Noki, your pond is really too shallow to guarantee survival in your zone. It needs to be about 3 feet deep. With enough aeration you might get away with less but it is a gamble in normal winter temps. Your pond is really too small for so many fish. I know, I know, it is such a temptation. They are so pretty. Clay is a problem but I dug enough for 1000 gallons and I'm an old lady with health problems. I was seldom able to use a shovel. My main tools were a garden fork to break up the soil, a small chain saw to cut the roots and various small trowels and utility blades. It was a real job all by myself and it took most of the summer but I got it done. With enough air and filtration you may luck out but before the normal weather returns you need to reduce that fish load or enlarge the pond. I don't know how that power head is helping but most of us on this forum use air pumps or the kind of bubbler you use in an aquarium. The big problem here is the exchange of the gas that builds up in the water so a bubbler at the surface isn't helping to stir things up much. That gas is toxic and must be able to escape which is why there needs to be a hole in the ice. That de-icer won't click on until the water temps are right around 32 to 36oF. It has a thermostat built in to control that and will only keep a small hole open around it. With no ice it should not turn itself on. Don't feed the fish. It is a real temptation when they are begging but if the water turns really cold it could kill them. Fish don't have stomachs to process the food and it just stays in their gut and rots. The cold temps shut down their metabolic processes. This is a difficult winter since the temps are not holding as steady as they should but the fishies can feed themselves on bits of algae and other stuff we don't notice. If you must feed, try frozen peas with the skins removed. Cook the peas. They are a mild laxative. Best of luck to you for the rest of this winter. Post any more concerns you might have on your own thread. Sandy

It's all about oxygen levels and fish loads. Fish do sometimes die in some pretty large lakes, and often will survive just fine in small backyard ponds that are covered in ice all winter. As long as they have enough oxygen to breath they can often survive without a hole in the ice. Lots of people make the mistake of thinking these holes we try to keep in our ponds are just about letting "toxic gasses out", and that's really a misnomer. It' all about gas exchange, bad gasses (CO2, H2S, etc...) out, and oxygen (O2) in. If you have a small pond and a very light fish load, maybe one or two fish, then you, or rather, the fish might get away without a hole in the ice, because they might have enough dissolved oxygen in the water that they'll be able to survive any freezing period. The more you increase your fish load, the less chance they have of surviving as the oxygen demands will go up and there just wont be enough oxygen to go around. Here is a link that explains winter fish kill better than I can.

" Love those tiny little crunchy fishies, dipped in cocktail sauce and eaten bones, tail and all. " Me too, Annie! ! ! ! And I had some this year for the first time in ages! It's not anything that is known in these parts, But a large store about 50 miles from here had some. I bought about 5 lbs, and really "pigged out" (for lack of a better term) that night. I have the rest in meal sized packages in the freezer. I use them as a 'reward' for myself when I accomplish something I've been dreading doing! "I don't get it. Fish is fish. I WANT it to taste like fish. I don't want it to taste like beef, chicken, or anything else. " I agree with that 100%, too. I like to 'eat healthy', and I try to most of the time. But I am not willing to torture myself with food I don't like. If I were intent on giving up red meats, I would try to find something that I enjoyed To replace it with. As many have mentioned above, There are a number of very mild tasting fish. Preparing/serving them with a highly seasoned sauce might do the job for you. Good luck in your quest. Rusty

I'm guessing you have a betta? They are pretty resilient fish. I kept one in a one gallon tank, no filter for 5 years until he got old an died. I had a gallon jug of water that i would fill with tap, treat with conditioner (1/2 tsp of aquarium salt, and stress coat) and left the cap of it for 24 hours to let most of the bad chemicals evaporate out, then the next day i would do a 100% water change. I did this every week. You can also buy distilled water from the grocery store. That way is a pretty labor intensive way of fishkeeping, but was necessary for the size tank I had. His fins should grow back in time. Make sure you don't have any plastic plants in your tank, use silk or live plants. Bettas don't like any strong currents in their tanks. If you do frequent partial water changes this will promote him to grow his fins back faster. A heater will also help immensely. They're a bit harder to find for a tank that size but they are pretty cheap and almost essential for helping a betta grow back his fins. I had a betta in a 3 gallon that got sick while i was on vacation, resulting in almost all his fins rotting off. With frequent, twice a week water changes, a heater, the aquarium salt and stress coat, he had grown most of his back in just a month. No bettafix was used and it can potentially be do more harm than good if your fish is not really sick. TL;DR I'd get him some aquarium salt and a heater and make sure until he is healed your are doing water changes with dechlorinated water twice a week. Doubling the stress coat can help too. Once he is healed you can cut back water changes to once a week. http://velvetdragon.com/bettas/finrot.html this site is a great resource to your problem. I'd give it a read when you have time. Hope your fish feels better!