Fall Pond Cleaning

Doing a full pond cleaning during the colder winter months can bevery stressful on your fish. However, if the pond is reallydirty and full of 'muck' - then you may want to consider itbecause all of the decaying organic matter in the pond can causeproblems if the pond ices over, and this begins to de-gas androt.

So, I think the best solution, and what we used to do for ourclients was do a partial Fall pond cleaning.

Here's how to do it:

First, get a container that will hold roughly 100 gallons or so,or up to half of your pond volume (bigger is better). Then takea pump with a hose, and pump out the relativel 'clean' water fromyour pond by holding the pump just beneath the water surface. Keep as much of the 'old' pond water as you can. Then, catchyour fish (if possible) and place them into the holding tank oftheir own (clean) water.

Then you can either net out your leaves and dispose of them,along with any muck that you can get out also. Alternatively,you can then pump out the remaining water and do a thorough cleanout, including vacuuming out the pond with a large wet/dry vac(this works great!).

Then refill the pond back up to the level it was at beforedisposing of the water, de-chlorinate the water, and adjust thepH to match that of the 'old' water in your holding tank. Atthis point, start pumping new water from the pond into yourholding tub, and then pumping the mixture back into the pond. Dothis for 15-20 minutes until the new water mixture matches thatin the pond - and then pump the remaining water back into yourpond while netting your fish back in as well.

But it's very important not to expose your fish to new waterconditions too quickly as differences in temperature and pH cancause extreme stress to your fish, affect the immune system, andeven cause shock or fish death. So always be careful whenchanging water.

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Brett Fogle is the owner of MacArthur Water Gardens and several
other pond-related websites includingMacArthurWatergardens.com
and Pond-Filters-Online.com. He also publishes a free monthly
newsletter called PondStuff! with a reader circulation of over
9,000. To sign up for the free newsletter and receive our FREE
'New Pond Owners Guide' visit MacArthur Water Gardens today!
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