"RichToyBox" wrote in message
.net...
About the third year that I had the ponds, due to all kinds of water
quality, crowding, and other issues, we lost fish to dropsy, ulcers, and
started the real serious learning curve. Ignorance was bliss, until it
bit
us in the ***. That year, I think that every fish had three or four
series
of injectible antibiotics, and we just couldn't keep them healthy. The
larger pond was built, we got Doc Johnson's book, filtration was increase,
population was decreased and things started looking up. We joined the koi
club, and several of the stronger members heated their ponds to keep the
immune system of the koi functioning. DW says we should try that. The
next
year KoiZyme hit the market, and we haven't had to treat many fish since.
Occasional scrapes during spawning have been the most trouble we have had.
We try to maintain 70 degrees, but if we get a layer of ice or snow over
the
cover that reduces the solar gain, the temperature may drop and has a hard
time recovering. I have been able to keep it above 60 for the last 5
winters. The heaters don't get serious until mid or late January, due to
solar gain, and warmer temperatures through most of December, and by mid
March or the first of April, the solar gain and warmer temperatures allow
the heaters to only run part time. If my pond were oriented toward the
south, rather than east and west, I would be able to get even more help
from
the solar.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html

As a thought, have you investigated some kind of Solar Panel to help? My
father has heated his swimming pool (in the UK!) with these for years & they
have paid for themselves several times over.

I.