Winter Questions.

[Rip Fantom]

Hey, I just moved and could not build a new pond before winter. I have my Koi in my attached garage in a 150 gallon plastic tank. I have a filtration system, air pump and [acronym:6955de623d="Ultra Violet"]UV[/acronym:6955de623d] lights installed. I expect the attached garage to get pretty cold, but not freeze. Will the Koi go dormant in this situation? Some are quite large and I don't want to loose them.

Also, I'm not sure what to do with my water lillies. I don't have room in the plastic tank, but I can't leave them outside. Right now they are in plasitc garbage cans outside.

I would really appreciate any advice on these two subjects.

Thanks in advance,
Ripley

[RogerMcAllen]

Koi should be fine in the garage I think. The lillies might not be so hot in the garbage cans outside as they might freeze, perhaps smaller buckets inside the garage also? And you say [acronym:72c5173e53="Ultra Violet"]UV[/acronym:72c5173e53] lights, what for? Fish only need regular lights that we can see, a shoplight would be fine. Make sure you don't feed the fish when it gets really cold. They bodies can not digest the food and it may kill them.

[Rip Fantom]

I used the [acronym:6fac61e869="Ultra Violet"]UV[/acronym:6fac61e869] lights because I used to winter some of my plants inside, and I just kept using them for the fish. So you are saying that a normal work light or flourescent shop light would be adequate light for the koi?

Also, if I bring my lillies in the garage for the winter in buckets, should I cut back the leaves? If so, how far down?

One more thing, do you think snails will survive the winter in the same pails in the garage? I don't know what to do with them.

Thanks again,
Ripley

[RogerMcAllen]

Why not just throw the snails in with the koi? They would be fine in a bucket with an airator probablly. Just feed the snails some lettuce. I assume your garage will get just about down to freezing which probably means the plants won't be doing too much growing. What kinds are they? I think your plants will go dormant in the cold of the garage, so cutting them back would probably be the best idea.

And about the lights for koi, yes. All they need light for is seeing.

Shop light ok for the koi.

Lillies, I assume hardy lillies? Cut off all the leaves, they should go completely dormant.

If you really need to overwinter snails, either with the koi (i don't keep koi, dunnow if they eat snails) or in the container with the lillies.

To avoid stagnant water, you should put a bubbler in with the lillies. Instead of separate buckets, why not put tham all in a larger container, like a rubbemaid storage container? then run 1 airstone in there, just for minimal circulation and oxygen. even though your lillies are dormant, I believe they still need water that is not stagnant, and has some [acronym:fe820279da="Oxygen"]O2[/acronym:fe820279da] in it.

[Rip Fantom]

Thanks a lot, thats great advice. I'm glad I found this site, it rules! So heres what I'm gonna do. I will cut all the hardy lillies down to the container and put both them and the snails in a larger rubbermaid container. I will then put a airstone in with one pump. Do snails go dormant?
-Rip

Do snails go dormant?

I have no idea! If they seem to be moving around a lot, put in some lettuce, like Roger said. Just a leaf or two, see if they are eating, don't want to foul the water.