Cleaning Your Pond©

First, I do not recommend a total cleaning of a garden pond. If you have been diligent in keeping the leaves and debris removed from the pond, and you have a filtration system that is working properly, there should be no reason to have to totally drain and clean your pond.

Doing a total cleanout of your pond actually kills the good bacteria that has cycled your pond. You run a risk of cleaning out baby fish and stressing your fish unnecessarily. A total cleanout will be like starting all over with a brand new pond. It must start cycling all over again to balance out.

But if you are like most of us, you procrastinated and left the debris in the pond. And now you must do the dirty work of cleaning it out. Here are a few tips to help make it as easy as possible with the least stress to your fish.

Late fall is the best time to clean a pond, after the first major frost and most of the tree leaves have fallen.

Remove the fish to a container (a new plastic trash can or plastic stock tank work well) filled with the original pond water. Sometimes you have to drain most of the pond water out before you can catch the fish. This is a good opportunity to check the fish to make sure that there are no parasites or sores. Put the container in the shade with the pump running in it for oxygen. Take care to fix the pump intake so that it can’t suck your fish into it. Also, float a piece of Styrofoam in the container with the fish for them to hide under or they may jump out. Periodically, check on the fish to make sure that they are not "topping". "Topping" means that they are coming to the surface gasping. If the fish are doing this, there isn’t enough oxygen getting to them. Take steps to get more oxygen to them. This shouldn’t happen if you put an air stone or pump into the container with them.

Remove the plants and start pumping/siphoning out the pond water. Take a wet/dry vacuum and clean all of the debris out of the bottom of the pond. You may have to take a water hose and rinse the pond several times to remove all of the mulm and debris. Do not scrub the sides of the pond. A blanket of algae on the sides is good for it. This is a good time to do a little maintenance on the plants. Trim away dead foliage, repot if necessary, and fertilize (if you are doing this in the spring). Also take advantage of this opportunity to do any changes or make any needed repairs to your pond.

After the pond is cleaned to your satisfaction, put the plants back in, and start refilling the pond. Be sure to use water conditioner to remove the chlorine/chloramines from the fresh water. Water parameters must be checked, i.e.. Ph, ammonia, nitrites, carbonate hardness, temperature, to see if there is a difference between the original pond water and the new water. This is to keep from shocking your fish.

Seed the filter/pond with beneficial bacteria (Microbelift, Crystal Clear, and Ki Nitrifier, are the ones that I use) to help replace the beneficial bacteria that has been lost due to cleaning.

Put a new plastic container, tub or trash can large enough to comfortably hold the fish into the pond. Fill the container with water that is in with the fish in the holding tank. Transfer the fish into the container in the pond. As the pond is filling with water, the water in the container with the fish will adjust to the temperature of the new water. The fish should be acclimated to the new water temperature by the time that the pond is filled. After the pond is full, just tip the container over and let the fish float out.

At this time, I also add NON-iodized salt to the pond at a rate of one pound per 100 gallons of pond water. This makes a 0.1% salinity level, which is a good "tonic" level for your fish. This level will not harm most plants (see Plant Salt Tolerance Page). Remember that salt does NOT evaporate. The only way to remove it is by partial water changes.

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