Maintenance for your Koi Pond in the Fall
Autumn is a time of transition for your Koi fish pond, and time to begin the autumn maintenance projects to prepare your Koi pond for the upcoming winter months. Now is the 
time to rein in those wildly oxygen plants that grew over the summer. Some of your Autumn maintenance duties will include thinning and severely cutting back those wildly oxygen plants. You can use the pruning tool seen at the left. It makes reaching those plants a lot easier! In the autumn, as your other plants, such as water lilies go dormant, they can also be cut back. Trim lilies to about an inch above the container. If you have tropical water lilies, either pull them from your pond in the Autumn and store them in their containers for the winter, or discard them. Hardy lilies should be moved to the deepest part of your Koi fish pond where the water will not freeze. Performing these Autumn maintenance duties will drastically reduce your work in the spring.
Another Autumn maintenance tip is to keep falling leaves from collecting in your pond. Leaves can quickly pollute any pond and Koi will be very susceptible to disease if the water is foul. Try stretching a net over your Koi fish pond and either weigh it down with bricks or
rocks or you can do as I did with my Koi fish pond and tie it down with stakes. Before netting your Koi pond, be sure to scoop up any floating leaves and debris in your pond to prevent them from fouling your water. In the Autumn, any leaves and debris that sink to the bottom can be removed with either a soft plastic rake or a pond vacuum. It is a good idea to perform this maintenance on a regular basis during the Autumn season. Also, be sure to add cold water bacteria to your pond as this will help to ensure a healthy winter environment for Koi.
As Autumn is a time when a Koi's metabolism slows in preparation for winter, it is now time to return to wheat germ when feeding your Koi fish. To reduce your maintenance and because your Koi will need less food, as the temperature drops, gradually reduce your feedings to your Koi fish to once every two or three days. When the temperature of the water drops below 50 degrees, stop feeding them altogether. When feeding your fish in the fall it is best to use a whet germ based diet like the one shown at left. This is a highly digestible food meant for coller (below 70 degrees) water temperatures.