On Feb 11, 11:44*am, Doghouse Riley Doghouse.Riley.
wrote:
'Doug[_5_ Wrote:

;950566']
As a newbie to pond fish I have four shubunkin so what are their
chances with part of the pond frozen over? I thought the main problem
was lack of oxygen rather than cold. The temperature in London this
morning is somewhere between -5C and -9C, the worst yet this winter,
but my little fountain is still running, just.

Instructions on the *packet are to stop feeding when the pond temp is
below 4C and the fish haven't appeared since the cold weather
started..

Doug.

It's difficult to make general recommendations, I can only speak from my
own knowledge and experience. Different fish can tolerate different
conditions.

I've a 3000 gallon koi pool, I've a filter about six feet away from the
pool in my garage, the pool and garage are parallel to each other with a
four-foot pathway between. The filter is a complex of four 40 gallon
tanks (old technology I built it 25 years ago) This is insulated and
I've a swimming pool cover cut to fit and floating on the pool, but the
filter runs 24/7 as does an Oase *air pump feeding two air stones
presently raise near the surface of the pool. Both are running at a
reduced "winter rate." I'm also running a 300watt aquarium heater 24/7.
We live south of Manchester and my pool has so far never been below 6C.

[image:http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/1592/p1040070s.jpg]

Fish will reach a dormant stage as the temperature drops, they will stop
feeding and sit on the bottom of the pool conserving energy. you don't
want a situation where you are providing them with food that will remain
undigested in their stomachs.
I'd try to keep an area your pool free of ice with a few kettles of
boiling water. I don't know how big is yours but you don't want to
effect a rapid change in temperature, fish can react badly to that as
they will a rapid change in water quality.

I tried very hot water to melt the ice but it didn't work. The
fountain though managed to keep a circle of water around it oxygenated
and free of ice.

Now that the freeze has finished my shubunkins have reappeared and are
feeding again and seem to be OK. With the ice gone I managed to clean
the submerged fountain filter and now the fountain is reaching high
and the water remains clear and transparent.

There is some frost damage to the pond plants but they will probably
recover as they have in previous years.

Doug.