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

Let the fish eat them...

- H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
"landsend" wrote in message
...
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

[Snip]
Grossed out in New Brunswick,
Carole

No need to be grossed out

Based on your description, it sounds like you have daphnia in your pond.
They're commonly called water fleas. Daphnia are harmless they eat algae and
other small organisms floating in the water. You can read about them here
http://www.petfish.net/daph.htm

Just let them live, your fish will eat them, I suspect that almost all of
our ponds have daphnia, they're a common pond insect, and often introduced
to the pond when you add water plants. If it really bothers you that there
are daphnia in the pond, you can try and keep them under control by using a
brineshrimp net from pet fish store.

A 200 gal pond is too small, I bet if you poked around some of the 1000 gal
ponds or larger, you'd find all the things you learned about in high school
biology, like a few fairy shrimp, some cross-eyed planara, tons of dragonfly
larva, daphnia, various aquatic snails, and all kinds of single celled
creatures. It's how nature keeps the pond in balance.

-S

Snooze,

Thanks for the information. I will watch them and see what happens. One
thing for sure, I am using my long, over-the-elbow rubber gloves to remove
the dead leaves.

I envy all of the people on this forum that are able to enjoy their ponds
all year long. Mine looks quite pathetic at the moment, but I am always
amazed how pretty it becomes in such a short time.

My husband installed the pond in the spring of 2000, but unfortunately he
passed away unexpectedly only nine weeks later. I certainly didn't have a
clue about caring for ponds, but have learned from trial and error and have
grown to love it. This forum has been helpful in answering a few questions
I had over the past few summers.

Again, thanks for your response.

Carole


--

"Snooze" wrote in message
m...
[Snip]
Grossed out in New Brunswick,
Carole

No need to be grossed out

Based on your description, it sounds like you have daphnia in your pond.
They're commonly called water fleas. Daphnia are harmless they eat algae
and
other small organisms floating in the water. You can read about them here
http://www.petfish.net/daph.htm

Just let them live, your fish will eat them, I suspect that almost all of
our ponds have daphnia, they're a common pond insect, and often introduced
to the pond when you add water plants. If it really bothers you that there
are daphnia in the pond, you can try and keep them under control by using
a
brineshrimp net from pet fish store.

A 200 gal pond is too small, I bet if you poked around some of the 1000
gal
ponds or larger, you'd find all the things you learned about in high
school
biology, like a few fairy shrimp, some cross-eyed planara, tons of
dragonfly
larva, daphnia, various aquatic snails, and all kinds of single celled
creatures. It's how nature keeps the pond in balance.

-S