Hi Will:

I have a large hole in the ice covering my pond from the bubbler. It has been above 32° for a while now so the hole is getting bigger every day. We had 50° a few days where the ice melted completely, but I can't see my fish for the algae :( I am planning on buying a few bunches of watercress at the grocery store this weekend. Hopefully I can jump start it in my sunroom before the weather warms up. Someone here on the forum said their watercress made it through the winter so I'm just going to toss some in and see what happens. Maybe it'll take off before the fish wake up and I will have watercress in my pond this year. lol

Jenny

Not as north as you but I hadn't seen much of my fish from November to February because of ice and snow. We have been blessed with a few warm days here and there and the pond has been ice free again for a few days. All my fish made it, even the babies! It was almost 70 yesterday and they were actually swimming around fairly normally.

This is my first winter/spring with my fish so wasn't sure what to expect. My water is clear, I can see the bottom but noticed string algae starting to move in. Can't wait to do my first flush with the bottom drain and get everything going again! Good to hear the fish even farther north are waking up too:)

I live in zone 4 and I pulled the covers off of all three of my pond last weekend. WOW they looked great and all the fish made it ok. I have found that a good Vacuum, A good air supply and a cover before the leaves fall changes everything come spring. There is no gunk buildup on the bottom water is as clear as it comes out of the tap. Fish look great and fat, soooooo cool I do not have to spring clean anything, just get the filters up and running, UV lights hooked in and then there will be no green water as the water warms and the algae gets going. YES!

Hi Will,

My waters a bit murky, but at least 5 of my big fish are alive and well and one of my grey baby fish has been turning orange over the winter. It now has orange sides and a grey/black back.
The lilies are sending up their first leaves, still 4" below the surface.
1/2 of my pond is still covered, but I have a 1' x 2.5' area of open water.

At least the 4-8" of snow they're predicting for us tomorrow will melt soon!

Sarah

I still have 2' to 3' of snow over the pond so I don't know the results. The fish have weathered the elements for the past 4 winters, so, unless they died of old age, they should be okay once we get some snow thaw.

Anne

My pond ice has been thawing during the day and freezing back up at night. Snow is in the forecast for Sunday and next weeks low temps will be in the teens.

My fish are at the bottom of the pond where the water temperature is a little warmer then the upper levels. They won't venture towards the top until the water warms up. I think I would start looking for problems if I did see them near the top at this time of the year.

My pond is clear. Water is clean, and fish are swimming about. Air temp hit 60F on Wed. Mr. Green Frog popped his head out for the 3rd time this year.

Promptly went back under as air temps have settled into the 25-35F range.

Spring is trying to get here, but that stupid groundhog screwed it all up.

Here in Western WA., we are still in the grasp of winter. It is warming up and my iris and water Hawthorne are showing signs of green. Not sure if any of the fish made it this year, but they have in the past. It will be weeks yet before they make their first appearance for this season. We built a small dock over an old water tank cover so that the fish can swim under and come up under the cover for protection from cranes and other fish eaters, so we don't see them until spring.

Belle