It is not a good idea to pound on hte ice as the shock waves can harm
the fish. What I did was to tie an air stone to a piece of wood and
push it under the ice. This way you are pumping warm air under the
ice to melt it. Worked great for me. It will also soften up the ice
so you can break it up just by pushing on it so you can then pull
pieces of ice out.

(MC) wrote in message . com...
Even though we have had many 60+ days here in Chicago, my small pond
(500 gallons) still is 2/3 covered with ice about 5 inches thick. I am
thinking it will take at least a month to thaw. Is there any harm in
trying to "break" it into smaller chunks using hot water so I can
remove them? Will this disturb the Koi too much or should I just be
patient? I am anxious to get the pond up in the 50s to do my spring
clean out.