Mica's Pond Care Tips

Feeding

Do not overfeed. The No. 1 cause of dirty water. Too much food = dirty water.
Only feed what your fish can eat ALL OF in just a couple of minutes.
If the fish lose interest in the food and there is still food floating on the pond, you have fed too much.
Fish will ALWAYS act like they are hungry. Don’t believe them! Feed only once a day or less.
No more than 1-2 food tablets per fish. 15 fish = 15-30 food tablets. (Half of this is the fish are small.)
Winter – feed about once a week (at the most).
Do not feed fish when water temp. is below 50 degrees. Fish are unable to digest well at this temperature.
Summer – feed 2 or 3 times a week.
Purchase food at PetCo etc. They will have a bag of inexpensive koi food that is very good.

Adding water

You can expect to lose about an inch every day in the middle of summer. This is due to the plants using the water and evaporation.
Too much city water is poison to the fish. If you add very much, you will need to treat it.
You can buy the treatment at the pet store. It is easy.
If you add water all the time, you do not need to treat it. You can always add an inch or two without treating it.
If you leave the hose in the pond for too long, you will kill all of the fish. Be attentive and careful.
Many skimmers can now be equipped with automatic fill valves. These are usually very dependable. The only disadvantage might be that they could hide the symptoms of a small leak in the pond.

Cleaning the pond

Use a net to keep most leaves out of the pond. They can be a problem if too many decay in the pond. Note: A skimmer is often used on large ponds where trees are nearby. But even with a skimmer you may need to occasionally use a net to remove leaves.
Clean the pump and waterfall by turning off the pump and running water backwards through the hose. Do this if the waterfall slows down.
You may need to clean the gravel once a year. (Overfeeding is the biggest factor in how often it needs cleaning.)
Cleaning is a “simple” process of removing most of the gravel and washing it off. You can also remove “dirt” by stirring the pond and siphoning off some water. Repeat this process as needed.
Do NOT use a sharp metal implement to stir the gravel if you have a fabric liner. A puncture on the bottom is a problem.
If you have some type of bio filter, you will need to follow the manufacturer's directions for cleaning. Depending upon the size and type, you may need to do this frequently. This may be as simple as removing a filter and washing it off.
If you have an "Under Gravel" type filter, cleaning is an interesting process. If you DO NOT OVERFEED you will not have to do this very often. The process generally consists of cleaning the gravel. This can be done in place of by carefully scooping it out and washing it off. You do not need to get it perfectly clean. You do not need to remove all the gravel. DO NOT SCOOP WITH SHARP METAL OBJECTS. You can sometimes disconnect the filter hose and stir the pond bottom while directing the flow to outside the pond. This can work remarkably well sometimes.

Winter

Keep water in the pond.
As long as the water does not freeze solid, to the bottom, the fish will be fine.
Keep the pump running but make sure that it is circulating the water.
Do not let the ice cause the pump to pump all the water out of the pond. This could happen if the water under the falls freezes. This is very rare, but could happen.
When winter comes the plants will die down. Remove the old stalks, once they die. The roots will make new big plants in the spring. Some of the pond photos show this condition.

Adding Fish

Rule of thumb - One inch of fish per gallon of water or 8 inches per cubic foot. (7.48 gal. per cubic foot of water.)
Make sure water is treated, ("Novaqua" etc.) even when just adding more fish. It helps to reduce shock.
Do just like you would an aquarium. Place the fish, in the bag, in the pond for a few minutes. But not in hot direct sunlight. Those little bags can get too hot. Once the fish water and the pond water are the same temp, release the fish.
Adding fish can introduce disease. One of the most common is "ich". Read more about "ich" in my "Oh No" section.

Basic Goldfish and Koi Biology

Goldfish, like all Cyprinidae, (carp, barbs, minnows etc.) do not have a stomach but rather only have an intestinal tract, and therefore cannot digest an excess of protein or fiber.You may see fish swimming with long substances hanging from their cloacae. This is not eggs. More than likely this is undigested food. Goldfish produce a large amount of waste. Whether this waste is digested or undigested, it is the most often cause of poor water quality. Overfeeding, in cold water, could result in food becoming rancid in the fish and causing health problems or death.

Poor water quality can be manifested by low oxygen content or the buildup of toxic chemicals. Of course, most keepers of these fish are more interested in water clarty. Overabundant waste can result in bacteria or algae buildup, which affects the water adversely.

Goldfish, and Koi, are opportunistic feeders. They will eat as long as there is food. This does not mean that they are hungry.

The more exotic varieties of goldfish (bubble eye, yukin, fantail, oranda, lionhead, etc.) often have compromised, or twisted, intestinal tracts compared to the straight tracts found in commons or comets. For this reason, it is even more important to monitor how much these fish can eat. It is possible to overfeed these varieties to the point of killing them.

It is possible that your pond fish will breed and produce offspring. This can be accomplished if you have adequate hiding places for the fry (to avoid being eaten.) This is usually a corner of your pond that has dense cover or vegetation. These areas are often called nurseries. If you really want your fish to breed, it is possible to purchase products designed to be spawning cover. Cyprinidae are egg layers. The male will bump the female until she releases her eggs. The male will then fertilize them. Note: Goldfish and Koi can interbreed but the offspring are usually sterile.

Almost all fish have a protective covering of slime on their bodies. This layer protects the fish in several ways. Removing it subjects the fish to disease or parasites. For this reason, the handling of fish can be harmful to them.

A garden pond goldfish can easily live ten to twenty years. Koi have been known to live many times that. The world record for goldfish longevity is around 49 years. At least one Koi specimen is reported to have lived well over 200 years.(1)

A group of goldfish is known as a troubling.

Footnote Reference
(1) http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/hanako.html