Despite freezing temps and an even more ominous icy glaze, my goldfish is (are?) still ALIVE! I say "is/are" because I was able to see my one huge brilliant orange fish nestled (and moving fins/breathing) in some debris toward the bottom of the pond. The others were merely fry when fall set in and are tough to see as they are only a gray color (or were at the time.) The tadpoles/froglets also would be hiding under mud/leaves if they are still alive. And there are tons of snails puttering around happiy munching on that leaf debris at the bottom.

Word for the day: "MULM"

Mulm is the decayed mush from plants, dead insects, fish and frog poop, etc on the bottom of a pond. EWWW!

My pond has load's of mulm now but I have a bubbler (airstone) running 24/7 to add oxygen and prevent the whole thing from turning to ice (moving water has a hard time freezing.) As the plant matter deacys it adds warmth but also toxic gasses (see previous entry!) so if that gas builds up under the ice it will kill everything off. The airstone (as well as a de-icer that floats on top) allows for holes so the gasses can escape and an oxygen exchange can occur. So far, so good!