hot temps and ponds

[andi_mn]

omg, i went out to feed the fish just now and i heard the pump sucking a bit so i got down to clean out the screen to the skimmer and holy cow! the water temp was warmer than warm bath water. it felt hot! am now topping it off. we are having days and days of 90+ temps here. how do you folks in texas take care of your ponds? i have four tub ponds also and am going to top them off also (they dont have fish in them but they Do have tadpoles) the fish seem to be ok but we might have to pump water OUT and pump cooler water in yet again this week. bah humbug to this summer. sorry for you  folks out east.

[SueSTx]

I have some small goldies in a 35 gallon tub holding for a friend.  With the daily temps in the 100* range, I do a 50% water change every morning using declor.  If I wait until afternoon, the temp difference between the old water and the fresh is too great.  It must be working cause the fish are growing by leaps and bounds.

[Lynne22]

I will echo what Sue said; don't lower the temp too fast, or you will shock them, and they will die. Bring it down no more than 2 degrees in a 15 minutes. I also recommend shading it if you can - after 12:00 or 1:00 in the afternoon. Not sure what kind of fish you have though. Mosquito fish and some tropicals can take up to 90 degrees, but not for very long.....

[DrHarryLopez]

High temps deplete oxygen levels in fresh water ponds. If my pond temp goes above 83 I start up a strong air pump. A few years ago we had a major blackout here in NYC, so the pond didn't have any circulation and oxygen levels dropped. the fish were bubbling up the water for more O2 but the temp kept rising. In an emergency I dropped in a few bags of ice. It helped the pond thru the night.

[Kat]

Large air pump with air stones and/or water pumps set up to bubble/splash at the water surface.  The tropicals love that kind of heat.

[Loritx]

I am just north of Dallas TX.
My pond has a waterfall, flows over a 10ft rock bed stream and into pond. I dont worry about extra Oxygen.
It gets sun in the morning, in shade of house by 2pm.
I also have a drip line from my flowerbed going into the pond, it gets about 5 minutes a day of fresh water. And sprinkler water when we water the lawn. I dont declor this water and it seems to be fine. Early morning watering times.
But it does get really hot here. Not unusual to get a water temp over 90' in the summer.

I was a bit worried the other day when we had a power outage from 3pm-6:30pm, but the fish all seem to be fine!
I also worry about sudden temp drops when we have a Summer Thunderstorms. They can be very COLD water and May have HAIL! I dont care about the hail tearing things up(nothing I can do about that), but the sudden Temp drop from it!!

[andi_mn]

97 here at 1pm, today trying to shade the pond with pieces of fence etc. i also have 4 sm tub ponds  and trying to shade them. this is rather new for us. i mean we always get a few days over 90 but never anything like thisfor days and days.  no more galvanized tubs for me, will go a bit bigger, easier to keep cool. am not enjoying this although might be better than blizzards.

[Lynne22]

97 here at 1pm, today trying to shade the pond with pieces of fence etc. i also have 4 sm tub ponds  and trying to shade them. this is rather new for us. i mean we always get a few days over 90 but never anything like thisfor days and days.  no more galvanized tubs for me, will go a bit bigger, easier to keep cool. am not enjoying this although might be better than blizzards.

I know, it's really hot here too. The last few days have been way up there. I cleaned  my neighbors planter pond last night- it's a 36" resin pot- and it was 94 degrees in there! She, and I, have gambusia in those pots! I was like OMG! So I brought the water down to about 82, but it took almost 2 hours. Funny thing though, they didn't seem like they were stressed, but they should have been! Mine are somewhat shaded in the afternoon, so they stay in the low/mid 80's, which seems to be fine for them, but I also have a filter, and aeration in them. She does not, but she needs to do it, soon.