It’s been awhile since I wrote an update about our koi pond; the last time was mid-May of this year, when the pond was brimming with life. Temperatures were warm enough for the koi to come up regularly for feedings, and they were hungry—I was feeding them two or three times a day. The rosy red minnows also experienced a population boom, as dozens of the little guys and girls were hatching in the pond.

Fast forward to today (Dr. Wife’s birthday, by the way!), and the pond is in a bit of a doldrums. I suspect that the heat has driven the koi to the cooler, deeper waters, but even the minnows, which often stayed near the surface, have been more muted, even at feeding time. I’ve reduced feedings to once a day, and occasionally once every other day, but still have not seen much activity.

Dr. Wife was growing concerned, especially as I didn’t feed the fish for two days before her family paid a recent visit. I was hoping they’d be hankering for some Kaytee Koi’s Choice, but no dice—other than a brief splash from Sunny, the pond was quiet (the various water bugs and dragonflies, though, were quite active, enjoying sips of pond water). I proposed donning my swimming trunks and taking a dip in the green waters so I could feel around for the fish; she wisely countered that I should probably just get the net and skim through the pond.

Having been spared from descending into water that is likely full of fish poop and definitely full of snails and pond effluvia, I grabbed the net and began dredging through the pond slowly. Sunny made an appearance, albeit not in the net—I think the koi were avoiding me—but I did manage to get a few minnows, most of whom slipped through the large holes in the net shortly after I pulled them up. Some of the minnows are huge—much larger than any you’d purchase at the pet shop—and they all seemed quite eager to escape the net and to return to the safety of the pond, so I took that as a good sign that the fish are healthy, they’re just hot!

I tried a few things to improve the water’s clarity, including adding a product called flocculant to the pond. Flocculant works by binding dirt particles together into larger clumps; these clumps then either get caught into the filter (and from there can be emptied outside of the pond) or fertilize the plants on the bog side of the filtration system (the ivy waterfall section of our pond). I paired the flocculant with thick sheets of microfiber filter padding, which I added to our basket filter.

Allegedly, we should have seen improved clarity in twenty-four hours. After a couple of days and washing out the microfiber filter, I did a second, slightly stronger flocculant treatment. That still didn’t seem to do too much, so I abandoned that process.

What may have queered the deal was, as I was doing the flocculant, I also purchased a solar-powered bubbler. Flocculant decreases oxygen levels in the water temporarily, and the intense summer heat does the same. To stimulate oxygenation, I put the bubblers into the pond. The fish seemed to enjoy them at first, although it was hard to tell, because the bubblers also kicked up a lot of dirt and debris from the bottom of the pond—d’oh! I’ve since removed the bubblers to see if they might be disturbing the fish (they shouldn’t, but who knows?).

We were also briefly concerned that some local bird was absconding with our succulent koi. I’ve found a few feathers near the pond. However, I don’t think that’s really been an issue, although I suppose I wouldn’t know—I can’t see deep into the pond!

At this point, I’m going to wait for cooler weather to arrive in another month or two and see if the koi are back to their lively selves come autumn. Koi and rosy red minnows are cold-water hardy, and they prefer temperatures to be on the cooler side. I’m banking on seeing more activity from in the next month or two.

Or it may be time to don my wetsuit and descend into the murky depths of the pond.

What do you think, dear readers? Leave a comment and/or respond to the poll below!

Happy Wednesday!

—TPP