On 1/8/06 20:45, in article
, "John"
wrote:


Thanks for all your help.
I obviously messed up on this one and feel responsible for the fish
deaths. It was the hot weather that encoraged me to mess about in the
pond and, I thought, sort it out while cooling down. Yes, it is a
shallow pond. I've moved the survivors to a smaller pond, where they
are a bot crowded, so I need to get them back as soon as possible.
Obviously you don't know the extent of the damage, but can anyone give
a ball park figure of how many days I should wait? Or should I go the
whole hog now and clean the whole pond out? I had thought that the
gunge at the bottom was helping to root the plants. Wrong again I
suppose?

Most ponds should not be cleaned out. It's a manmade 'thing' that ponds
should be totally clear. In nature, they're not and clear water makes the
fish nervous and vulnerable to predators. OTOH, they do need a lot of
oxygen. There really is no need to do that cleaning out thing if you keep
them well aerated and don't over feed the fish. Seeing right to the bottom
of the pond, for example, isn't good for the fish. Leave the ponds alone to
develop their own ecology. Nobody cleans out ponds or lakes that occur
naturally, after all. If you must, take off excess surface weed, leaving it
on the side of the pond for small crawly things to get back into the water
but otherwise, leave well alone and just provide a strong enough pump to
oxygenate your particular body of water.
We have two large ponds, one being very full of fish and one newer one that
has very few in it. Both have pumps working 24/7 atm and switched off in
winter when the fish don't want to have cold water constantly circulated
into their home. We feed the fish three times a day just now but lightly
each time and I do stand there to check all the food is taken and adjust the
distribution accordingly. Put it down to experience and make sure that the
smaller, holding pond is well oxygenated with a good pump. My daughter
bought one for a new pond of hers the other day that combines a pump,
fountain and UV filter - amazingly small but efficient looking thing. I
hope it does the trick!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(email address on website)