After a cold winter, preparing your koi pond for spring is an important step to ensure the health and well-being of your koi fish. Here are some tips to help you get started:

1. CHECK WATER TEMPERATURE AND WATER QUALITY: 

Koi are cold-blooded animals, which means they cannot control their body temperature. Instead, their temperature and behavior are regulated by the environment, in this case, the temperature of the pond water. Therefore, it is imperative that you check your pond's temperature to ensure it is stable at 50-55°F before doing anything to your pond. Additionally, it is important to check water parameters such as ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH to ensure that your pond is healthy.

2. CLEAN THE POND:

Remove any debris and dead leaves that may have accumulated in the pond over the winter. Some people choose to have rocks at the bottom of their ponds, if you're one of them, it may be necessary to temporarily move your Koi and remove any excess sludge from the bottom of the pond before treating and feeding them. Debris between the rocks can cause water quality issues and affect your Koi's health. 

3. TREAT YOUR POND: 

Your koi will become active when water temperature is between 50-55F and they will look for food. As much as you want to feed them, you should not feed them right away. After a long and cold winter, your koi may be weak and have low immune systems. It is important to take care of any potential parasitic and bacterial issues before feeding them. Parasites can attach to your Koi fish while they are still inactive, so it is best to use Microbe-Lift Broad Spectrum Disease Treatment and Fluke M to prevent most parasite problems. 

Koizyme Beneficial Bacteria is also an excellent product for preventing bacterial issues in your pond. Unlike chemical products, Koizyme is made of beneficial bacteria that naturally eliminate harmful bacteria such as Aeromonas and Pseudomonas. This helps minimize the risk of ulcer problems in your pond. 

4. CLEAN AND ACTIVATE YOUR FILTER: 

Make sure that your filtration system is working properly and is clean. Replace any worn out or damaged parts, and check the water flow to ensure that it is adequate. Add beneficial bacteria to help establish nitrogen cycle. We recommend Microbe-Lift PL Beneficial Bacteria for Ponds that contain natural beneficial bacteria. What we like about this product is that this is not a chemical. It is harmless to humans, animals, fish and plants. These bacterias can be found in a natural harmonious environment. Microbe-Lift PL is NOT a genetically engineered or altered bacteria.

5. FEED YOUR KOI SLOWLY:

After a long period of fasting, your koi digestive system may not be ready to consume a large amount of food right away. Plus your filtration system will not be ready to handle too much waste. Therefore, it's important that you start feeding koi slowly, may be 1-2 times a week and with amount of food that they can finish within 1 minute. You should also consider feeding them Nijikawa Four Seasons for Cold Weather 15lbs 5mm Floating which have ingredient that easy for your koi to digest. 

By following these tips and waiting until the water temperature has stabilized, you can ensure that your koi fish remain healthy and happy during spring cleaning.