What a gem you have there! I love the weird fountain thingie!

As for your questions:
--The decaying plant matter has to go. You can get an inexpensive net and start scooping it out, the net is also the way to skim the newly fallen leaves of the surface - before they become a problem (you can also put a net over the pond during the fall to keep leaves out). You can also vacuum the bottom with a wet/dry vac or a pond vac.
--Remove any dying water lettuce. They will add to the problem. Add more when your temps warm up. Consider adding some bunches of submerged oxygenating plants like hornwort or anacharis for the fish to hide in and nibble on. Easy to pull some out when it gets to thick (do so aggressively), they thrive un-potted, just weight a bunch by tying a rock to it and drop it in.

There are lots of folks here with more experience on pumps and filters for your size and climate than me, so i'll leave that for them. Lots are available for reasonable prices on-line, ebay, etc. I would love to see your water circulating for the ponds health and that neat fountain working!

Good luck! And gorgeous kitty btw!

S

Just watch as you scoop the leaves for trapped fishies and throw them in a bucket of pond water until you are done cleaning. I have thrown them back in the pond, but some fish are slow or curious and I kept getting the same one over and over as I scooped leaves out. A fishing net lined with inexpensive nylon netting or a large aquarium net work great. You might consider an aquarium bubbler (protected from rain, of course) and a long air stone for oxygen too.

Thanks for the compliments Sheepco! The chubby Fuzzle thanks you as well :P

That fountain thing is *so* late-60s style, straight out of Sunset magazine! We think thatÂs when they built the pond. . . So weÂre somewhat worried about the rust level on that thing, but it would be so cool to have water flowing again!

IÂll take the water lettuce out right away. I didnÂt know if they could over-winter here or not, but apparently not. We have some oxygen plants (parrot feather) floating under the water. Do you know if that could stay in? Could the hornwort and anacharis stay in over winter? It doesnÂt get really cold here until late November, early December. ItÂs almost 90 degrees out today!

Thanks again :)

- A

Hi PKPonder,

I know what you mean about slow fish, as there are a few I could scoop up at any time since they always think IÂm there to feed them! But the tiny ones dart around so fast, IÂm worried about losing them in the muck.

IÂve got a lot of screen-like nylon netting, so IÂll try to rig something up as you mentioned. The fishing net idea sounds good!

As to the aquarium bubbler and air stones, do you have any youÂd like to recommend? Would they have to be huge? I really have no idea about these things.

Thanks for your help!

- A

If you want to do the bubbler on the cheap, get an interior aquarium bubbler, around $20. I bought one that has 2 air hose outlets. Just put it in some sort of weatherproof box (Old plastic coffe can, I put mine in a "toad house") and let it rip. They only use a small amount of power.

Hi Groundbeef,

We ended up getting the kind of bubbler you described and the fish seem to like it!

Thanks for the info :)

-A

Yeah, I noticed a BIG difference in both water quality, and fish activity after installing the aerator. The clairity of the water improved greatly, and the fish were much more active. Before I had installed it, I saw them (the fish) "gulping" for air at the surface.

Originially my waterfall had been providing enough O2 but apparently not. Glad it worked for you.