In cold winters, pond care is clear and unambiguous: the animals' metabolism shuts down, feeding is stopped, and the pond is aerated and provided with an ice-free holder. But what about when there are no low sub-zero temperatures? The fish remain active at these temperatures and thus their metabolism requires an energy supply. At temperatures between 5 and 15 °C, a special winter food such as JBL PROPOND WINTER M should be fed, as it is designed to be digested quickly and does not burden the digestive tract for long. The rule of thumb is: As long as the fish are eating, they need to be fed appropriately to their nutritional needs! If you additionally vitaminize the food now ( JBL Atvitol ), you will be rewarded with healthy fish in spring, with sufficient energy reserves and resilience to get them through the year’s start.
Furthermore, it is important that the pond receives sufficient oxygen ( JBL PondOxi-Set ), so that the sludge-degrading bacteria, which are much more active at these temperatures than at very low temperatures, are sufficiently supplied with oxygen and there are no rotting processes at the bottom of the pond. If you haven’t yet cut back your marsh plants, do it now. The stems act like snorkels, when cut above water, aerating the pond water even unter a thin ice cover.
UV-C water clarifiers can now be turned off and serviced. Renew the bulb ( JBL AquaCristal UV-C ) regularly every year before the beginning of the next spring, so that the UVC water clarifier retains its full performance (service life of a UVC bulb = 8000 h). Basically, the inner glass cylinders of all UV-C water clarifiers need cleaning now, as any contamination drastically reduces the effect of the UV-C radiation on germs and floating algae.
If you follow this advice, you will have a trouble-free winter for your garden pond and its inhabitants. And then we can all look forward to a beautiful spring!
