Pond Care Advice For Neglected Pond

[catxx]

at my bf's mum's house there's a 3ftx3ft pond, that has 2 shelves and is approx 3ft deep. it was dug about 17-18 years ago under my bfs instruction, filled with water, goldfish dumped in, then forgotton about.

somehow there are still goldfish in it, plus, as we discovered at the weekend, a newt. and about 1ft deep worth of crap in the bottom of it.

it's not, nor ever has been, filtered, and is a shaded part of the garden.

we are planning to resurrect this poor neglected little spot, or else his mum is going to turn it back into a herb garden, by emptying (obviously capturing wildlife and putting them in a big bucket to one side) and shoveling out the years of dead leaves (and probably dead goldfish) at the bottom.

any advice? obviously i will treat it as refilling a fish tank, new water dechlorinated and the creatures aclimitased back very slowly. will the newt and the semi-wild goldfish survive this? we have no idea how many goldfish are in there, they bred many years ago, i accidentally caught one as i was investigating the pond and discovered the newt.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Do you know anyone who has a pond that you could temporarily house the newt and goldfish in? If you could find such a person, then while you are draining the pond you could also take the opportunity to make it longer (since its really too small for goldfish, they wouldn't have been having a good time in there) .

 

[catxx]

unfortunately there's not really any way to extend it without extensive building work (it's raised, not dug into the ground) or digging up a very large shrub. i think his mum would rather have a herb garden than a pond. just trying to make the best of a shoddy situation really, definiately won't be adding any more fish or anything. we don't know anyone else with ponds, at least not until my lottery win comes through and i can buy a house.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

To be honest i think rehoming the fish (either on the forum, or see if any of your lfs will take them) and finding a natural pond or river etc for the newt to go in, and then turning the pond into a herb garden would be the best idea then . The pond will never really work well for the goldfish, its just too small, and without being a proper size it would be pointless trying to make the pond better for them in the long term- until you can find homes for the goldfish, i would advise giving it a bit of a clean at least for now though.
With cleaning the pond, i think it would be best to do it in stages- cleaning out the entire thing in one go may be too much of a shock to the fish (as fish can become accustomed to bad water conditions, and suffer from shock when their conditions are rapidly changed, even if for the better). I think it would probably be best to do a series of large water changes over the next month, just so the fish get used to having fresh water in their pond, like doing a 40% water change once a week (also taking out some of the much at the bottom of the pond each time would be good). At the end of the month do a complete pond clean out, aiming to remove all the muck from the bottom of the pond .

 

[aquanovice]

17 Years!
Those Fish are Good to survive that Long

 

[ClownKnifeMommy]

Just a gardeners note: that icky sluggy stuff you clean out of the bottom.... spread it lightly around any existing gardens. Plants love that stuff.

 

[catxx]

turns out my bf's uncle has a massive garden - complete with great big pond, so these fish may be liberated yet! that pond used to have koi - until a heron made a passing visit - so we shall see!

clownknifemummy - i think i had sussed that - i think i mentioned something to my bf's mum - she's been meaning to do something with the garden (she handed me secaturs (or however you spell it) last time i was over as i don't have a garden and was feeling green fingered - told me to do whatever i wanted haha, which is what drew my attention to the poor old pond that was shrouded in ivy).

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

turns out my bf's uncle has a massive garden - complete with great big pond, so these fish may be liberated yet! that pond used to have koi - until a heron made a passing visit - so we shall see!

Does the pond have any lilies in it? If a heron once took fish from it before, if you put fish in it again they could be at risk from a heron as well. There are certain measures you can take to help protect the fish from herons though; you can buy plastic life-like herons (often garden centers stock them), herons are rather territorial birds and don't like fishing at ponds where there are other herons, so if you put a plastic heron next to the pond, it'll help deter real herons passing by to claim the pond as their own . Pond lilies also help add general protection to fish during the summer, as do things like bridges or platforms going over the pond etc. If you don't mind the sight of it, putting netting over the pond will also help protect the pond from herons and cats .

 

[ryanp15]

herons are rather territorial birds and don't like fishing at ponds where there are other herons

I thought this a couple of years ago, but a heron still came and took fish from my pond. In the breeding season they would be together anyway. I've also seen herons together before whilst I was on Hickling Broad. The only way that I've found to keep Herons away is a net. They will look for food mainly in the spring, so the net could be removed through summer, there would still be some risk though.

I try to raise the net above the pond, so that you can see under it. If you have fishing line around the supports this will stop the heron getting through. There's also a few heron deterrant systems (either water squirts or some sort of sound), I don't know the price though

I moved some semi wild fish from a small (tiny) pond I had into my bigger one, they're doing really well and have grown loads

Good luck with moving the fish! I'm sure it'll enjoy its new pond

 

[Mystil]

Just be aware that some newts are protected by law.The great crested newt I think is one.

Me just being devils advocate.

 

[catxx]

i don't think it was a great crested, only saw the pesky thing briefly, looking at pictures, i think maybe it was a smooth newt or palmate newt, not the great crested, i didn't see any kind of crest on its back and it was brown.

 

[catxx]

a little update, the pond has been removed. 6 3"-4" goldfish were relocated to my bf's uncle's big proper pond complete with lots of lillies, other goldfish, newts and frogs.

it was a smooth newt we found in this pond, we found it while digging the rest of the garden up, but it was in its terrestrial stage now, fortunately the neighbours also have a pond so it can go there next year.