Hello all,

Thanks for the suggestions. To be upfront, we are concerned about the safety of the children with this pond. There is a fence around it (sturdy chickenwire...so a reminder more than a blockade), but we are looking for ways to make it even more safe, short of draining it....that's tough though. My initial inclination had been to drain and fill it in, and that's not off the books, but I've always wanted a pond to attract wildlife as much as for its beauty. And, I think they built it well, so it seems a shame to destroy it. Have you guys seen any creative (and nice-looking) solutions?

So based on the two responses, it's 50/50 whether I should drain or dredge, but 100% on a filter/water flow. How big a deal is it to install one of these systems? Do we have to drain it anyway to do that? The water is brown, because of all the tannins, and I imagine the debris on the bottom, but there's no algae issue or anything (yet, anyway).

I agree that I don't want to disrupt what seems to be a perfectly good equilibrium. Having said that, I want to ultimately change the vegetation over to native plants, to attract the native wildlife, and get rid of those fish. I'd rather have toads/frogs/non-mosquito insects and other wildlife and those fish just eat everything. If they were native fish, my arm might be twistable, but they're goldfish. So, as soon as I can find a humane way of sending them to the next world, they're done.

So, given that fish removal will be a dramatic change, maybe I should wait until they're gone to do anything drastic, then see how the pond reacts to their removal, and if all goes awry drain and clean? I'd love to NOT have to drain and clean. I have enough on my hands chasing my two children around.

Thanks a lot for your suggestions! And say hello to the PNW for me- we were in Seattle for 7ish years and really liked it. You know that when spring comes, it'll have been worth the wait.