When you go on vacation you shouldn’t have to worry about your home. This extends to the pond as well as the rest of the house. Murphy’s law, however, states that if something is going to happen to your pond it will be while you’re on vacation.

Many of us have pets other than fish. We either take the pets with us, board them in a kennel or we have pet-sitters to come by each day to feed them and take care of them while we’re away. There are no koi kennels and pond sitters are hard to find. Here are a few things that one can do to help ease the mind while on vacation:

#1 Fish do not need to be fed. We stop feeding fish for a week or two before we transport them to cut down on the amount of ammonia in the water. They may not be happy about it but fish can go without for a week or two with no problems. Overfeeding is a normal occurrence with “pond sitters” so you may just decide not to have them fed at all.

If you have a pet-sitter or trusted neighbor bringing in your mail each day go over with him/her how to feed the fish as well as take care of the other animals. Give them our number to call in case of emergency.

The only things that can do immediate harm while you’re away is if the pump stops working or the pond loses its water. If your submersible pump tends to clog within days try removing the filter material around the pre-filter so that it doesn’t trap as much debris thus freeing up the flow of the water for longer periods of time. If you’re afraid the bio-filter will clog remove the filter material but be sure to keep it moist and in the pond. If you have a steady leak that normally poses only an annoyance to you be sure that someone checks the pond and knows how to add water and dechlor if necessary.

Don’t spend your holiday worrying about the pond. As long as you think ahead and prepare with a few simple safeguards there should be no unmanageable problems