I had thought out a long and rather pithy letter to respond. Then I thought better. Your fish will be fine. Mine haven't eaten since mid-October. Everything looks good.

Don't worry about it. As the water naturally warms up alge will begin to form. If your fish are hungry they will munch on it before you begin to feed them.

I looked in today and nearly 1/2 the ice is thawed. I could see some of the fish (my favorite fancy tail) all huddled around one of the "fish houses" on the other side of the pond. Water smells fine.
I am anxious to take the "tent" off but they are calling for more snow this week....UUUUGGGGG.

Try not to disturb them. Fish are actually doing fine, and it is best to keep them from swimming around.

They are in a state of 'hibernation' where everything has slowed down. They live of their reserves during this time. Causing them to move around will burn that up.

Just let nature be nature. The fish will be fine.

Thanks. I wont disturb them. I am thinking they may be a little more fragile than in the past years. I usually rinse out the filter, turn the pump on then do a 1/3rd water change. I have well water so I just let the hose run. I think I will do smaller water changes over several days. The two top ponds are still frozen with about 5 inches of snow on top :(

DON'T do a water change now. Just leave them alone!!

There isn't any beneficial bacteria in your filters now (they are dead), the water is fine as is.

Leave well enough alone. There is no need for water changes/filter cleanings or anything.

Unless you are trying to kill the fish. In that case carry on.

Don't be in a hurry to feed those fish. Look back on my postings and you'll see I spent a very bad 2 weeks nursing mine back to health after a too-early feeding. They may eat some food but they can't digest it right away and it winds up rotting in their gut.

You can tell when they flop over on their sides. When mine did that I brought them inside to my fish tank after letting them warm inside for 2-3 days. One proceeded to balloon up and got stuck at the top from gas in the gut.

I do not want to disagree with some of the advice that you are getting but doing a water change is the best thing that you can do for the fish. You have well water so make sure you spray the water through the air so that it can pick up O2 and get rid of CO2. Be careful if there is ice on the pond not to get too close to it as it may break and fall into the pond.
Mike

OMG groundbeef...why so nasty? Of course I don't want to kill my fish. I am worried that the extra month of not eating will have them in a little worse shape that usual. This is why I came here with questions.
Ernie... I made that mistake once...won't do it again!
Mike.. I had been given advise that a partial waterchange should be done....that's why I have been doing it that way.
This year has been a little different than my previous 7 years with this pond so I was asking about the safest way to bring it up and running with fish that may be a little more stressed than usual.
There are (I think) quite a few frogs in there too. My little pond is fish heavy. I Talked a fish store into taking 4 of my 2 yr old fish this fall. I have never added fish, they were all here when I moved in. Some of these fish are at least 12 years old.....maybe older. I'm just trying to be a good fish caretaker.

Lisa,
Once the ice melts most of the way off I would start the pond up. The earlier the better. Nice thing about the spring is it is going to get warm. Yes we might have some more cold weather but it won't last so there is no problem starting the pond up. Once it is running do not shut it down just because it gets cold. It will keep the conditions better for the fish. The temperature swings in the pond will be greater but the pond will warm up faster. Since the fish have been use to the changes in pond temperature the swings will not hurt but the faster the pond warms up the better.
Mike

Lisa,

Not trying to be 'nasty'. You asked a question about feeding, and I responded to leave them alone they would be fine.

I also mentioned that it's best to leave the fish undisturbed, as they burn more energy moving around. There is a reason nature has them basically sit still all winter.

To this you said you were going to embark on a water change (while the ice hasn't yet cleared).

This would cause the fish to exert much energy, as well as introduce water temp changes. Neither are good or beneficial.

Cold water holds much more O2. I find it foolish to begin a partial water change in ice cold water, with fish that are otherwise doing fine.

As I stated, it's your pond. You wanted advice, follow it or don't. Unfortunatly I learned the hard way and DID kill my fish the first year I was ponding. Doing many of the things you are asking about.

Learn from my error. Don't repeat them.

OOOOHHHHH... I guess I was not clear. Sorry. I was talking about a water change once the pond has thawed and I can turn the pump on again. I usually do a partial water change the day I turn the pump on. I cant turn the pump on until my hose is thawed. I have a leak somewhere in my waterfalls and have to add 2" of water everyday. I do check the water temp coming out of the hose when I do a change. Since its well water the temps are usually pretty close. My question was mainly about whether I should do anything different on start up since they have been shut down longer than usual.

Mike - is this early start with pumps a rule of thumb for all or most ponders or are you recommending it because Lisa feels her fish are in fragile condition and need help now? At closing time, do you recommend running as late as possible?

My fish are fine and expectedly slugglish. Despite a good fall cleaning I have the usual winter debris on the bottom but water quality tests fine. My practice has been to wait to start the pumps and at the same time clean out debris once the fish were active, to avoid releasing anything potentially noxious while they are still quiet.

Please give us a little more guidance on the best spring (and fall) practices.

Thanks.

Hi Mike,
It is always better to start the system up early unless you are in an area where the pond might thaw out but your weather can and does go back down into the single digits for the next 6 weeks. A week in the single digits is no big deal. Once you start the pond back up do not shut it off just because you may get a little cold weather. Yes keeping the pond going as long as you can in the fall can be a good thing but at that time of the year the weather can change for the worse and stay that way all winter. Shutting the pond then can be hard to do or you can get ice damming. In the fall if you can run the pond and bypass the waterfall the better. In the spring you can run the waterfall if you like.

As far as water changes go I would like everyone to do water changes once in the while during the winter. If you are in a climate that your pond gets cold then I suggest not taking water out but putting new water by letting it flow over the ice and into the hole in the ice. Let the pond over fill and over flow. Changing 10% of the water a month will go along ways with the fish. You do want to dechlor the water if necessary. Do not put the hose directly into the water but let the water flow in.
Mike

Lisa I live in zone 5b so I understand your concerns. Mike gives the best advice as usual. Just one thing I would like to add is to be sure that your fish are getting very good nutrition during the months you feed them. When you start to feed them the Cheerios you can soak the Cheerios in orange juice a few minutes to give them some vitamin C. Try to switch to a wheat germ food made for spring feeding as the temps start to warm. Then a higher protein food later in the spring/summer and back to a wheat germ based food when fall arrives.

Thanks! Up and running today, last night was (hopefully) the last night to hit 32 or below. Rinsed the bio filter, drained the top 50 gal pond then started the pump. Added the 50 gals to the main pond as areated water from my well. Temp is 40 in the pond so no feeding yet. Tent is still on the pond but far as I can see everybody made it ok!