If you’ve found yourself with a frozen over pond in this cold weather then whatever you do, DO NOT smash the surface pond ice with a hammer or other heavy object! If you were to do that the resulting shockwave would most likely harm or possibly even kill your fish!

A pond that’s completely frozen over can cause problems because it means that harmful and toxic gases that build up in a pond from decaying waste material can’t escape and fresh healthy oxygen can’t get in. If this essential exchange of gasses at the pond surface can’t take place due to being blocked by ice, this too can lead to ill health for, or even the demise of your fish.

So What do I do?

There are a number of things you can do, but we recommend a Pond Heater or Ice Preventer as the best, most convenient, reliable and low cost solution.

The simplest low-tech remedy to this problem is to make a hole in the ice by heating a pan of water. Don’t boil the water as you really don’t want to be negotiating an icy garden carrying a pot of scalding hot water! Instead just make the water hot enough so that the outside of the pan will steadily melt through the ice. Place the entire pan (not just the water) on the top of the ice and go and have your breakfast, feed the dogs, cats or kids, and then return to your pond and you'll have a lovely round hole in the ice.

Another even more low tech minimum effort suggestion you might hear is to simply float a small football in your pond and when it freezes, to just push the ball beneath the ice to leave a hole in the surface.

These are both great handy tips, however of course they’re only temporary solutions. If you don’t want to be bothered having to repeat this same regime every morning for as long as the cold snap persists then a good pond heater or ice preventer really is the answer.

These days they’re cheap and economical to run and our range features different options to suit all needs and budgets.