Aqua Eden

For those of us in hotter climates, I'd appreciate a little discussion about pond summerization. In the Baton Rouge, LA area lately (July-Aug), we have seen ambient temperatures averaging around 100 DegF in the afternoon with humidity in the 90's. What is the range of good water temperatures for Koi? Is there a danger zone to beware of for their safety?

With this concern, I clean my filter a little more often to make sure I have maximum water flow from my waterfall. I have also recently tried to increase the shady areas of my pond by floating a large piece of styrofoam in my pond during the hottest part of the day. Please reply with any other suggestions or comments.

Kent

Kent -
I love the title! I just arrived in Savannah, Georgia today for the national pond and waterfall convention and it is HOT and HUMID.

Your question came up while I was talking to a few southern pond contractors.

They basically said if you pond is at least 2 feet deep and you have a good splashing waterfall (for oxygen) you should be fine.

Creating extra shade is a big plus. Use floating plants if you can - but in a pinch the foam you talked about will work great.

If you would like to be safe, you could go and get an extra air bubbler at a local pet shop. Be sure to get one with a check valve though, you don't want the water coming back up the tube if it gets shut off.

I also talked to my good friend Eric Triplett from Exotic Aquatics and he said they had a pond hit 100 degrees in the desert and the fish still made it.

Remember Koi are a relative of Carp - they are one hard species to kill!

Hope you and your pond stay cool