If you plan to vacation for the holidays make sure your water garden is taken care of. Things like power outages and chemical abnormalities can cause distress for anyone who might be stopping by to care for your fish. Create a very detailed outline on how your pond needs to be cared for while you are away and walk through it with them before you leave. This way you will hopefully avoid any mishaps occurring while you are away and unreachable. Here are a few common problems and ways to avoid them:
Feeding – Make sure whoever is feeding your fish while you are away adheres to the feeding schedule you provide them. Stress to them the dangers of overfeeding your fish, including clogging pond filters resulting in poor water quality. If you will only be gone for a few days and your pond has plenty of green algae for goldfish and koi to dine on you may not even need to have someone come feed them at all.
Electrical powered equipment – Without electricity your pond filter will not be able to circulate clean, healthy water and there will be no aeration which is dangerous to your fish. If possible, make sure someone is checking on your pond daily to make sure all electrical equipment is running properly.
Water issues – There are several problems that could occur with your water including water levels, contamination and pH crashes.
- If water becomes contaminated or starts to leak there should be a plan in place to do a full water change. Make sure your pond-sitter knows how to safely and carefully remove your fish while emptying and refilling your pond. Have the proper water treatments on hand to remove any contaminants from your tap water.
- Have whoever is checking on your pond run daily or every other day pH level tests. If these levels crash it can be deadly to your fish. Run them through how to use a pH kit and keep a pH booster on hand just in case. Baking soda will work in a pinch to help restore proper pH levels.
These are a few of the most common issues that pond owners may run into while they are away. As long as you have a responsible friend or family member coming to check on your pond everything should be fine. Just make sure you run them through how everything works, what to do in case of an emergency, and stress the importance of following your instructions to the letter. Make sure they have a way to contact you or your local pond specialist in case they run into a problem they can’t seem to fix.