Sitting here going thru old pond posts and ran across this one. Wondering if you ever came up with a plan for your Florida pond. I live in IL but have a vacation home in south Florida on the Gulf side. The house was purchased pre=foreclosure in 2007 for use as a vacation home. Like your house, it was a mess, covered in weeds and filled with junk. It also has a pond in the backyard that was icky. One of the first things we did after closing was drain the pond so we knew what was living in it. It's not a big pond - about 12' x 6' oval shaped and 24" at deepest point and also made of concrete painted sky blue. Lots of leaves, pine needles and tadpoles plus a few mosquito fish which I scooped out and saved. After refilling I put in a pond pump and the tads and fish. We were there for 4 weeks that time before we returned to IL. The pump was removed from the pond before we left FL. Next time we went down, put the pump back in and netted out what debris was in there but water was back to icky. What I did was find water hyacinth plants - can import them to FL and they are not sold in the stores near me. So I found a local guy who had some in his pond. He gave me about 12 large plants for free since he had an overabundance in his pond and was tossing them in his burn pile. It's been over 2 years since I added the hyacinths and pond remains clear even without the pump going. Only filtration is the hyacinths. Pond life is abundant. Neighbor tells me she can hear the toads at night. We only go down to the house a few times a year so when we put the pump with a bubble spray in while we're there, it's only for the sound of the water bubbling. Hyacinths are all over Florida in ponds, swamps, creeks, etc. If you're willing to harvest some yourself, you can get them for free. I would get emough to cover 1/4 of the surface because they will multiply like crazy. When we visit our house, the whole surface is covered so we have to pull out at least half of them and burn them. Hope that helps.

Sorry you feel the necessity of getting rid of the pond. Step 1: Drain the pond down sufficiently so that you can catch any fish and see if you have any neighbor's kids that want them or local school or local aquarium store. Step 2: Take a box cutter or sharp knife and at the lowest point in the pond slice the liner (make sure your cuts go all the way through) making cuts at least a foot or so long. Make several cuts. This is necessary to eliminate water accumulation even after you put soil on top of it (if you choose to bury it). Step 2: Assuming there are rocks you want to save... move them out of the area. You can choose to haul the liner out (probably easiest to cut it out in sections) or fold it in and bury it. If you plan to plant trees/shrubs in the same area you will have to remove the liner otherwise it will create problems with root growth. Step 3: Remove pumps and pump/skimmer housings. Not sure of the age of your kids but hire a couple of teenagers and give them shovels to move everything else into the remaining hole in the ground (bury larger rocks or create a rock garden). You may find it necessary to purchase topsoil to fill in the hole - buy it wholesale by the cubic yard...don't try to buy it by the bag since (depending on the size of the pond and left-over hole) you may need anywhere from 1 to 10 cubic yards of material. After it's filled (you need to overfill by a few inches to allow for settling) you can seed and start mowing or turn it into a garden. Alternative 1a: Buy several "hidden leash" dog collars; put on children and activate circuit around pond to keep them away from the pond. Or find local neighbors or local school or local aquarium folks interested in adopting kids. Keep pond and enjoy peace and quiet. :-)) ---David

I haven't kept them but I have seen several posts from people who keep them in their ponds in areas that get ice on the pond. The article below mentions that you should keep them in groups of 3 or so. Most aquarium articles about them mention they will eat small fish if they can catch them but they are generally peaceful. Red eared sliders will occasionally eat fish too but they really like snails. Here is a link that might be useful: Weather Loaches

'Best way' might vary from the circumstances of one pond to another. On a dinky rockery pool, a harsh mist spray can blast duckweed over to one side where it is easier to net floating plants out. On a larger natural pond, topping the pond up prior to heavy rain storms stands a chance of flushing the bulk of it out of an outflow On a pond with fish, stopping feeding the fish might persuade them to turn on tasty floating plants On a pond that has been devastated by invasive plants, emptying the pond, leaving it to bake in the sun can do a thorough job where neglected plants have become rampant 'Nuking' a pond of legacy problems can be a convenient time to remove surplus plants, debris, to reconsider choosing more appropriate aquatic plants