awh53

what would you recommend i have two friends that have koi ponds one said to me to shut down my pond for the winter turning off filters and covering pond
the other said leave it up and running

also if i shut it down could i part cover it with polystyrene to help keep it warm (i have a mixture of goldfish and koi in a 8 x 8 x 3ft deep pond)

terrydog

HI
my brother turned his pump off last winter and all his koi died still has his other fish so i would say no and cover it ive laged my pipes and filtters but others on here will give you better ideas

miles41

Definately not! I always leave mine running all through the winter, but stop feeding.
My fish quite happily survived last years freeze. I stopped feeding round about December, but there's no set time really, the fish will let you know.

Good luck.

awh53

should i part cover it
i have some polystyrene sheets i could place on it they would cover around half of pond suface

miles41

Hi.......well it can't do any harm, I actually left mine un-covered last year and it did get partially covered with snow & ice, except where the water return was.
So long as the pond isn't too shallow (at least 2ft deep, ideally more) then your fish should survive ok, they will almost hibernate, just resting at the bottom of the pond.

Yes, they will 'look' fed up, but then you would in freezing water
but come the spring they'll slowly come back up to the surface.