Hello: I am new to this forum, but have kept koi for 20 years. Right now I am experiencing something I have never experienced before. I have a 9 yr. old Butterfly Koi which is having difficulty climatizing herself with spring ... coming out of winter torpor. I live in Toronto, Canada. She lays at the bottom of the pond all night and early morning and by mid day when the water temp. rises ... she acts and eats perfectly normal. I definitely feel that there is nothing wrong with her (disease wise) other than her climatizing herself to spring. However, this has never happened before with her and now, I'm just wondering what will happen come fall, when her metabolism slows down. Will she survive the winter again?

I would dearly love some advice. I only have 3 koi -- two water falls, and I keep the pond water perfect at all times.

Many Thanks.

Carol

Welcome to the forum Caroled.

Hi:

I'm from Texas and have been in the pond/koi hobby 6-7 years.

I think you're doing great, sustaining a koi 9 years is an accomplishment. I've always wondered about pond keeping in candian. It gets so cold there. I worry about my fish and we barely get a winter here.

Do you use clay in the pond. Powder clay I add to my pond to keep natural minerals in the water, I think it helps with their health. You can get it from mircrolift.

All you can do is try to get her a strong immune system going before winter again, which sounds like you're doing a good job.

Welcome to the forum.

With winter (in Canada) not too far away ... I would like to start preparing now to make sure my fish have a strong imune system to endure the winter months. I do use clay and high quality koi food. I am extremely sensitive about water quality. Since I had one fish that did not fair too well coming out of hibernation from last winter, I want to make sure she is as healthy as possible going into winter this year.

BTW I did have one koi live for 19 years and endured every winter successfully until a raccoon caught her one horrible morning!!!

Thanks for any help.

Carol

you wont get much advise on here.

Most of us is in South Africa and our water barely goes below 10.