bellajj, I don't think you have a thing to worry about regarding your pond rocks and fish. Our pond was started by another person, but we had to finish it, and yep, he used rocks as well. And mortar.

The issues many have with rocks are that if they are limestone, or mortar was used, it can raise the PH - ours is 8.4 and though that is considered high, our fish are thriving, spawning, making fry. Healthy pond. People tend to over evaluation PH levels, when it's other levels, such as ammonia (from the fish poo) that can be worrisome. PH fluctuations would be what kills the fish. Take your PH test in the early morning, then take another in the middle of the day when it's hot. If they run the same, you're good to go : )

The other issue is with bottom drains (we have one) and pea gravel. Pond guy (who created more issues than I can count) dumped those in, and they clogged our bottom drain. Also the little gravels are hard to get all the gunk from. As for the big rocks, they will get fish and vegetation gunk between them too, but with good filtration, that gunk can play a part in a healthy pond. So again, I wouldn't be concerned.

Your rocks will grow algae, and that's good. They'll turn green, but it feeds the fish. String algae is another kind (not fuzzy on the rocks, but stingy), and we are battling it now, but last weekend I found the 'secret sauce' cure for it, thankfully. Our pond is in full sun, and with higher PH caused by rocks, we'll have dense string algae to battle until the water lilies get some maturity.

Frankly, I like the rocks, find them attractive. We've got round river rocks throughout most our small pond, and the larger squarish rocks on the back wall all the way up to the falls and fountain statue - with built-in fish caves. Below is a photo taken when the string algae first started up, and shows the rocks in the pond...

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BTW, you said your pond was 8 x 10...? Do you have a large area of mostly shallows with falls? Because otherwise your pond would be more than 100 gallons. You can use this pond calculator to figure out how many gallons you have. Ours is only about 600+ gallons because our sides slope a lot, and we have a bog shelf taking up room. If you've got 100 gallons, 2 goldfish would be your maximum fish load.

To keep you pond happy and healthy, leave the good algae alone, use a filtration system of some sort, have aeration (your falls supply that), and don't overfeed your fish, especially once you get a nice growth of algae in your pond. I feed mine maybe 1-2 a week, and they don't need it.

Happy ponding!

You mentioned your goldfish were going into your skimmer. This happened to us as well and several others have asked about it in other forums, and yes, it can be a real problem. I posted a thread on how I took care of this problem if you are interested. How I Keep Fish Out of the Pond Skimmer : )

What you are reading online are opinions based on little fact. Rocks in the pond can also be argued are a necessity for a diverse and balanced pond. That Aquascape Pond is a good system and is installed properly it works well. I have consulted an thousands of ponds both with and without rocks and the ponds on average built that way are better off in the long run.

It comes down to doing the right maintenance. However your pond is built.

Check out this blog Pond Design

Or this video Pond Design Ideas

Best thing I ever did was remove the rocks from my pond. I installed retrofit bottom drains. I've never had to do an "annual cleaning" again and the fish have far less issues due to water quality and parasites. Food for though. You definitely can remove them later.

The problem with rocks is that the decomposing organic debris that collects in them can lead to poor water quality and disease - as ademink stated. Aquascape is a particular type of pond, which relies on its products - sludgebusters and the like - to keep the conditions healthy - its fine if thats what you want to do and you know how to do it - and assuming you have correct amt of filtration and aeration. you might want to contact a local aquascape dealer to advise you. (be sure THEY know their stuff though cos they dont always).