Oom Pieter DIE VRAAG IS HOEKOM PS. As jou water minder as 12*C is, moet jy ophou voer, jy soek vir moeilikheid

Frans,

As dit te koud is eet die vis glad nie of daar bly kos in die water agter wat die ammonia en nitrite telling kan opjaag, wat nadelig is vir Koi.
Omdat dit winter is en die water koud is le Koi gewoonlik op die bodem van die dam, indien die vloer "vuil" is van oortollige kos of ander afval, kan dit sere op die Koi veroorsaak, en dit kan ook "fin-rot" begin.

Dit neem 5 ure teen 20*C vir Koi om kos te "verteer"

Hi Frans,

A koi's body temperature is the same as the surrounding pond water. As water temperatures degrease in winter the koi's metabolism slows down. The immune system also functions at such a low level that it is hardly working below about 10C.

Because of their low metabolism koi need very little food. At about 10C and below their metabolism is so slow that they do not have an appetite because they need very little nutrition.

You will always get an individual koi that wants to feed right down to 8C but that is the exception.

In Japan and England where pond water temperatures get much lower than here in South Africa they stop feeding below about 10C. Some suggest stopping feeding at 14C.

Keep in mind that above 10C the koi is swimming and breathing and consequently requires a little energy to do this. It gets its energy from the koi pellets or from the fat deposits it accumulates in summer.

Another point - in Japan and England, for example, the winter pond temperatures are much lower for much longer than here in SA.

When feeding in winter keep an eye out for any big cold fronts when you know the pond water is going to drop quite quickly. Therefore stop feeding a day or two before the cold front hits. The wait until the pond water temperature stabilises above 10C before a light feeding every other day. A single light feeding is all that is required.

Pond temperatures vary greatly in South Africa and if you stay in Durban you are very lucky because I believe their water temperatures do not drop much below 16C. In the Cape on the other hand there ponds that have dropped drastically and suddenly in temperature when very cold weather hits them.

So the reason to stop feeding below 10C is that the metabolism is very slow and the koi do not need food or only need a very little food.

Chris

ok julle moet nou op `n punt kom wat is dit nou eintlik 10 of 12 want daar was vir my gese ek moenie voer onder 10 grade nie nou moet ek weer nie voer onder 12 grade nie

oom Pieter and Chris thanks for the information i will keep that in mind

Frans,

Jy moet se......Uncle Chris!

Vossie,
Take your pick!

Hi Frans,

I suggest you do not worry too much about what you have heard from different sources. Some say stop feeding at 14C, other say 12C others say 10C. The Japanese say this the English say that - all very confusing. My suggestion is to throw the thermometer away or at least do not bother to check it too often. Just keep in mind that above about 12C the fish needs some nutrition to function – it can’t live off its fat reserves for too long.

The art of koi keeping is to get a feel of what is going on in your pond with your fish.

In my 38 years of koi keeping I have never fed my koi collection and bothered to look at a thermometer.

As temperatures decrees simply feed less and less. Around this time of the year (and I see you are just around the corner from me) I am feeding a light feed once a day or every second day. When the cold front struck us a few weeks ago I stopped feeding for about a week or so. I feed around about 16h00 when my koi are more active and I feed less than half of what I normally feed at any one time.

When temperatures pick up again in spring take it easy on the food and gradually build up to your daily number of times and quantity of food. The biofilters are mostly operating at a very low level in cold water and take time to gt back to full efficiency. So if you over feed in spring then you could get an ammonia spike.

Hope this helps,
Chris

thanks chris this helps alot

Sorry uncle Chris

Nice when a student listens, you can actually help them a lot that way.

Hi Neville,

Just noticed that you placed your turnover rate at the bottom of your message.

Interesting that you turnover your water in around 50 Min. We had a big debate around turnover rate for the KOI Inc training program. I was always happy with a turnover of 2hours or less (taking into account frictional losses and restrictions) but the Americans are quite adamant that a turnover rate of one hour or less is far better.

Perhaps we need to start another thread about turnover rates.

Interesting.

Regards,
Chris

Hi Chris,

Yes that is what it is and I have actually measured the return as it enters the pond so it is correct. But now the electricity bill is becoming the enemy, am looking at all sorts of plans to keep the turnover rate up and the bill down.

I have installed 50mm hdpe piping as far as possible to get max flow from my pumps and must say that has helped.
As you very well know pressure is money wasted and not needed in a koi pond. (oops). We are looking for volume.

Hi All,

I have opened a new topic under "Filtration" as suggested by Chris, where we can continue this interesting subject.