"I moved into a new-to-me house last spring that has a small pond in the backyard - about 6'x3'x3'. It doesn't have any fish or plants growing in it, so pretty much all I did last year was clean out the leaves and pull out some of the rocks that had fallen in that were supposed to be around the edge. Tadpoles took over in May, so I left them alone, hoping that frogs would help with summer mosquitoes. If they did, I shudder to think what it would have been like without them around. (I also used dunks on a regular basis throughout the summer.) The water stayed remarkably clear overall." Hello Rosten18, If you had no plants and clear water last year then consider yourself lucky. Also, I wonder if you had frogs or toads. I'm in KS too and the Eastern American Toad is the primary visitor to my pond. My first year I had lots of mosquito larvae in the pond and used the dunks to take care of them. But last year I bought about 2 dozen Gambuzzia (sp), the mosquito fish, from the local tropical fish store and had absolutely no mosquito problem. "Now that spring is coming around again, I'm wondering what I should do with it. I'm afraid I simply don't have the time to deal with fish, and any plants would have to be really low maintenance. At one point it had a filter - it's still sitting out there - but the cord has been cut, and I have no idea where the rest of the cord is, or whether there is still power running to it. It's far enough from the house that I don't really want to try to run another line, so I was thinking about trying something solar powered." If you were to try mosquito fish you wouldn't have to do anything, at least not very much. They feed on the larvae that accumulates on the edges. My experience is that they have a hard time overwintering here in KS so you might have to spend a few bucks but they're not expensive (about the same as buying guppies). I'm not sure of the filter you speak. Is it a filter in a skimmer, or, is it a power filter in-line between a pump and a discharge? Perhaps it is part of a biological filter in a filter box? And what cable has been cut, the buried electrical cable or the cord to the plug of a pump? Sorry for so many questions. I would want water moving to help enjoy the pond so I would repair the setup. "I'd appreciate any advice, but in particular I'm wondering whether I need a filter if I don't have anything living in the pond. I would also like to know whether anyone has experience with solar powered pumps, and whether there are any brands in particular to look for. The main reason I would do a pump is to keep the water circulating, which I'm assuming would eliminate the need for mosquito dunks. Is that a safe assumption? " Do you need a filter? I would think you don't need much of a filter for a 6 x6 x 3 pond with out too much load but you will have sediment to handle. How do you want to keep your pond clean, by hand? It's your call. I don't have any experience with a solar pump. Sorry. I like mag drive pumps because they are oil-less and have great dependability and don't use as much electricity as regular pumps. A simple pump will do for you and your situation. You won't have to spend more than $100. You won't get a break from discouraging mosquitos, at least not too much of one, if you add a pump and circulate water. There are always areas or pockets that can support their existence. It is best to do the dunks or the fish. "Also, I've cleaned out most of the leaves again, but is there any reason why I shouldn't empty the pond entirely and refill it with clean water? I'm assuming the tadpoles will be back, so I should probably take care of most of this within the next month." Water chemistry, I guess. I would try to leave water that doesn't include chlorine or chloramines in it. If your water supported tadpoles last year then you probably have sufficient water this year. If you go and empty the pond you should expect an algae bloom and perhaps a reduction in aquatic life, unless you use a de-chlorinating water conditioner. Most city water in KS uses chloramines (make sure your water de-chlor. is able to handle this because some dry formulas cannot). I'm really not that lazy, but it's just me, and between working full time and going to grad school, there's only so much I can do! I'd like this to be fairly maintenance free, so I can devote any spare time I have to a garden. Thanks in advance for your help! It sounds to me that you can go either way. Not do a whole lot besides hand cleaning, or. you can invest and make a beautiful ornamental pond out of it and have aquatic plants. I just can't imagine a pond without plants! One or two hardy water lilies and some anacharis (sp), a few floating water hyacinths. And you have an easy and beautiful pond. Good luck!

I should have added some more to my post. Sorry, I was stressed out from the rain and ground water sump coming loose and spraying several inches of water all over the basement in the middle of the night. The brushes I mentioned direct the debris into a net for easier removal. While you can use just a net it isn't all that efficient. If you have aquariums you have used Activated Charcoal, Activated Carbon or AC. It works the same way for the pond. It collects odor and tannins from rotting debris. That water needs to circulate so look into pumps soon. You can put a sock or muslin bag of the AC in the basket of the skimmer to start. Run the skimmer for the circulation until you decide on a waterfall pump. You might want to use some Zeolite too. That helps neutralize organic material, nitrates and nitrites in the water. I understand about the manure odor. I think it has become nasty smelling because of the feed the animals get instead of grazing on grass and hay. There may be something dead in the water making the smell worse and hazardous to work with. I wouldn't stand in the pond until it was a lot cleaner and it is likely very, very slick. If there are no fish you may want to drain the pond. It would certainly make the cleanup easier. Starting the waterfall would help since that tub you mention is probably the biological filter. It may have filter material in it already but if it has been turned off all winter I hate to think of the condition of the filter material. Take a look at it and tell us what you find. Poly quilt batting is a good and inexpensive replacement material. You probably need to clean it up before you start pumping water through it. If there is water in it there will be anaerobic bacteria which will smell to high heaven. A handful of Bicarbonate of soda can raise the PH. I like to use a slug made from Plaster of Paris since it keeps the PH steady and only works when the PH is acidic. Once the PH reaches 8. or thereabouts, it stops reacting. Since there are important details about POP, you can do a search to learn about it. You will find plenty of info. If you are going to add fish or you have plants you would hate to kill, you really need to buy a good quality test kit. It will run around $25. Don't waste your money on dip stick tests. they are rarely accurate. The advice from the other posters is good. You will find lots of help here.

will the sand affect my pond life? Yes, but probably not a lot. Certain kinds of life, animal and plant, will make the sand home if they make it to your pond. What plant life should I add to feed my fish and welcome in other wildlife like frogs and dragonflies? That really depends on the person. I like to add any plant I can and see how it does. It stays if I like it. That's how I learn. So for me I'd try any plant, and I'd try it different ways...in water, in soil, in sun, in shade, etc., to learn how it grows. Duckweed is a plant fish will eat directly, but after they've eaten it all it's gone. So if you want an on going duckweed food source you have to protect some or easier imo is growing it in a separate shallow pond. But a more important food source is all the life in a pond, mainly insects. They eat the plants and the fish eat the insects. So all plants really feed fish indirectly. Dead, rotting plant material feeds insects the best. But many people don't like that in their pond...so it's really best to decide what kind of pond you want...Wildlife Pond, Water Garden or Koi Pond. That determines how plants are used. You can try one and if you don't like it you can change to another pretty easy or some pond in between. the water looks a little murky. (BONUS QUESTION) Is there any way to clean that up? It's pretty simple to clear up water but only after you know what's causing it to be murky which is the complex part. There are lots of filters and methods to removing different things so the filter has to be matched to the stuff being removed. One pretty universal murky clear is a 24/7 drip water change system. A drip emitter runs 24/7 into the pond and an overflow takes away the extra water. I plan on heading over to a local park nearby and yanking out a couple of cattails and whatever else I find interesting, I highly doubt it's illegal and the poor little stream that leads to the enormous carp pond is choking with all the vegetation. (OH! I know that these plants will probably have other bacteria and algae and critters on or in it, is there any way to clean them without killing them? There are chemical baths you can use, including chlorine and similar oxidizers. They aren't super effective imo. The question is do you want to do that or are all these critters something you want? You see this goes back to deciding what kind of pond you want. A Koi Pond owner with thousands of dollars worth of koi would never allow any plant within 10' of their pond. Their focus is koi and the risk of pathogen form plant would be unacceptable. At the other end of the pond spectrum a Wildlife Pond owner would welcome all those "pathogens". It's a matter of perspective. To these pond keepers "pathogen" is just another name for "life". That's what natural ponds are, life. Stuff killing and eating other stuff. I want to make sure the plants are settled before getting fish, but I heard that a certain string? Algae is a pain to get rid of, does that grow in zone 9?) You don't get rid of algae, you control it. Just like you weed a garden. Algae grows in all zones, from the poles to the equator. There are thousands of species. ...since I live in zone 9 in one of the cities that borders the Rio Grande, Does anyone have any recommendations for the type of plants I might want to scavenge for, how to transport and transplant them from the stream into my pond, and what no-no plants I should try to avoid? Giant Reed, Arundo donax, is a spectacular plant you can probably find. It's an aggressive grower, makes bamboo look like Pussy Willow. I don't believe there is such a thing as a no-no plant. They're plants, you're a human. I have to assume you can win any battle. Ponds are just like any garden. If you tend it you win. If you go away and come back in a year the plants win. (If I find any I kind of want some duckweed... is this a no-no plant? Will keeping the growth at bay turn into an overwhelming hassle for my medium-small sized pond?) Depends on how much hassle you consider keeping a pond is. For me it's a joy. And whether your fish.eat it. I want goldfish!! I hear commits are really friendly, but what other species can I add? Can someone supply a list? Oh, and how many can I add? (I was thinking about 6-8 fish total) Common, Comets, Shubunkin, Wakin. The fancy kinds can look a little out of place. I've had some of these because friends need to get rid of "pets" sometimes. They look a little odd to me when mixed with other kinds. Like when you feed them the others swim over fast and the Fantail seems to struggle to swim 10'. But the fancy ones seemed to do fine but need exact protection from streams, skimmers, etc., as they're not strong swimmers.. The Common, Comets and Shubunkin are also often crossed. Like a Comets and Shubunkin to get a Shubunkin with a long tail. Commons get the biggest, more than 12" and over 3' sometimes although these may be koi crosses. (Even numbers so they can have a buddy system, but not like Nohas ark, they can only be friends!! No babies!!... okay maybe a few so I can add them to future smaller water features around the garden...) You can post a sign explaining breeding rules but goldfish are either not very good readers or not very good rule followers (even worst than teenagers). which leads me to the after thought question... Can different species of goldfish mate? I mean.. they are still goldfish... Yes. When different kinds of goldfish breed the result is considered a goldfish too. Goldfish can also breed with koi. I know that bottom feeders won't eat all the gunk that will eventually fill the bottom, (I can't blame them) But are there any fish that I can add that will eat the bottom pellets? (Like catfish maybe, or something cooler/cuter) Pellets, as in sinking food pellets? Goldfish, koi, catfish, pretty much any fish will eat food on the bottom. There are terms like "bottom feeder" but that's just a general type thing. Like catfish will spend most of their time on the bottom but will eat food on the surface just like a goldfish or koi. And they will come a running when they see you just like goldfish and koi. As for gunk...bacteria lives there, bugs too which eat the bacteria, bigger bugs that eat the smaller bugs and fish root around in there looking for bugs to eat. It's a whole cycle thing. Gunk on the pond bottom is basically soil, or stuff on it's way to becoming soil. Nothing removes it completely, just like nothing removes soil completely. Stuff lives in it, eats some growing in it, breaks it down into better and better soil (from a plant's perspective). Oh, and is Walmart a smart place to buy these babies at? (I'm sure most are familiar with the store...) My only other option is PetCo... Are they a good option? I don't want to buy bad fish... but I would feel terrible if I had to take a fish back because it was sick or it got the others sick... There not really anything like a "good" store to by goldfish. Here's how it wroks. The store orders fish from a grower. The grower has a bunch of ponds with different kinds of fish. The grower puts a bunch of fish into a box and sends it to the store. The store dumps the box of fish into a big tank. An employee gets a net and scoops out a few of the the prettier fish and puts these into separate tanks. Like for instance some Shubunkins would go into a tank labeled "Shubunkin $4.95". And some orange and white Comets will often be labeled "Sarasa $4.95" even though they aren't actually Sarasa. The rest in the big tank are labeled "Feeder Goldfish 20 for $1". When customers buy $4.95 fishes the clerks grab a net and scoop a few more nicer looking fish out of the feeder tank and into the $4.95 tanks. People just assume when they see 10 fish in a nice aquarium at eye level that they must be higher quality and healthier fish than the horrible feeder fish tank. It's just marketing and logistics. You can often find very nice looking Shubunkins and Comets in the feeder tank. It just depends on what they get in. Growers don't care since it's just as easy to grow Commons or Comets or Shubunkins. They'll send whatever they have. The fancy goldfish may be shipped in separate containers. This is not to say all fish are healthy. In my experience 50% of feeder fish died in the first 24 hours. And in most stores they also don't last long either. Yes, you can quarantine them, you can treat them for parasites, etc. Depends on the kind of pond you want to keep. Most ponds I've had I only used feeder goldfish. Set up a quarantine tank and buy $10 worth of meds to treat $1 worth of fish...not me. I just put them into the pond and hope for the best. But that's me. I do want to hand feed my fish. I know the risks of them getting hurt by other animals but I have 3 small dogs that scare away all cats and wild animals, but are really just yapping balls of harmless fur. Pretty much all kinds of fish can be trained to be hand fed. Takes them a few times to get the idea but once they do they're trained. The 3 small dogs...I hate to impugn the K9 reputation for diligence but all that yapping..yeah, that's mostly for your benefit. When you're not around and the Herons are having brunch the dogs are really unlikely to do more than blink at the carnage. The Herons aren't hurting anything...it's not like they're doing something horrible like squeezing a squeaky toy. They're just eating all of your fish. Big woop. Now if the dogs happen to hear you at the front door then sure, they'll be off like a rocket to tear that Heron a new beak, jumping through plate glass windows, busting down doors, whatever it takes to impress you and keep those treats flowing.

Not that anyone is listening, but I cleaned out my filter(s) and added more Nite-Out and my Nitrites are finally at zero! Checked my ammonia and that is also at zero. I picked myself up a new very small Koi this weekend. I do have a Koi with an abrasion on it's side. I believe she got it running from the males during spawning activities. The abrasion seems to be getting bigger, but the fish is acting normally. Other fish seem to be nibbling at the wound and I believe that's why it isn't healing. Any suggestions other than taking the fish out and putting it in another tank, which I don't have?