I'm in New Brunswick, Canada, so my preformed pond (rougly 8' x 6' and
around 220 gallons) is basically out of operation for the winter months as
it is usually covered in snow. Snow has now gone (almost) so I uncovered
the pond two days ago. Today, I noticed a lot of little black specks on the
surface of the water, which reminded me of soot. Now I see each of the
specks is moving (swimming) and some of them are clumping together to make a
bigger black mess. It kind of reminds me of blobs of aphids that I have
seen on shrubs during the summer months.

This will be the 6th. summmer for my pond. I have probably about a dozen
plants in the pond (right now, they are still sitting on the bottom of the
pond where I dropped them before covering it up for the winter). They are a
mix of wild water lilies, hardy water lilies, and rushes. I've had these
plants all along (none were new last summer) and they winter well in the
pond, which is only about 18" deep I think. Before covering up the pond, I
cleaned out all of the dead leaves and cut back the plants. I was unable to
catch three of the small goldfish so I just had to leave them in the pond
(wishing them good luck). They must be tough, as they survived and are
happily swimming around right now. Pond is really quite clear at this time,
but probably won't be that way for long, if history repeats itself.
However, some dead leaves have blown in the pond so it needs to be cleaned
out again. I have never used a filter or pump, etc. (but pond seems to
clear up on its own with time each summer).

Does anyone know what these black specks are and what I do to get rid of
them. I could try scooping them out maybe?? I don't want to hurt the fish
by adding anything harmful. Any advice would be appreciated. There is
nobody nearby that can help me out.

Grossed out in New Brunswick,
Carole