Pond Winterizing Tips from Pond Care & Aquatic Connections

The Pond Care Brand of pond supplies, by Mars Fishcare Inc, includes winterizing products and Fall fish food. Aquatic Connections carries Pond Care pond products in its water garden center and on its website. The following article about pond winterizing tips can be found in its entirety on Pond Care's website www.pondcare.com.

Why can't I just let nature take care of my pond?

All summer long, you've enjoyed the tranquility of the water garden-beautiful foliage, sounds of trickling water and colorful fish eagerly awaiting a handful of food. The water garden didn't get that way by itself. You added the right kinds of plants and fish to create a balanced ecosystem. The water gardens we create look beautiful and sustain life because we follow nature's rules. It's the same during the winter months. Despite all outward appearances, the pond is active even when the water is cold or even frozen. Dead leaves, algae, insects and solid fish waste that have accumulated over the summer slowly break down during the winter months. This natural decomposition uses oxygen and produces small amounts of hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas that normally never reaches a harmful level. Few water gardeners realize that the pond must be balanced in winter too. Fish, frogs and other aquatic life are especially sensitive to poor water quality in winter. A build-up of leaves and other organic matter can cause an imbalance, reducing oxygen to dangerously low levels and releasing poisonous hydrogen sulfide. One autumn I decided to see how well nature would take care of my two ponds. I let the lily leaves die back naturally, falling into the pond. Leaves and sludge covered the bottom of the pond. What could go wrong? It looked natural. Come next spring when the ice melted, I was shoveling out black, stinky ooze garnished with dead snails, frogs and my prized fish. I learned my lesson well. Now I use a coarse net to remove dead leaves. I also use a fine weave aquarium net to remove sludge. You can reduce sludge build-up with bacterial "cleaning" products for water gardens. These products contain bacteria that digest dead algae, plants and sludge that accumulate in filters and at the bottom of the pond. Bacterial products are completely safe and help keep water gardens clean. While your stirring things up, why not change some of the water? Algae promoting nutrients, dissolved organic matter and natural acids build up in all water gardens. These substances can stress pond life and lower oxygen and pH levels. Partial water changes flush out these substances and improve water quality. I change 50 % of the water in my ponds in autumn. If a pond has a lot of suspended matter or the water is tinted yellow from dissolved organics, I'll make two water changes a day apart. While I'm pumping out the water, I stir up the sludge. Pump out the sludge and old water at the same time! Remember to add Stress Coat to the pond before refilling it with tap water. Stress Coat will condition the water and add a protective slime coat for the fish.

Too much of a good thing
This may seem contradictory, but you want to leave a little bit of debris in the pond when preparing it for winter. Some water gardeners net out the fish, completely drain the water and scrub out the pond, refilling it with fresh water. Frogs, tadpoles, snails and microscopic pond life need to burrow down into mud and leaves to survive the winter. Fish also hibernate on the bottom, settling in around a bed of leaves and mud. I remove about 90% of the leaves and silt that have accumulated over the summer. Leave the rest as "bedding material." You'll be amazed at the diversity of pond life that emerges in spring. Keep in mind that tree leaves will continually blow into the pond as long as the water isn't frozen. I recommend covering the pond with bird netting. This black plastic netting is almost invisible and prevents tree leaves and debris from getting into the pond.


Note: The Pond Care brand is manufactured by Mars Fishcare, an industry leading manufacturer and international supplier of a complete line of aquarium and pond products. Mars Fishcare manufactures and sells hundreds of products across many different product categories, including Aquarium and Pond Treatments, Aquarium Equipment, Aquariums and Fish Nutrition. They produce just about everything to meet the needs of aquarium owners and pond keepers.