Questions about pond

[louiswh0]

Hi everyone...

I have a few questions about my pond. It was built about 6 years ago, measures roughly 3 meters in diameter, and is currently about 2 feet deep in the center (I think there might be about 2 more feet of silt), with shallow shelves about 2 feet wide all around. It's been badly neglected for a few years and is very near a beech tree, the leaves of which obviously don't rot easily, so it's now extremely silted and possibly acidic. Until a few weeks ago it was also very overgrown with reed maces (which had wrecked the liner), reeds, irises, an rampant lily, and a whole lot of duck weed. Things did not look good, to the extent that it can't even hold most of its water level, so we decided to tackle it before things got worse, despite it being the wrong time of year. We waited until there were no more tadpoles and froglets and got to work. Here are my questions:

1) Early on I was catching as many smooth newts as possibly and putting them in tanks (of pond water, with plants and rocks). While doing so I came across one that was very fat. I put it in a tank with one other newt, thinking it was just obese. It gradually swelled and swelled, while just laying on the surface of the water gulping air. It didn't care if you touched it. This went on for some weeks. It died today. Unfortunately, I suspected a bacterial infection rather than kidney failure or any of the other causes of bloat, as the other newt in the tank seemed to be developing the same symptoms, but has since escaped. Is there anything I can do to halt the possible spread of this bacterial infection, if indeed there is one?

2) Much to our chagrin, the pond is now full of baby smooth newts ranging from tadpoles to those with front legs. This makes it impossible to clear any more of the silt from the bottom of the pond, or the duckweed on top. The water level is up to the bottom of the shelves, making it about a foot deep, and we can't refill until we mend the liner hidden under the silt at the bottom. We've already cleared all the vegetation from around the edges and shelves in preparation for adding a waterfall to aid the cleanliness of the water, so there is no refuge for them when they leave the pond. Does anybody know how long we can expect the baby newts to be there, and whether it would be safe to go back to work when they've departed - ie are there going to be more?

3) The surface of the pond which isn't covered in duckweed is coated with greyish oily looking patches which seem to be some kind of algae. What is it, and do we need to do anything about it?

4) Today I noticed a lot of rat-tailed maggots around the edges of the pond, which I've read only appear when the pond is stagnant or deoxygenated. Our old pond was stagnant, and by comparison this doesn't seem to be the case. Is there anything I can do in the interim to help matters? If I really need to put in weed etc I will, but it seems expensive to do so when it's never really worked before and will need to be removed again to fix the liner. I don't wish to seem cheap, but an inexpensive solution would be really welcome.

If anyone has any comments or ideas I would really appreciate hearing them. We put so much effort into making this pond a wildlife friendly zone, it would be awful to lose it all now.

[Deb London]

Hi louis,

Is it possible for you to post a piccy of your pond? I think it might help the pond experts to visualize the situation.

Welcome to WAB

Deb

[louiswh0]

Hi Deb,

Thanks for the welcome! I can certainly post some pictures tomorrow... will get out there with a camera in the morning.

Thanks,

Louis

[N0z]

If you want to keep the newtpoles alive then you cant clear it out this year because some last until the next year as newtpoles and if you put the plants back in it will help make the water more pure and will provide hunting opportunities for the newtpoles and places to take cover

[JohanJ]

I had a similar problem 6 weeks ago. 2 beech trees overhanging my ponds, invasive plants, liner split, baby newts. This is what I did, but there are cheaper ways to do it in retrospect.

1) bought a small fibreglass rigid pond. All wildlife & plants from big and small pond was put into it, inc 15 newts or so. Use nets to fish them out, my baby newts are about an inch or so now so eminently nettable.
2) dug hole for small pond and put in place. remains there today
3) took out old pond, replaced with huge fibreglass pond
4) that's now for fish so have aeration, filter etc.

Advantage of fibreglass is that it doesn't split etc like liner. My suggestion would be that you go onto ebay and find a used one, they're much much cheaper. Then do similar process to above, and use it as an opportunity to do a proper thorough makeover job. That will mean that yes you'll have a bit of a hit on wildlife this year - that's the way the cookie crumbles - but next year should be fine.

The thing is once you've got breeding newts you can wait forever and they'll still be breeding. So there's never a right year to fix your pond. Autumn would be better but on the other hand it doesn't sound like this is a one day job. So to do it properly you might want to start earlier rather than later.

Also make sure you do your basic pond maintenance work properly from now on. Ie clean it out and get rid of the worst stuff at the bottom once a year, use a net to get most of the leaves (I personally do like to leave a thin layer myself because insects do use them but on the other hand 2 feet of silt isn't great).

[GCN lova]

hi

1: it sounds like they could be ill, but if the tankwater was too hot that kills them too. newts are brilliant escape artists!

2: some larvae will overwinter so i would try to fish them out in autumn (about october) and clean out the pond. i would trim the plants so they wont cover the whole pond.

3.) i think this is caused by rotting plants in the pond.

4: as johan j said remove the liner and get a premade fibre glass one (this is stronger). you could probably take some cuttings from your plants which you could sell to fund for the new pond.

GCN lova

[louiswh0]

Hi everyone, thanks for all your very helpful recommendations and information! I've made a note of everything for future reference.

Unfortunately, due to rain, I haven't been able to get any pictures of the current situation yet.

I think I'll mostly follow JohanJ's advice, as something really does need to be done about the pond right now, or it will stagnate at this rate. I've managed to clear a lot of bad algae with barley straw pillows, and I'm asking around for an old bathtub to use as a temporary holding facility for what I can catch. We'll then try and get all renovation work done within three days to minimize damage. We can't really afford a fiberglass pond that big, even though it seems an excellent idea, but I will be reinforcing the liner and carpeting underneath it, as well as building a waterfall circulation system.

Thanks again guys...

[JohanJ]

check ebay - used ones at a fraction of the price.

[louiswh0]

I did, they don't seem to do round ones that big, it is 3m wide and circular =/