Putting your pond to bed for winter

Fish care for early fall
1. Check for signs of disease
2. Switch to high carb/low protein foods (actually you can feed low protein food all year long - high protein food increases ammonia 10 - 20%)
3. Stop feeding when water temperature drops to 45 or 50 degrees
4. Minimize debris/sludge
5. Clean pond or perform water changes
6. Add or adjust salt. Not everybody uses salt in their pond but it does help the slime coat. Salt does not evaporate so water changes will be necessary

After heavy frost
1. Trim all dead foliage and lower plants to the bottom of the pond.
2. Lower zone 6 plants with crown over 12 inches below water line. Lower lotus and other stiff stem plants first and then cut the stems above the water line.
3. Bring in tropical water lilies (it is easier to treat them like an annual and throw them away instead of trying to winter them over inside)
4. Stop feeding fish
5. Shut down and clean bio filters.
6. Turn off waterfalls, streams and fountains. You run the risk of damaging rocks, etc. when ice forms during the dead of winter if your waterfall is running.
7. Install a bubbler or air stone. Place the bubbler riser about 2 inches below water surface and put the pump on the shelf as you will need to clean it every so often. Keep air pump above water.
8. Put pond heaters in place to plug in when ice has formed over the pond for more than at week. Some heaters have thermostats that read the water temperature, while a thermo cube reads the air temp, making it more economical. Do not break ice with a sledge hammer!!!

Although it is tempting to just put the pond to bed when the weather gets cold, it is better for the fish if you clean your pond in the fall instead of waiting until spring. The fish are much healither in the fall than in the spring.