Besides monitoring ice coverage, what other tasks should be performed regularly in the winter?
The water level in the pond should be checked and topped off as needed. Any accumulating snow on the ice should be safely removed as much as possible. Continue to apply a cold season bacterial product, such as Lilypons’ “Ponsparkle”,even if ice is present. Whenever possible use a net to remove any accumlated debris, such as leaves in the pond. Q: My pond recently thawed from a late winter warm-up and I noticed a dead frog on the pond bottom. Did I do something wrong? A: No, as long as the pond was not allowed to freeze over completely, ie: use of a de-icer, allowing exchange of gases at the surface this should allow hibernating frogs in the pond to survive the winter. Normally the burrow slighty into bottom debris or plant containers, remain nearly motionless and slowly absorb oxygen through thier skin. Even in cases of well overwintered ponds and complete fish survival some pond owners will experience dead frogs in the spring. One theory is during drought years frogs may not get enoug
