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Getting read for Spring – the pond

Spring is a crucial time, not only for sowing seeds, pruning to make way for new growth, rejuvenating lawns and preparing vegetable gardens, but also for preparing your pond for the new season because the warmer weather sees a shift in activity within the pond among the fish and other potentially harmful micro-organisms including bacteria, fungi and parasites.

The combination of harmful micro-organisms and increased waste from leaves decomposing in the heat etc can have a detrimental affect on the balance of the pond because when warmer weather comes, this activity may exceed the capabilities of the fish's immune systems and of the filter to deal with them. But if you follow some basic guidelines, you can ensure a healthy balance of your pond in the next few months.

Give your pond a spring clean before the weather warms up, removing sediment with a pond vacuum and taking out problem plants such as blanket weed with a net or by winding it round a stout cane.

Start to feed your fish in early spring. Only feed the fish once every two or three days initially, increasing the rations as the water warms up. Don't over-feed because this may lead to disease. Fish will begin feed on live food, such as gnat larvae, but you'll need to supplement this with high protein foods.

Cut back old marginal vegetation from around the pond and contain vigorous perennials by planting them in aquatic plant baskets and topping them up with a layer of gravel to prevent fish stirring up the compost.

You should give your pond filters a spring clean by gently rinsing biological filters free of waste media which often looks like a series of black rings, in a bucket of pond water and spraying off foam sponges and filters under the hose. Biological filters should never be washed under the hose as the chlorine in the water will kill any beneficial bacteria.

Pond photograph by nutmeg66, used under a creative commons attribution licence

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