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It is hard to believe that spring is almost here. Soon our pond’s water temperature will be staying above 60 and our fish will become more active. Let’s all hope that the mild winter will help our fishy friends have a happy and healthy 2000. Here are some suggestions that will hopefully help you get your pond off to a trouble free start this spring: 1. Start with a clean pond: Remove leaves and any sludge that might have accumulated this winter. Never stir up the muck in your pond with fish still in the same water. Use a holding tank. It is especially import to remove any acorns that might have fallen into your pond as they can be toxic in large quantities. After cleaning if possible cover your pond with netting to prevent our native live oak trees spring leaf drop from adding more junk back into your pond. 2. Continue to do regular water testing and water changes: Remember your ponds biological filtration will lag behind your feeding schedule. Also ammonia fixing bacteria develop faster than the nitrite fixing bacteria. Test your water for both ammonia and nitrites. Make water changes as often as necessary to keep tests within normal levels. It is better to feed smaller amounts of food several times a day than one large feeding. 3. Watch your pond water temperature. You can increase the number and amount of fish feedings as the water temperature rises. A suggestion would be to increase the amount of food very slowly watching your water testing and feed small amounts several times a day until the temperature stays above 75 degrees. Try to feed between 9:00am & 5:00pm so the fish have a better chance to digest the food before the pond temperature drops at night. If there is a significant cold front that greatly lowers the water temperature reduce or stop your feeding temporarily. 4. You should be feeding a lower protein food such as wheat germ: It is also a very good idea to add extra Vitamin C to your fish food. Buy Vitamin C powder at a health food store and dissolve a teaspoon in a small amount of warm water for every one to two pounds of food. Stir into food until absorbed spread out on something until dry then keep in a cool dry air tight container. 5. Watch your fish carefully: for any that do not swim or eat with the other fish or start flashing (Rub themselves against the sides of the pond). On very cold days they will be very slow or inactive but they should act similar. Watch for cuts or sores that might develop. These will not heal well in water below 75 degrees and when we get a few days of warmer temperatures the bad bugs can wake up and cause big problems. You should disinfect any significant scratches with iodine or mercurochrome. If your fish start flashing excessively find out what is happening and treat it. If high ammonia or nitrites do a water change and reduce or stop feeding. If parasites are the problem use appropriate treatment. Use a microscope to identify exactly what you are dealing with and also to confirm after treatment that the nasty’s have been eradicated. 6. Move sick or injured fish to heated/salted hospital tank: Remember a fishes immune system is temperature dependent. After they recover you can put them back in the pond. 7. Salt Treatment: I highly recommend a salt treatment for your fish/pond each spring. Especially, if you had any problems with ulcers or fin rot the previous year. You will have to remove any plants to a separate container for 3-4 weeks. Add 5 lbs. of non idodized salt per 100 gallons of water. Split the treatment into three parts and add over three days. For example if you had a 1,000 gallon pond you would need to add 50# of salt. You would add it at a rate of approximately 16-17# per day for three days. You would maintain this salt concentration for two weeks which means you would need to add salt with every water change. For example if you did a 100 gallon water change you would need to add back 5# of salt. Do not put this salty water on your garden or yard if it has been very dry unless you dilute it with additional tap water. After the two weeks you can increase your water changes to 20-30% per day. After one to two more weeks the level of salt will be almost nothing and you can reintroduce your plants. Total time from start to finish is 3-4 weeks. It is best to do this right now as salt slows down the maturing of your biological filter and if you start feeding a lot you will need to do bigger water changes and replace more salt. Read and learn more about how to care for the special needs of your pond during the spring season. The club library is a great place to start. The more effective you are in minimizing the problems that can occur with the spring warm up the fewer problems you will have the rest of the year. Good Luck and Happy Pondering!!
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