Is a metal cattle trough safe to keep koi and goldfish in for a day
while I do work on their regular pond?

Hi rroberts19,

Thank you for your question.  


Midwest Pond & Koi Society
http://www.mpks.org/faq/ans15.htm

Question:

"I moved into a house that has a small fish pond. It is so dirty and I
want to clean it out but I know nothing about fish ponds nor fish. I
found 4 goldfish in the pond they look about 5 inches. Do I take the
fish out and put them in a bucket while I clean the little pond? Do I
use tap water in the bucket and in the water to replace the old water?
I don't want the fish to die but they will I would think if I can't
get the water changed."

Answer:


"Your fish can be temporarily housed in a 50-100 gallon tub (bought
for cheap at Farm and Fleet. They sell 'em as horse troughs.) Fill the
tub with pond water, net your fish and put them in with an airstone
running. Cover the tub with a tarp or leaf netting to keep the fish
in.

Pump out the pond, and then wash down the sides and bottom of the pond
with your garden hose, sumping out the dirty water as you go. Do not
bother to scrub, and do *not* use a pressure washer, which will damage
the liner. If there are potted plants in the pond, move them to a
kiddie pool with pond water in it. Rooted plants will just have to
take their chances.

Once the pond looks fairly clean, and the water running out from
between and behind the edging rocks largely clears, refill the pond
with tap water. If you are really sneaky, you will have borrowed or
rented a water meter, and will measure the actual volume of the pond
system as you refill it. Test the water for chlorine and chloramine,
and treat the new water with Amquel to remove chlorine and bound
ammonia (chloramine). From this point on, it is important that you
have the *salicylate method* ammonia kit, since the more common
Nessler reagent kit will give false and confusing readings in the
presence of Amquel."

=========

GardenWeb.com - Pond fish over winter
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/ponds/msg0911540526754.htmlpond 

"I know of people who have overwintered their fish in galvanized
watering troughs with a pump to circulate the water and an air bubbler
in a non heated sheltered porch. I bet a new plastic or metal garbage
can would work also."

=========

Closing The Pond For Winter 
http://www.waterscapes.ca/Winterclose.html

Please scroll to Japanese Koi & Butterfly Koi 3/4 down the page.

=========

There's quite a bit of information on these pages:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PondSubWebIndex/pdwntmaintfaqs.htm

(Scroll to Winterizing Koi)
http://www.sakoia.8m.com/Mar00.html

==========


Best regards,
tlspiegel

Fast and extremely helpful! I am so pleased :-)

As long as the trough is clean and rust-free, I don't see why not. One
working day is not long enough for an intact metal surface to oxidize
to such an extent as to significantly alter the chemical composition
of the water. If it were a question of leaving them any longer than 12
hours, I would take the precaution of lining the trough with plastic
sheeting, especially in the case of expensive koi.

leapinglizard

Hi rroberts19,

Thank you for the 5 star rating and comments!  :)

Best regards,
tlspiegel