By Jamie Boyle
Well it’s about time spring is finally here and our goldfish pond is finally beginning to open. I just took this photo April 7Th which was a beautiful warm spring day. It was 16 degrees Celsius outside and the goldfish in our pond was beginning to swim around coming out of hibernation. We started to take some ice out of the pond and you can see some left but not much at all. We also hooked up the pond pump to give some more circulation and that started to melt the rest of the ice fast. You may notice in the photos of the garden ponds it says 01/01/2005 my digital camera reset itself and I wasn’t aware of it. It does that sometimes and I still don’t know why it always goes back to that date. Oh well I’ll figure it out someday but those were just taking this past week.
Am I ever glad spring is here! We had such a long winter this year in New Brunswick Canada. It was a crazy long winter with all kinds of snow. Our goldfish pond stayed open all year using just an air pump to allow bad gases to release into the air. We did however end up losing three goldfish over the winter. Last year we didn’t lose any fish but when you overwinter goldfish, sometimes that may happen. The rest of the goldfish are swimming around fine and we think some goldfish breeding will occur not too long from now. Lets just say they are starting to swim around pretty good and staying very close to one another. There may be some goldfish babies here pretty soon! When this happens I will show you all the eggs and the baby fry as they hatch.
I also took a quick spin over to my brothers goldfish and koi pond and he still had quite a bit of ice in his. That same day he did hook up his pond pump to start to melt the ice so won’t be long to have his clear either. I’ll show you some photos of some beautiful pictures of his fish once it opens up. He has some nice big koi in his pond, goldfish and sarassa comets. A very nice water garden pond in the summer.
A very long overdue farewell to old man winter, glad spring is here to enjoy our garden pond and fish! Time for some nice weather 🙂
Sincerely,
Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
15 replies on “Goldfish Pond Opening – Spring Is Here !!!”
Hi Jamie,
Yes, spring is here…and the ponds are opening.
Except for me this is a little daunting and I need your help.
I am the new homeowner of a bungalow in Toronto,with a great perenial garden and a pond…with about 10 goldfish and 2 koi. The previous homeowners sold it to me and moved to Nova Scotia. I was serious when i told them that the purchase of the house was conditional in receiving instructions for the fish, but none were received. He has told me that it is deep, with cider blocks for cover and protection, and that he feeds them food from the pet store.
On sunday i removed the blue tarp, and then the 6 pieces of plywood covering the pond. The fish were swimming slowly. I removed the tube that was attached to an archaic looking pump, I imagine that this was aerating it.
I fed them on Monday, and daily since, they do not come to the surface to eat right away. They are swimming faster as the days progess and get warmer. I imagine that the water is still cold, for sure below 10 deg celcius.
I am not sure if there is a pump, and if I need a pump or what to do next. The fish survived the winter and i would like to take care of them well.
WHERE SO I START?
Thank you
Hi Effie,
Congratulations on the purchase of your new house!
Something my wife and I are doing right now in the market for a new home. You will defintely love your goldfish and koi pond. It’s quite relaxing in the summer with the beautiful sound of the water running and splashing with a nice waterfall.
Well the first thing you really need to know about goldfish care is that feeding goldfish should not begin until the water is warmer then 55 degrees. Anything lower the 55 degrees your koi and goldfish should not be fed. What happens if you feed your goldfish food your fish are basically still in hibernation meaning that your fish will be unable to digest and process the fish food given which then creates gut rot. The food stays in the intestine unable to process and begins to rot. Then your goldfish can die fron gut rot.
Just be sure that the water temperature is above 55 degrees and you’ll be safe. Also there are different types of goldfish food that people can feed their fish. You have spring food which is very easily to digest and then summer food which is in pellet form and then autumn food which is lighter food as the water temperature will be decreasing getting ready for winter.
That’s the only major thing you need to know about taking care of your goldfish in a pond. There is less maintenance with a pond and to let you know as well there is an abundance of food in a pond that fish can feed on so if you happen not to feed your goldfish for a couple days as your gone away they’ll be fine. If you think of it who feeds fish in the wild, nature does. Same for a pond, if you have a wonderful working ecosystem working together, your goldfish will remain healthy and disease free. There are all kinds of microscopic animals in the water that the goldfish can feed on along with algae as well.
Also never do a complete water change really. Ponds should be cleaned once a year really with a well functioning filter system usually in spring. Also big note to remember chlorine kills goldfish and koi. You will need to use AquaPlus conditioner or another product on the market to help remove chlorine and heavy metals. Also you should have all kinds of water plants in your garden pond to help reduce algae and keep your water crystal clear. By adding a thing of barley straw or pellets in the water at the beginning of the year will help reduce algae blooms as well. A recommended table that people should follow is have their pond 70% full of plants that way water is crystal clear and offers hiding places for fish and also places for goldfish to spawn.
Well this is a quick rundown of the basics of goldfish and koi care. I know I didn’t cover everything here as I could write on and on about goldfish. If you have any specific questions related to koi or goldfish please comment and it would be my pleasure to help you out with your water garden.
Good luck with your new garden pond and I know you will ove it.
Sincerely,
Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
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Hi Effie,
One more thing I forgot to mention. Your goldfish pond does need a pump. To keep you water garden working properly and ecosystem in check your pond should be turned over with a pump once ever hour for smaller garden ponds. By having a pump allows the water not to become stagnic and also adds oxygen in the water that both your fish and aquatic plants need.
Like I said before I would check the temperature of the water and only begin feeding your goldfish after the water temperature raises above 55 degrees.
Need anything else, please feel free to comment. Have a great day and thanks for visiting my goldfish blog.
Sincerely,
Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
http://www.GoldfishCareInformation.com
Thanks Jamie,
I found a pump in the shed. It is made by laguna. I will go and make sure that it is in good working order and then install it on Sunday. There is some vegetation in the pond, but not 70% and i am noticing that the water is getting more green and murky.
I will stop feeding them, thanks.
Your comments are very helpful.
Hi Again,
Here is my question:
How is the pond cleaned in the spring, and what constitutes this filter system?
Thanks again,
Effie
Hi Effie,
I’m glad I can help you with your water garden pond.
Yeah the laguna pond pumps work great. The nice thing with those is that most if not all have a diverter valve allowing you to split the water in half and have some water being brought up to a waterfall if you have one and the other half having a simple fountain coming up from your garden pond.
Yeah when the beginning of the year starts for people having water gardens most people run into the water getting more green and murky. By turning on your Laguna pond pump will help and also if the previous owner had a filter that will help clear up the water as well.
One of the most common things I see with pond owners is the lack of aquatic plants that they have in their pond. The more you have in your garden pond, the clearer your water will be.
To better undertstand how algae works is that algae feeds on the same nutrients found in the water as water plants like water lilies and other pond plants. By increasing the amount of aquatic plants that one has in their pond will help starve the algae from growing. The more pond plants you have the healthier your water garden will be.
Also depending on how much you like your garden pond and as you gain more interest into the hobby you may want to buy a UV Steriliser and Laguna has some good ones as well. What these UV Sterilizers do is help eliminate algae by water passing through it. It also helps destroy and eliminate goldfish parasites and diesease found on fish. This will help your garden pond and your goldfish and koi. Maybe something to think about later in the future.
Once you turn on your pump and get the water moving will help the water not to be so stagnic. You may want to depending on the amount of organic matter on the bottom of the pond do a spring cleaning of it. Pump it down and clean it up. I can imagine it has quite a few leaves and organic matter built up from last fall from trees close by or other things that may have fallen in the pond.
If you need any other help or questions at all send me a quick comment and I’ll get back to you right away.
Sincerely,
Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
Need Water Lilies and Other Water Plants For Ponds?
http://www.WaterPlantsForPonds.com
Hi Effie,
To your question on how is the pond cleaned in the spring?
Well first of all how big is your pond really? What is the size of it in dimensions and depth you think roughly?
Like most people clean out their pond once a year. Usually in the spring. You simply wash it out using just tap water and rinse the organic matter and dirt down to the bottom, then just pump it out a few times getting the water clearer. Then just refill your pond and add AquaPlus conditioner to remove the chlorine and heavy metals. You never want to really clean it out thoroughly as their is beneficial bacteria in your pond and this is what keeps everything in order. If you cleaned it up good and you get most of the dirt out top it back up and your done.
Now in the meantime while cleaning your garden pond in the spring, you should have another place to place the fish in the meantime while you doing it. People should all have a quarrantine tank to place fish whether your doing a cleaning or have sick fish. Just transfer some water from the garden pond into the container with an air stone will be good too. Transfer your goldfish and koi over there then do your cleaning.
Once your cleaning of your pond is done top your garden pond up add necessary water treatments as mentioned above and turn on your Laguna pond pump and filter. Now if your not adding your goldfish right back in right away you can let the chlorine evaporate on its own by allowing your pond to pump for about 4-5 days to remove chlorine. Your better to add conditioner but some people do that as well.
When transfering your goldfish and koi back to your pond
you need to put them in a plastic bag and allow the water temperature to adjust slowly from the water in the bag to the water in the pond. Let them sit and float in the bag for about 15-20 minutes, after that you can add a cup full of water from the pond into the bag with the fish so that the water chemistry can slowly mix and have less shock and stress on your fish. Then once this is done just release your fish into the pond. Sometimes you will notice that they will go right to the bottom and stay there for a few days or so. Completely normal as they can get stressed and just looking at their new environment.
This should give you a quick quide to cleaning your pond. Also the sludge that you remove from the bottom of your pond is a great source of fertilizer for any garden plants you have around your pond.
You mentioned about a filter on what constitutes one. Did the previous owner have one with the pond or no?
Talk to you soon,
Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
Hi Jamie,
Thanks again.
I am not sure if the previous owner had a filter. As I mentioned, they moved without any instructions on caring for the pond. I rummaged through the shed found something that looked like a pump and then searched for it on the internet. It looks like a laguna, but I am going to go to a fish store today to verify. I do not know about a filter. I am sure that there is one. Would it be in the pond though, out of my view?
Also, I do not understand what you meant by pumping down the water. I understand that I should move the fish into quarantine and how to replace them (this I remember from my fish tank days!). But I understand that I need to keep some? or all? of the pond water. Do I remover it from the pond into another vessel and then clean out the bottom and then put the pond water back in?
Who knew that when you started writing this blog you would end up coaching a city girl with little knowledge on the matter, but a great deal of interest in keeping this thing going?
So appreciated,
Effie
Hi Effie,
Your pond filter may be in the pond but I can’t see it really. If the previous owner took the pump out they would have probably took the filter out as well if it was the type of filter that goes into the pond.
There are another type of pond filter that you have right on the ground that people usually hide it with shrubs and other plants.
First of all how big is your pond really?
I know there are a lot of people out there that when they get into the hobby they don’t get a filter. If people want their water crystal clear and healthy for fish this is a must really. Either one the previous owner of the garden pond never had one, or two they may have taken the filter with them as filters can be kind of expensive depending on which type people get.
As I mentioned about pumping down the water for your spring cleaning of your pond, it really all depends on the size. If you have a relatively small pond you can clean out the whole pond. Refill it, add conditioner, beneficial bacteria and your on your way to a great looking pond all summer long.
I did however mention that you could save some water, as this water does contain some beneficial bacteria that will help speed up getting the ecosystem working again efficiently. It’ all up to you as I’m not sure how big your pond is. Regardless you can do it either way. The only thing I would mention when I say ” Clean your pond” you don’t have to get down and scrub the liner with a brush or broom, a simple rinse will do the trick. Also on the rocks and liner is where beneficial bacteria grows as well so you want some left in there when you refill your pond.
If it’s a small pond I would clean it out to the bottom to get all the sludge and possibly fallen leaves that have fallen into the pond in the fall and started to decay over winter. When leaves decay is when the water becomes very toxic to fish and could potentially kill your goldfish as water chemistry levels may be out of whack like amonia, PH, nitrite and nitrate. High levels can harm your goldfish. Also when leaves stay in your pond it causes a very nice breeding ground for parasites and goldfish diseases to occur. That type of envioronment these parasites will breed heavily and cause such goldfish diseases like the annoying ick.
See I have about 10 ponds and my biggest one being right now 65 feet long and about 22 feet wide containing I think last time I remember contains about 31,680 gallons of water i which it takes a full 24 hours to fill and my well pump pumps 22 gallons a minute. So to clean this pond out takes some time.
So that’s why I said maybe keep some water. If it’s a small pond maybe clean out right to the bottom.
When you write me back let me know how big your pond is and how deep it is?
Yeah when I started writing this goldfish blog in which I haven’t been at it for to long now at all I wasn’t sure on the amount of traffic would be coming in. I’ve had close to 20,000 visitors now and I’m sure that will keep on climbing. At first I started off just helping people in the hobby then started making some income with Google Adsense in which I learned about which was a nice extra benefit too.
I’m glad I can help you with your goldfish and koi pond Effie and if you need any other help at all please feel free to contact me anytime. I’m usually pretty quick with my replies.
By the way Effie a city girl like yourself will be a pro in no time 🙂
Sincerely,
Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
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HI Jamie,
Thanks for the words of enouragement.
The pond is 8ft long, an average of about 4 ft wide (kind of kidney shaped and 1 foot deep at the side and 1 ft and 3 inches in the center. It is lined and has 2 cider blocks at the center of each pole).
We also found a UV steriliser in the shed. I am not sure if it working. I took it to a pond store today the gave me some new foam pieces. I asked them to send a guy out to help me set it up, and to see if it and the bulbs are working. With the new house and all, forking out the $1500 for a new UV and pump system is not in the cards.
I have a pump that has a fountain attachment, but I cannot find a piece that keeps the fish from getting sucked into the intake.
The only filter seems to be in the UV sterilizer. I do not think that there is another one.
I was told that it is too early to clean the pond. Mind you the temps in toronto this week were low twenties, little wind and lots of sun and no rain.
There is not a lot of extra vegetation in the pond.
See, I am already learning a lot more.
Effie
Hi Effie,
Your welcome! and by the sounds of things your already learning a great deal of knowledge already. Talking to me and going to the pond store I imagine helped you out quite a bit.
Hopefully the UV sterilizer you found in the shed still works that would be nice eh! You keep finding things in the shed, sounds like a treasure chest 🙂 Hopefully you’ll find more good things the previous owner had for his pond.
Yeah I know what you mean about not in the cards really. Buying a house there’s always lots of extra expenses with down payement, closing costs and everything else that comes with buying a house. I’m crossing my fingers, hopefully that one will still work, if not you can always add pond plants and water lilies which will help filter your water and keep it free from algae.
The UV sterilizer you mentioned must be the cannister filter UV and filter all in one, is that one the Laguna brand?
What you can always do if the UV sterilizer doesn’t work you can always build a small box or at the higher level of your pond and make that into a vegetable
filter which is basically an above ground pond in which you have the water pumped up there full of water plants like water hyacynths, water lettuce, yellow flag water iris and other pond plants. As the water flows throw your vegetable filter your water will come out clean and your water plants will flourish. This would be a relatively cheap alternative therefore still giving you filtration for your pond and saving you money in the meantime. Maybe something to think about.
Also about the pond store guy saying it’s too early to clean your pond I kind disagree with that. Why would it be too early to clean the pond really? The water is relatively cold right now which it’s beginning to warm up, when you do the cleaning of your pond the water you will add will be real cold too. If the water is left there for a while now it’s just going to create more algae and sludge to clean up. You can really do it anytime you want really. I know 2 years ago we had our ponds open April 1st all cleaned and ready to go and enjoyed our ponds a lot longer. The reason I would do it now is that when you add cold water to your pond it will take time to warm up. The fish right now are used to the coldwater. So just to say if the water temperature warmed up to 70 degrees when you add the water from your well or water hose the water coming out will probably be around 42-45 degrees or lower. Then to put the fish back in would be quite a shock as it would take time to warm up back to say 70 degrees what they were in. The general rule of thumb is to never change the water more then a degree over or under for an aquarium or stress may occur. Same goes for ponds really but kind of impossible to do that why you climatize your fish before adding them to your pond. That’s why when the water is still cold you can clean it as you’re adding cold water back in then it’s not that much of a shock. Regardless you can wait if you want, I just like to minimize stress as temperature can do that. While the water is still relatively cold now, I would do it now but it’s totally up to you.
Was there any other reason the guy said it’s too early to clean your pond? He must think it’s too stressful for fish but for any cleaning of the pond there will be some disagree of stress throughout the operation. Would like to know is reasoning behind that? Be interesting to know.
Well good luck with the UV sterilizer, hope it works!
Sincerely,
Jamie Boyle
The Golfish Guy
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Hi Jamie,
We got the pump working today! We jimmied up a basket with tiny holes, and a hose going into the intake of the pump/fountain. The fountain was working, although you can tell that the water is pretty green and definitely smelt pond-like.
I am not sure what the reasons where for it being too soon to clean the pond. He also said that it was a little earlier than they normally carry their aquatinc plants, so I was not able to buy any of those either. Which sucks becasue I only have one plant in there right now.
I did not end up cleaning up the pond today. (we are also doing some renovations on the home, and there is a large perenial garden so that clean up took my day. Next week when I can hopefully get some plants and know the status on the filter.
Can you give me a list of the things that I need to buy for the pond cleaning, like the chemicals I need to add in. Also, given the size of my pond, would you be able to make some recommendations with respect to the plants that I need?
Thanks!
How is your house hunting coming along anyway? I have been so wrapped up with the fish that I have forgotten to ask.
Effie
Hi Effie,
Just by adding the pump sould take away some of the pond smell as it will release some of the gas and add air / oxygen into the water. Your pond before was basically dead still water with a little bit of oxygen put in to your pond through the wind. Wind also can add oxygen to the water at the surface level.
I know I’m not sure on his reasoning behind saying it’s too early to clean the pond either. I know I mentioned that to my father yesterday as we were cleaning our ponds and getting ready for the season and he had the same opinion as me. I know we cleaned some of our ponds yesterday and the goldfish and koi are as happy as can be.
Yeah the guy is right about too early for aquatic plants right now. It shouldn’t be that much longer before garden centres and nurseries will start having them. You can get hardy water lilies now for your garden pond but the ones the pond store guy is referring to are the tropicals most likely. You see parrot feather, water hyacynth amd water lettuce are among a few that stores carry and usually in our climate they will only have those after the last potential frost has past. Here in New Brunswick Canada that is usually end of May or first of June. See frost will destroy the leaves and could possibly destroy the plant. That’s why business’s wait till after the last frost usually unless you cover it up with like a greenhouse film to protect against frost.
Effie theonly thing you will really need is:
1. 1 or 2 bottles of AquaPlus Conditioner, one bottle does around 980 gallons I think so you may need two for the size of your pond, if you add more then recommended not a big deal just helps protect fish. Here is a link I have provided to you on the stuff I am referring to in which you can get at any local pet store
AquaPlus Water Conditioner
2. You will need to add beneficial bacteria to your pond to get your ecosystem working effectively to start breaking down fish waste and harmful bacteria that could affect your fish. I use Cycle and here is a link on this product.
Cycle Biological Aquarium Supplement
Now this is what you can use, there will also be stuff at the pet store or pond store that has stuff similar to this made for ponds. Usually has a higher concentration dose made for ponds. You can see what they have that will work just like the two products I mentioned.
I went ahead and took the dimensions of your pond to calculate your water volume. For an irregular shaped pond like kidney shape the formula is as follows:
Average length x Average Width x Avergae Depth x 7.0
So your pond would be:
8 x 4 x 1.25 x 7 = 280 Gallons
8 x 4 x 1.5 x 7 = 336 Gallons
So using the deepest depth your pond would be between 280-336 gallons. So above when I told you you would need between one or two bottles, one would definitely be sufficient based on the size of your pond you have given me.
As for the water plants for your pond. What I would do is add about 4 hardy water lilies, a bunch of parrot feather, maybe one or two of each of water lettuce, and water hyacynth and maybe a couple of yellow flag water iris to give your pond some height as these can grow between 24″-48″ high, similar to a cattail but as spiky green leaves and blooms with yellow flowers. This is what I would do for your pond, then that would definitely add some colour and life to your pond and keep your water clean and clear from algae along with a bag of barley pellets as well which helps stop algae from growing.
I’m not sure if your aware but I do have a website selling water plants for ponds @ http://www.WaterPlantsForPonds.com and I do have hardy water lilies available now, maybe you have taken a look I’m not sure but I do have some great looking water lilies and one being the award winning water lily in 1997 being the Mangkala Ubol Water Lily. If your looking to add more plants now I may be able to help you out. Go take a look at our website and take a look at the pictures too on our site of our ponds and fish.
Yeah we did find a house that we like and are in the process of talking to the bank now. So we’ll see, may be in a new house soon.
If you need anything else at all you know where to find me 🙂 Take care
Sincerely,
Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
http://www.WaterPlantsForPonds.com
Hi Jamie,
I have three fish in a large tank and maintain it constantly with water changes and fresh plants. All the fish seem healthy but at 6 years of age they have developed wart like lumps on their heads and bodies. Any ideas on how to treat them as they are rather unsightly but don’t seem to bother the fish. One rather large lump did seem to burst but just left smaller looking warts in its place. I would be grateful for your thoughts.
Rebecca
I would really like to see a picture of these lumps and bumps on your goldfish that your describing. You say they appear to be like warts on the head and bodies. I know sometimes goldfish develop cysts that are fluid buit up under the skin but usually go away after a while and does not hurt the fish in anyway. Sometimes goldfish develop tumors as well so hard to say. I think it’s probably cysts on goldfish myself. If you can send me a photo of your goldfish with lumps and bumps that will help me more so I can see what your dealing with. I cannot really answer this any better until I see a picture.
Send me a photo of your goldfish to jamieboyle100@hotmail.com and I’ll get back to you right away. Also if I can can I use your goldfish picture on this goldfish blog so others can see too if they have the same problem.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
Need Hardy Water Lilies For Your Pond?
http://www.WaterPlantsForPonds.com