In the spring, your pond literally comes to life! From their hibernation, the plants and animals in your outdoor pond are ready to come to life at the first signs of a warm weather. This is the best time to take care and maintain your pond before the living organisms come back to live from the winter. Changes can be observed as days get hotter. Temperatures at 50 degrees is perfect for maintaining your pond.

The maintenance required for your pond will greatly depend on the happenings of the past winter. A hard ones calls for a need for you to perform more changes, and this makes it a good idea to start as soon as you observe changes in the weather. Always keep in mind that maintenance in the spring should be completed on a yearly basis, and it doesn't matter how mild or harsh the previous winter has been.

Observe the pond's water quality. You'll see that the water is very clear when the seasons shift from winter to spring. Don't be fooled by this, as there will be factors that will cause real problems once summertime will come if you don't resolve these issues immediately.

During the fall and winter, leaves and other plant material may have found its way to the pond. Although it may seem that the water is clear, there are a large number of nutrients in the water from these materials, causing those very fast growth of algae once springtime comes. Also, high amounts of organic material will start to undergo decomposition in your pond, reducing the oxygen content of the water.

Now, since the water in your pond is really clear, this is the best time to clear those slits and debris. And you can do this by:

1) Bringing in a pond professional from your local pet store or fish dealer. These people have the right equipment needed to vacuum most debris out of your pond. This is an option that will surely cost you more money, but on the other hand, it will guarantee you that most of those problem-causing materials will be removed from your outdoor pond.

2) Use a fine mesh net to scoop out many of those slits and debris. Now, the only problem here is that most of those nets will give more slits to the pond instead of removing them. After you have removed those unwanted debris and slits, test the pond's water. The winter will cause changes in the pond's pH levels. Now, at the beginning of the spring season, the pH level of the water should be 8. This can be done by putting tap water that is treated (buffered slightly to be alkaline by your water company) into your pond.

Most of all, always maintain and take care of your fish. Remember that spring is the weakest time for your pets as they haven't eaten for months living with low energy. This can cause your fish to be more prone to attacks by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi. This is the time to take all necessary precautions for your pets as well as your outdoor pond.

As you maintain your pond, add treatment solutions to it in order to lessen the harmful materials and pests. Once the weather warms up, another dosage of such solutions will be able to protect your Koi as they are in the process of redeveloping their immune system, giving themselves protection from viruses once temperature rises.