Body & Soul1 min ago
Frozen fish
16 Answers
Apologies for the length of this post, but please read if you know about fish!
Just came on and noticed a previous post about goldfish in winter, hope Hammerman reads this cos he seems very knowledgable:-)
Had a pond disaster just before xmas, it froze, as it has done before, but this time my son went out and noticed that our 4 ghost koi were floating on their sides just under the ice, looking....well, dead!
Just as we were thinking we would have to thaw the ice and get them out before they started to decompose, his girlfriend noticed one of their gills moving, cue a rescue operation involving a lot of hot water, buckets, watering cans etc, and five very cold people running up and down the garden!
We put the fish in a bath of cold water (I know you're not meant to put them in fresh tap water, but this was an emergency)
Amazingly 3 of them came back to life, so we gradually reduced the bath temperature using ice taken from the pond, then put them back.
Since then 2 have not been seen so hopefully they are at the bottom of the pond keeping "warm", but the largest has been near the surface. Hubby checked this morning and reported it was dead:-(
Next thing I know he's at the back door, fish in arms, asking me to run the bath!
Upshot is we now have a very happy looking, lively, approx 8lb carp in our bath! Now what? Put him back in the pond and hope for the best?
Any suggestions,( apart from how nice he would taste baked in foil with butter and black pepper) gratefully recieved!
Just came on and noticed a previous post about goldfish in winter, hope Hammerman reads this cos he seems very knowledgable:-)
Had a pond disaster just before xmas, it froze, as it has done before, but this time my son went out and noticed that our 4 ghost koi were floating on their sides just under the ice, looking....well, dead!
Just as we were thinking we would have to thaw the ice and get them out before they started to decompose, his girlfriend noticed one of their gills moving, cue a rescue operation involving a lot of hot water, buckets, watering cans etc, and five very cold people running up and down the garden!
We put the fish in a bath of cold water (I know you're not meant to put them in fresh tap water, but this was an emergency)
Amazingly 3 of them came back to life, so we gradually reduced the bath temperature using ice taken from the pond, then put them back.
Since then 2 have not been seen so hopefully they are at the bottom of the pond keeping "warm", but the largest has been near the surface. Hubby checked this morning and reported it was dead:-(
Next thing I know he's at the back door, fish in arms, asking me to run the bath!
Upshot is we now have a very happy looking, lively, approx 8lb carp in our bath! Now what? Put him back in the pond and hope for the best?
Any suggestions,( apart from how nice he would taste baked in foil with butter and black pepper) gratefully recieved!
Answers
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i would check this out first !
that stated the idea i have is simple . the water your fish are living is obviously shallow compaired to their normal habitat else a large proporsion of their population would be dead every winter . with this in mind i would suggest a fish tank heater be placed into the pond set at a low level of course " just high enough to prevent freezing " . This i would assume would keep the water at a reasonable level until the weather warms up enough to remove it.
safety and care would obviously need to be taken on how to power such a unit .
if all else fails add garlic and some tyme to that recipe " just for laughs "
that stated the idea i have is simple . the water your fish are living is obviously shallow compaired to their normal habitat else a large proporsion of their population would be dead every winter . with this in mind i would suggest a fish tank heater be placed into the pond set at a low level of course " just high enough to prevent freezing " . This i would assume would keep the water at a reasonable level until the weather warms up enough to remove it.
safety and care would obviously need to be taken on how to power such a unit .
if all else fails add garlic and some tyme to that recipe " just for laughs "
another thing to bare in mind .
they say moving water never freezes " i say depends on the temprature and thickness of the moving water " however it does need to get colder to freeze. so with that in mind a pump to airate the water might help also . i would advice against a strong pump as i dont believe that koi live in moving water, " and i could be wrong on this ". But if correct it would put extra strain on the fish if they are not used to a current , if the pump is to strong this would make them forever fight against the current created.
they say moving water never freezes " i say depends on the temprature and thickness of the moving water " however it does need to get colder to freeze. so with that in mind a pump to airate the water might help also . i would advice against a strong pump as i dont believe that koi live in moving water, " and i could be wrong on this ". But if correct it would put extra strain on the fish if they are not used to a current , if the pump is to strong this would make them forever fight against the current created.
Turn the pump off (or at the very least raise the pump inlet close to the surface of the pond)
you don't want to be mixing the water in a pond during winter time! waters density changes in reverse to everything else when it gets cold. warmer water will fall to the bottom of the pond giving the fish a slightly warmer safe refuge!
throw a couple of footballs in the pond to stop the surface freezing leave any aeration and pumps off for the winter (or move the inlets for the pumps to the surface) so you don't take away their warmer deep refuges and let them get on with it, fish have been living for thousands of years in winter waters
There is little need to overly worry about the oxygen content of the water during winter, cold water can hold more oxygen to start with and all life forms in the pond (not just the fish, algae and other pond life) that need the oxygen use less of it during winter just make sure the surface doesn't freeze again.
you don't want to be mixing the water in a pond during winter time! waters density changes in reverse to everything else when it gets cold. warmer water will fall to the bottom of the pond giving the fish a slightly warmer safe refuge!
throw a couple of footballs in the pond to stop the surface freezing leave any aeration and pumps off for the winter (or move the inlets for the pumps to the surface) so you don't take away their warmer deep refuges and let them get on with it, fish have been living for thousands of years in winter waters
There is little need to overly worry about the oxygen content of the water during winter, cold water can hold more oxygen to start with and all life forms in the pond (not just the fish, algae and other pond life) that need the oxygen use less of it during winter just make sure the surface doesn't freeze again.
http://www.pond-docto...ngwinterstrategy.html
did a quick search regarding koi and come up with this .. hope it helps
did a quick search regarding koi and come up with this .. hope it helps
ideally you should leave him where he is now until spring! constantly changing their water is not good for them!
but as you probably don't want cold, slightly slimy baths with a koi as a bath mate I guess this is not practical! So i would do the same as you did before, bring the temp in the bath down by slowly adding water/ice from the pond (not just for the temp, but for the water acidity)and then put him back in and do your best to ensure they have a warmer, deep refuge and hope for the best.
you probably didn't need to remove any in the first place, simply thawing the ice and leaving them alone would have been enough.
(I'm soo glad I don't have to worry about this sort of stuff any more)
but as you probably don't want cold, slightly slimy baths with a koi as a bath mate I guess this is not practical! So i would do the same as you did before, bring the temp in the bath down by slowly adding water/ice from the pond (not just for the temp, but for the water acidity)and then put him back in and do your best to ensure they have a warmer, deep refuge and hope for the best.
you probably didn't need to remove any in the first place, simply thawing the ice and leaving them alone would have been enough.
(I'm soo glad I don't have to worry about this sort of stuff any more)
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