QuestionWe have a four foot round stock tank for a pond and it is rusting out and i am about to replace it is there any precautions that i should take before transferring plants or fish besides water conditioning.
AnswerHello Kevin!
THE most important thing is water temperature.
Transfer water from the current pond to a holding tank. Stop feeding the fish two or three days before putting them in the holding tank. Make sure you have a pump running in there for plenty of oxygen.
When the new pond is refilled, add some water from the holding tank to start the bacteria culture and make sure the water temperature is the same before transferring the fish again.
Do not feed to 3 or 4 more days and then start VERY SLOWLY with the feeding to give the bacteria culture time to catch up to the fish waste volume.