After the Flames: How to Protect Your Pond and Fish Post-Fire

After the Flames: How to Protect Your Pond and Fish Post-Fire

Wildfires can have a detrimental effect on your landscape, and water feature. Besides the worse case scenario of a total loss, the smoke damage, soot and winds can deposit a large amount of unwanted matter into your pond. To ensure you protect your pond and fish post-fire, it's important to take specific preventative measures.

Smoke, debris and plant material are all components that can lead to aquatic ecosystem issues, from low oxygen levels, high nitrate and nitrogen levels and eventual algae issues.

A majority of the homes in the Altadena and Palisades fire lost power immediately following the fire which lasted for up to two weeks... some are still without power a month later.

With the influx of debris and the loss of power, your pond and fish post-fire, need some help. Taking appropriate steps will help protect them.

Water Change

One of the most important things to do is perform a water change. This is simply removing up to 50% of the water, treating the remaining water with a dechlorinator product and refilling the pond. We suggest refilling the pond at a slow pace to allow time for the temperature and Ph to adjust and not shock the fish. This is crucial when you aim to protect your pond and fish post-fire.

Prevent runoff from entering pond

With the altered landscapes runoff from rains is highly likely. You must do whatever you can to prevent the runoff from entering the pond. The containments that will be in this runoff can be deadly to the fish and overall aquatic ecosystem. This may include using a straw wattle, sandbags or soil berm to divert water and debris away from the pond. Implementing these measures will help protect your pond and fish after a fire.

Skim surface

One of the best things you can do for a pond at this time is skim the surface and bottom to remove debris. The winds deposited a lot of debris into these ponds and the fires sure didn't help by adding smoke, residue, ash and whatever else was floating around in the air. Removing any floating or sunken debris will help keep the ecosystem from being overloaded with organic matter. When a pond is overloaded with organics the ecosystem has to work harder to digest it, this consumes oxygen which can further stress out the fish. Skimming regularly is essential to protect your pond and fish post-fire.

Another side effect of too much organics in the pond is ALGAE. Once the pond warms up and the ecosystem comes to life again the algae will start to grow and consume the organics in the pond. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as we typically encourage some algae growth, but too much algae is never fun. Keeping algae under control is part of protecting your pond and fish post-fire.

Stop feeding

Being that it is currently winter with cool temps, STOP FEEDING your fish. Your fish are in a dormant state and do not require food. They should have gained enough "fat" from the regular feeding season to hold them over the winter. Adding food in normal conditions is highly discouraged and feeding them after a tragedy such as the wildfire will only make things worse. Not feeding your fish during winter is another way to help protect your pond and fish post-fire.

I have seen many ponds with floating food and a container of food next to the pond. While the intentions are good this only makes things worse. Some ponds are still without power, some have damaged life support or filtration systems and others just got beat up by the smoke, soot and wind debris. Ensuring your pond isn't overloaded is key to protecting your pond and fish after a fire.

These are just a few of the things that can be done to Protect Your Pond and Fish Post-Fire. We understand there plenty of things to worry about, don't let your pond be one of them. Follow these tips to protect your pond and fish in the aftermath.

Let us help get your pond and landscape back on track.