NO.. leave the leaves alone. at this time of year the fish immune system is not
working. it is best to not stress fish until 10 days after the temp has been above
55oF and will be for a while. dont disturb a CLEAR tranquil pond.
at low temps there is very little organic degradation going on anyway so the leaves
are going to just basically sit there until the water warms up. BTW, I have heard
that oak leaves because they are acidic and bacteria dont like acidic are somewhat
protective in winter. in any case, at cold temps there is little breakdown of
leaves. it is the "other stuff" like mulm at the bottom that can continue to ferment
and break down giving off toxic gases, like leaves that fell during the summer and
broke down. Ingrid

"Tom Puskar" wrote:

I'm in central NJ and we've had a warm season so far. My pond had hardly
frozen over at all and the fish are active most days. The water is crystal
clear but a lot of leaves have figured out how to get into the pond even
though I have netting over it.

My question is should I be removing the leaves and risk disturbing an
otherwise tranquil pond or would it be better to wait until Spring cleaning?

Thanks,

Tom in Howell, NJ




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