Killing Your Koi with Kindness - Spring Feeding

It's that time of year again. I love it and dread it at the same time. This is the time of year when the weather acts like a yo-yo going from cold to warm to cold to warm. There's nothing like the elation one feels on that first warm day of the year - in Georgia it's usually still in winter - when it's in the low 70's and the koi and goldfish start moving around again, nibbling at the sides of the pond for a morsel of algae. That's what my koi are doing right now and it's great to see!

What I dread about it is the problems that people will have from it - including me. I'll be flooded with calls from people whose fish are dying or sick because of a range of things that happen when the water in the pond begins warming up. One of the problems that can pop up during this time of year is directly linked to feeding the fish.

Although my koi are looking up to me with hunger in their eyes I know better than to feed them yet. It takes every bit of will power I have not to throw them a handful of food. It's still winter here in Georgia and the water temperatures have not yet reached 50 degrees. Even if, on the warmest of days, the water peaks above 50 degrees I know that within a day it could go right back down. That's what can kill the fish if I feed them right now.

The body functions of koi and goldfish are controlled by water temperature. They go into a semi-dormant stage of just hovering above the floor of the pond when the water is cold. They don't breathe as much through their gills, they don't move much, they don't want to eat as a rule and their digestive system does not function. If they eat proteins during a short warm spell (when the warming of their environment triggers hunger) the proteins can be trapped inside the digestive tract when the water temperature drops and sit there without digesting until it warms back up. The food literally rots inside their digestive tract and causes internal infection often ending in death. Often you don't even know it's happening. There may be no symptoms other than the fish simply dying.

So - what I'm saying is please use self control. During this time of year you can kill your koi with kindness by giving into them. Remember - you are the adult and they are your children. You wouldn't allow your children to run out into the path of a car. Consider food at this point the speeding vehicle.

When can you safely feed them? The stock answer is when the water temperature gets above and stays above 50 degrees. Then feed them a low-protein diet (we use a wheatgerm-based food called M-Wheat) and feed them sparingly - like once a day all they can eat in 5 minutes. Use common sense. For example, if a winter storm is in the forecast and temperatures are sure to drop in the next two days stop feeding them immediately so that whatever is in their digestive tract has time to digest before the temperature plummets.

If you want more information about what happens to the pond during the spring, here is a link to our list of articles that deal only with the change of seasons: http://www.ponddoc.com/WhatsUpDoc/Lists/SeasonList.htm

If you want to find the M-Wheat koi and goldfish food that we use (which is a great quality at a low price - often lower than what you find at PetSmart by weight and healthier in most cases), here's the direct link to where it is on PondDoc.com: http://www.ponddoc.com/Store/Food/food.html