Spring Cleaning help

[reddad35]

 Spring is close enough to at least mention. I was wondering what the appropriate time to do a spring pond cleaning was. Does the water temp have to be at a certain temp to do this? I have koi in this pond up to 13"'s in length. I am worried about stressing them. I need to know if there is a better time to stress them than others. Do you do it when they are barely moving or wait until they are moving about and eating good?

 We are having a heat wave as we speak. By heat wave we are in the 60's and all the ice and snow has melted. I can see the bottom of my 5 1/2' deep pond. I wish the water was this clear in the summer. By some of the tips I have learned on here I hope to keep it this way. When I walked out today I noticed one of my 13" koi had parrished. As I have read on here it normally happens to your favorite and it held true for me too. I called him Blue. He/She was a butterfly.( I don't know the exact species, But beautiful with huge fins.) I noticed I have a build up of leaves on the bottom and am worried that the warmer temps coming will cause problems with rotting soon. Would it be too much of a stress to my fish if I try to skim net the leaves from the bottom today? (I don't have a vacuum) The fish are sluggish and barely moving while the water temp is around the high 30's. I didn't realize I had that many leaves in my pond due to the water clarity or lack thereof in the fall. We had a couple of storms come through that wreaked havoc on the trees in the area as well as my pond.

I have been running an aerator all winter about 1' above the bottom of the pond. I shut my falls down for the winter also.

I don't know the cause of the death but would like to try to nip any more in the bud.

I have an 8' round hard sided pool. The pool is 2 1/2 foot high. I used this as a temp home for my fish when I cleaned the pond in the later part of the summer. Is it safe to move the fish to this now or wait till it warms up? I am asking these questions because I have no clue. I should have researched these questions earlier, as this is my first cold weather pond but I failed to do this. I hope I can still catch up on some required items for cold weather ponds before its too late.

What are your professional or semi professional opinions on timing of a spring cleanup?

Thanks for any help you might have.

Jim

[reddad35]

He had alot more blue before he passed.

Please help his buddies!

[miguynmkoi]

Blue was a beautiful fish.  Sorry! 

Wait until the weather is warmer and more constant with no cold spells expected.  I do.  I don't know your weather patterns or temps where you are but I certainly would not do anything until the water has warmed up considerably and the fish are swimming normally, ie - not in a semi hibernating existence.

If your pond is large enough I'm sure the koi would stay in the end away from your cleaning actions.  Don't know anything about fish illness, knock on wood.  Good Luck! 

[KatFish]

I'm sorry - I can't help with the illness, but I want to say he was a Doitsu?  I have one that I call Bloo.  Yours was very pretty.  This may sound odd, but did you think about a necropsy (if that's the right term)?

[reddad35]

I had to search that term and it made sense after I found it. I never thought of that. Its simply been a panic recently.

 I did the cleaning this weekend. I have since heard from people that said to leave it alone. (this is my first winter pond) Good news is I got all the leaves out. I power washed the whole thing for hours.  I refilled it and added salt and pimafix. My fish have stopped laying or rolling onto their sides. They seem to be swimming about better. My water color before winter was a light tea colored. Since winter came and the water temp went colder I was able to see the bottom as the pond cleared. There were alot of leaves on the bottom. I had cleaned them all out in the fall but we had a couple big storms and didn't know the leaves were in there.
 I made a skimmer earlier in the summer but chickened out on installing it. I guess I will either install it or purchase a name brand one and install it first thing come spring. I will let you know how its coming along with the fish.

Thanks for your responses.

Jim

[pondlady]

Fall cleaning and prevention are the key to a good spring start up. I pulled the covers of and the ponds looked great no gunk or leaves at the bottom. A good Vacuum and cover before the leaves fall will keep the fish's home a healthier and cleaner place to spend the winter. It makes your spring start up a snap. Gill flukes are a cold water pest and can kill you fish friends with little or no warning. Scrape and scope the gill tissue if you can. I treat my ponds every spring for these little buggers  because it seems I have them every spring, so I get them before they get my wet pets.