Goldfish (koi) are popular aquarium fish species. Though they can be bred into many different colors and shapes, goldfish thrive best when given access to sufficient temperatures in their environment and ample room to roam freely.
As temperatures begin to cool off, it is time to switch your pet’s food over to one that is easier for him or her to digest such as wheat germ.
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Feeding
Goldfish species such as Koi can survive even in very low temperatures by living off of their fat stores, which they produce when feeding heavily during autumn months. As this time is also when their fat stores increase most rapidly, supplementing their diet with high quality food would be wise.
At temperatures under 10C / 50F, fish cannot digest protein due to dormant gut bacteria; any protein-rich food they ingest at this temperature will sit unprocessed in their stomachs without being digested, potentially leading to digestive issues and leading to digestive difficulties in other ways.
Beginning in late autumn as temperatures begin to cool off, you should begin feeding less and switching over to a wheat germ based diet such as Spring & Fall to help your fish receive all the essential nutrients without risk of protein toxicity. Once temperatures return to mid and upper 50s, continue as normal; but be wary of sudden warmer spells in early spring that might force the fish out hunting for food, while they might not have time to digest it efficiently.
Water Temperature
Temperature is one of the key components in an aquatic ecosystem. Fish species that require specific temperatures for optimal condition exist and this factor should not be underestimated.
As temperatures begin to drop in late autumn, goldfish tend to slow their activity levels and metabolism rate naturally, needing less food for maintenance of health.
Additionally, colder water temperatures make it more challenging for fish to digest protein-rich food sources, leading them to dump uneaten food back into the environment and polluting it more rapidly than necessary.
Start gradually switching over to winter-specific fish food as soon as it hits 8C temperatures. Regular summer foods only meet the minimum consumption requirements at 17C temperatures; winter specific food has been designed for easier consumption at this lower temperature point.
Water Chemistry
Water molecules interact constantly with each other, breaking and reforming hydrogen bonds at incredible speed, which ultimately accounts for many of its unique properties.
Water is essential to life and one of nature’s primary solvents, dissolving small amounts of virtually every substance it comes into contact with. Water molecules also form hydrogen bonds with many polar substances – including organic chemicals and lipids – through which hydrogen bonding takes place.
Goldfish and Koi require a higher-protein diet in autumn to build fat reserves before hibernation in winter. As they feed off of what has built up in their stomachs since summer feedings, such as Microbe Lift Cold Weather or Hikari Sinking Wheat Germ will give them enough energy without overfeeding – excess fish food may degrade water quality by increasing nutrient levels (thus encouraging algae growth), discoloring water or creating unpleasant odors; excess feed can even clog filters or pump intakes.
Water Treatment
Goldfish metabolisms slow down when temperatures fall below 55degF and they consume less food, so it is wise to stop feeding your goldfish during winter when temperatures reach this threshold as overfeeding can increase the likelihood of gill disease which becomes more prevalent at lower water temperatures.
To explore the effects of long-term and short-term manipulations of water temperature on seasonal changes in food consumption in goldfish, foraging behavior/food intake were monitored over an 8-month period (July to Sept 2016 and Jan-Feb 2017) at transition from summer to winter with constant dark:light photoperiod conditions. Results revealed a notable reduction in complete/surface foraging activity with an accompanying decrease in food consumption, suggesting that modification of foraging activity might correlate with changes in appetite control mechanisms.
Short-term exposure of goldfish to either 28 or 15degC water for 24 h resulted in significant reductions of incomplete feeding/food spitting activity but no changes to total food consumption, suggesting seasonal variations in feeding responses may be initiated by alteration in foraging behavior/food spitting activity and modifications of orexigenic/anorexigenic factors in CNS and peripheral tissues.
