I would wait till the water warms up a bit. when fish are cold they dont like to exzert (SP) energy, it stresses them out. wait till late feb or early march.

 

Your biggest concern is how much warmer your tap water is, compared to the water you'll be draining out of your pond. If you did the change now, the difference would be considerable enough to possibly kill your fish. I'd highly recommend that you wait until late Spring.

Vic

 

I move my fishin the summer. my biggest problem in the winter is kids throwing rocks at the ice....lost a few that way...

 

I move my fishin the summer. my biggest problem in the winter is kids throwing rocks at the ice....lost a few that way...

that would stink

 

Your biggest concern is how much warmer your tap water is, compared to the water you'll be draining out of your pond. If you did the change now, the difference would be considerable enough to possibly kill your fish. I'd highly recommend that you wait until late Spring.

Vic

That's what I was thinking. Fish can not take much of a water temp change. Best way is to put them in the old water in a garbage bag. Then place bag in new water for 3-4 hrs before opening. JMO

 

Colder water holds more oxygen. I don't think it would really matter if you did it now or in the early spring. The fish would be easier to catch at this time of year. I would use the water you drain from the pond to fill up trash cans to hold the fish. You do want to make sure the water temperature in the pond and that in the trash cans are very close when you go to put the fish back in the pond. If they are really different, place the fish in bags until the temperatures adjust. You also would be best off using a de-chlorinator to the water you fill the pond with. Although koi and goldfish are very hardy, and probably would fair fine without it. Best to be safe though. If your putting a large amount of fish into the trash can, I'd add an aerator to the can to make sure the oxygen level isn't depleated. If you don't have anything, make sure you rough up the water in the trash cans every now and again to keep the disolved oxygen level high.

 

Colder water holds more oxygen. I don't think it would really matter if you did it now or in the early spring. The fish would be easier to catch at this time of year. I would use the water you drain from the pond to fill up trash cans to hold the fish. You do want to make sure the water temperature in the pond and that in the trash cans are very close when you go to put the fish back in the pond. If they are really different, place the fish in bags until the temperatures adjust. You also would be best off using a de-chlorinator to the water you fill the pond with. Although koi and goldfish are very hardy, and probably would fair fine without it. Best to be safe though. If your putting a large amount of fish into the trash can, I'd add an aerator to the can to make sure the oxygen level isn't depleated. If you don't have anything, make sure you rough up the water in the trash cans every now and again to keep the disolved oxygen level high.

Thats what I said but use a trash bag. That way you can let it float in the new pond they are going to live in!!!! They should be in there for a few hrs. Same thing with buying fish in a store and taking them home.

 

Temps are not the only thing that cause fish stress. Putting them in a trash can and letting the water regulate itself to match the water in the pond isn't going to be enough to eliminate the stress. Things like nitrates, nitrites, pH, hardness, alkalinity, and other factors are large causes of stress. The best method is to float the fish in a container with the water from the pond... After 15 minutes add water (it will vary depending on the volume of water the container you have them in holds, a good rule of thumb is if there's 10 gallons of water in the container holding them, add 1 gallon of water from the new pond/tank/aquarium to their container. as it fills up remove the same amount from the container holding them equal to the amount you're putting in.) from the new container/pond to the one the fish are in. Repeat every 10 to 15 minutes until the water in the container holding the fish is exactly or very close to the water in the container/new pond you're placing them in.

I'd agree with moving them in the spring... When water temps reach the low 60's - mid 70's during the day. Moving Koi or Goldfish during dormant periods in the pond to ponds/tanks/aquariums that have just been set up or filled puts added stress on them and can kill them. The reason being that during the cooler water temps the bacteria that renders the ammonia the fish produce non-toxic aren't as present as during months in which the fish are active.

 

that would stink

Whats worse is that these are tomorrows leaders....Very destructive in all aspects...

 

Wow, you guys are real good at this...

I recently had to move my KOI much further than to an edge of the yard so that I could clean the pond. I was lucky at the time though, as I found a man of japanese decent who was actually a worker on a JAPANESE Koi farm in his younger years. He had moved to the USA about 10 years ago, and is running a small Water Garden shop in Va.

He was of immense help, and well my problem was that my job had just decided I needed relocation from the Va. Area to the Chicago area.

We had several Koi (varying colors/sizes/ and lineage) that we truly did not want to leave at our old home. Besides the people there, did not like the water gardens in the yard and intended to bury it.

SO we discussed it, and Mr Aito said that it is a Mistaken belief that the Fish care about the temperature during a move. SO I asked about stress... and he said "that my son is the problem". He went on to say that IF you reduce the stress on them, then You can move them anywhere at any time of the year.

So here is what we came up with... He stated that fish are their most stress free during the darkness... SO he thought I should try to put them in something covered. I used the Domed topped plastic Trash cans so that air would stay on the top of the water after bubbling up... The cans were kept closed (Dark) at most times except for sampling...

He said, they additionally do not like big Temp CHANGES or Chemistry changes... so he recommended that I add a little water to the current pond water a few days early.... to allow it to all equalize... Then he told me to pump some of that water through a filter and into a garbage can... to use as the new "temp" home. This way there wouldn't be much stress from the environment.

Then I caught the fish and placed them in the Round trash cans... and placed an air hose into the bottom. This air hose apparently is important if the fish are in a SMALL environment for longer periods of time, as it puts air in and rotates the water to move some of the "bad stuff" from the bottom where the fish will be.

We moved 22 fish... and we had ZERO die.... They were split among 4 (domed) 33gal trash cans for 3 weeks... and NONE died...

We had the added problem of KOI get SEA SICK (believe it or not)... they do not like to be swayed back and forth constantly... Since I was going to be driving them in a truck across country, this worried me. Mr. Aito laughed and said Use a Round trash can so that it dampens the sway of water... DUH!

About the only thing I would say that I would worry about is that "IF" the temp of the water is in the 40's you may want to let it warm up just a little... My water was in 6the very low 50's and well Mr Aito said that was perfect, they would be dormant, but not stunned.

 

great info thanks