Last Updated: 2/29/12

1. On 2/5/12, I didn't do much with the pond. It had snowed the morning before. Even though the snow was melted, the ground was still muddy. The air temperature was 40 degrees F. the 1800 gallon pond was at 44 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 47 degrees F. I collected a few leaves.

2. The morning of 2/11/12, we got an inch of snow. Most of it was melted by noon.

3. I had a lot of things to do with the pond and outdoors on 2/12/12 but I cancelled them all. It was only 25 degrees F with strong winds. The 1800 gallon pond was frozen over. The 153 gallon pond's thermometer read 44 degrees F. It wasn't fit to be outside.

4. 1800 gallon pond on 1/25/12.

5. I was bed-ridden on 2/18/12 and too weak to even watch TV. I did my Saturday chores on Sunday and then did my Sunday chores on Monday. So, I worked on the pond on 2/20/12. The 1800 gallon was at 45 degrees F and the 153 gallon pond was at 49 degrees F. The air temperature was 45 degrees F at 3 pm. I changed the filter floss around the main pump (the only pump this time of the year actually). There were two goldfish between the floss and the pump. One was alive and released. The other poor fish was deceased. The 6" orange common goldfish had only been dead a day or two it seemed. There was no obvious cause of death. I squirted off the bioballs and changed one of the mesh laundry bags that was full of holes. I found one pickerel frog and one male green frog down in the biofilter and put them in the main pond. The filter was moderately dirty. The waterfall was full of very slimy hairy algae; and I pulled a lot of that out. It normally is transient in the early spring. We really didn't have a winter this year so things are a month ahead.

6. On 2/26/12, I didn't do much pond work. The air temperature was 44 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 44 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 46 degrees F. There were a LOT of honey bees drinking from the 153 gallon pond using the duckweed which still covers the surface. The duckweed has never survived the winter on the surface before because, this year, this pond never iced over even once! I tried to get some leaves out of the ponds as the winds were horrible the day before. I added water to the ponds.

7. On 2/28/12, I noticed that one of the foot-long goldfish in the 1800 gallon pond was scraped up pretty good. I put a dose of MelaFix in the pond as well as a dose of KoiZyme and some pond salt. I hope it helps. I have no idea how this fish got so torn up. The others seem fine. This fish's left side and face were that almost clear color, very strange. There's no sign of infection yet.

To be continued.

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