for 7 years, you would think I would know better considering I have been scooping leaves and blooms out twice a day. Live and learn. When I came home I tested the water and ammonia reading was .25. Not real high but it killed 4 of them. Others survived.

I think we are skipping spring and going right into summer around here so larger pond needs same cleaning but fish are so big in there I can't take them out as no place to put them large enough. I'll leave dorsal fin high water and vacuum and PW above that line. Fish don't mind the water all stirred up and before they actually acted liked they liked it.

Does anyone is Florida recommend using an aerator along with falls and fountain already on pond??

Happy Ponding All

Sorry to hear about your fish. Bad things can happen so quickly it seems. Hope the others make it.

Can't help you with any Florida experience. Dissolved oxygen goes down and fish respiration goes up as temperature rises, of course. Anywhere I have high concentrations of fish I keep secondary aeration running. Each zone has its own aeration in case the main pump fails. I have too much experience with losing fish.

My fish love any kind of activity: new water coming in, water going out, anything new in the ponds and tanks. They also let me know when they're feeling stressed or low on oxygen, so I try to pay attention.

My fish must be bored to tears as my pond just has a pump to pull water out to the biowell and one to feed a pressure filter and additional 55W UV light. Well, I do have a little waterfall. I have seen the smaller fish (my biggest is only 12") running in and out of it so I guess they enjoy that.

Sounds plenty exciting to me, Mary. Fish are easily amused.

55W is lot of UV. How big is this pond?

About 2700 gallons. I also have a built in 25W in the pressure filter. The throughput is slow though for some reason. There isn't a lot of head loss so not sure what that is about. But my pond is in full sun and around June 21 that means about 20 hours a day. So I fight algae like mad. I use Algaway 5.4 as well as a barley mix that seems to keep it mostly under control. It gets bad around my lily pots which are black and have fertilizer spikes in them.

Oh, wow, I hadn't even made the connection between your location and your day length. That would be quite a challenge to keep the algae down. Nutrient management would be hard pressed to keep up with algae that can grow nearly around the clock. Do your water plants get stressed with the long days?

I'm not sure. I don't order new each year but they have gotten wimpier each year. I remember when over half my pond was covered with lily pads. I would think that would cut down on algae as it cuts down on sun hitting the water. I use fertilizer spikes so I don't have to crawl into the pond once a month. Also have tried growing them in mud, gravel, kitty litter etc as I saw those recommended here. I returned to mud last year. They don't do very well. Maybe one or two at a time and always the same ones. I order the hardy varieties from TWL.

And, I just lost all of my tilapia in the greenhouse.

The main water pump got clogged, shutting down circulation, primary aeration, and filtration. The fish tore loose my big airstone in the tilapia tank, and it dropped to a depth that the pump couldn't push air to. Temperatures on this hot sunny day went to 100F in the greenhouse and my indoor monitor got unplugged and didn't alert me. With the tank isolated, one of the heater thermostats failed to turn off, and water temperatures normally maintained in the mid 80s went to the upper 90s. The fish cooked and suffocated.

The koi, in a separate part of the same system, are fine. Of course, they had aeration the whole time, and their temperature never went above 86F. They're due to move out the front pond as soon as we can get some water cycled for it. Thus ends my latest aquaponics experiment. More experience, I suppose.

Oh dear, not a happy ending! But good that the Koi are fine.

Oh Paul. That is terrible. Your system sounds so complicated and high tech. But if the fail safes don't yell "failure" not much you can do.

Sorry for your loss!!! I had a major fish kill a few years back so I know the sick feeling in your stomach.