For those who are wondering of the status of my experimental Koi/Goldfish pond, let me first start with an introduction of when I started.
Back in October, I began a koi/goldfish pond.
I started with three koi/three goldfish and for the most part, they lived well through the fall and I brought them indoors for the winter.
They each grew quickly and around March, I decided to put them in the outdoor pond to acclimate them.
The koi and goldfish grew even larger from March through July.
They were well-shaded, well taken care of but we have been having continual, brutal heat in California and my worry, was the worry I had when I had my bucket-based vegetable garden.
When I had my garden, they produced very well through July. But the hot summer heat of constant 113 degree temperatures made the buckets turned to furnaces and heated up the soil and killed my plants.
With the pond, the weather has been terribly hot and I wanted to monitor the fish to make sure they were doing well. And none were gasping for air, they were swimming towards the bottom as expected.
But then Saturday, it was hotter than usual and while the fish were fine, I went to check on them on Monday morning and all the fish were floating in the top. They were all dead. None survived.
Warm water cannot hold as much oxygen as cool water. Fish need more oxygen in summer months as their metabolism increases as water temperature increases. Also, organic materials give off ammonia as they break down, and excessive ammonia levels can kill pond fish.
I read the following that: Deep water holds a steadier temperature than shallow water.
So, its important to make things a bit deeper, more than two feet.
While I had the machines to produce oxygen and a good amount of shading, I would need to go deeper.
I was so happy to see the koi and goldfish grow especially up to six inches. One koi, a platinum, even larger. My goal was to have an outdoor pond to maintain but it was always my worry to do this, knowing hot it gets in this part of California.
And unfortunately, I need to come up with a different plan, go much deeper for the pond, if I intend to do this again.
