What is your pond liner made of? Regardless you are not going to be able to do anything about it right now. The pond will need to be completely drained so that you can find where the leak is and then repaired or the liner replaced depending on what your pond is lined with. This means getting everything else out of the pond... not a job for mid winter.

Thanks MG, it's one of those black plastic pond liners. The pond is dug out in clay soil so I'm surprised that the water level is going down so quickly. I have 6 goldies and a koi in there so i can't empty it completely. Will it be okay to keep it topped up every day at the moment?

how far does it empty out? once the level stops then the hole will be just on/above the new water line. lets hope it isnt at the bottom. You can get repair patches like cycle patches.Yes keep topping it up ntil you can move the fish else where and let it 'leak' as far as you can. we use the kids paddling pool with pea netting over the top to keep fish in a herons out.

Thanks for that SBG. Will try that when the weather is better.

if you have to empty the pond to repair it make shore that the liner goes back on a bed of sand,,then it will not get ruptured agine.

Did you damage the liner in this very bad weather? or have you added something heavy thats cut through? I agree with SBG about it only emptying to the level of the leak. When this happened to mine I found patches useless and had to replace the whole liner. Cliffo I lined mine with sand and a double fleece when I replaced the liner 10 years ago and so far no problems with leakage. PS I used an old paddling pool to conserve what water was left while I replaced the liner.

moste damage is dun by stones that you did not know was there when you get the weight of the water in he pool ,a cushion of sand takes cair of this, good idear Drc to save what water you can, this saves to big a shock for the fish,

you can use the clear silicone with a gun to fix the whole but i would be tempted to buy a new lighner and put it strate over the old one so it acts as a barrier from sharp things and you havnt got try and dispose of a dirty old liner .if i build a pond i try and find some old carpet made out of man made material .mines fine after 11 years .i would buy a buetill liner as they are the best and have the feal of an inner tube .expensive to other liners but much more durable .you can use an inner tube repare kit to fix this to .as seaburn sais draw a line round the pond when it stops leeking .then clear it out.hold the liner up to the sun after making sure youve hosed it out very well and you will find the hole easily .herons going for your fish or dogs going padling can make wholes .wear cheeper liner realy suffers is wear or if its at water level and the sun can get at it .a lot of cheaper liners start just getting brittle.i hope this has helped take care bye for now .

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, much appreciated! I'm topping it up every day and when the weather is better I'll have a closer look .

your welcome skillen i hope your well take care bye for now.i see you cant put the liner up to the sun .silly me i should of read every one elses properly . have you got a bath .you can put them in there and just let the tap trickle in for oxygen .my pond has a leek wear my springer decided to go swimming after 10 years .im going to weight till summer get a kitchen plastic scowrer and clean it and give the glue a key.only in the summer though.ill take the water down 8-10 inches past it so its nice and dry.ill let you know how i get on if you like.

Pond fish may die with tap water NP it needs to stand for at least 3 days or be treated.

Lol NP I can just imagine a 20" koi in the bath! As Drc says it would have to be treated and I don't think I would be able to catch him anyway! I don't think it's feasible to take the fish out of the pond. Like you I'll wait till the better weather, let it go down a few inches past it and then try and find the hole. I only hope that topping up the water every day isn't bad for them. Yes and let me know how you get on with yours!

I agree Skillen I only top up with rain water and if I had to treated tap water.

Just found the hole!! It's quite big but at least I know where it is.

good on you skillen .as for preparing the water goldfish and koi ie crusian carp and commen carp which is wear they come from are very very hardy fish .the only thing that mite but i havnt found so is chlorine .this leeches out in 24 hours and as skillen sais shes trickling in untreated water now .these fish survive freezing water to up to over a 100 degrees .my pond failed big time about 5 years ago and i had know choice than to put the fish in tubs and put a new liner in.as its a 2000 gallon pond and takes 36 hours to fill bye tap i had know choice.i had know loss of fish in the new water at all .ive kept fish all my 48 years or at least since i could get my hands in my dads pond .i also have a 180 gallon tank and when it needs a water change i put a hose out the window onto my plants.i drain a third out a month and fill it slowly with tap water and touch wood ive never had a problem.i will let you know how i get on take care bye for now .i think in some of my blogs my fish tank etc is in them.

Chlorine persists longer in cold weather and still waters and dissipates quicker in warm and moving water which is why I mentioned it, as in winter and spring the chlorine poses more of a problem. Personally I would treat the water if I had to add quite a bit now.

Thanks for that Drc - will get some tomorrow.

well if you could you should maybe if youve never tried without.if you boil water you get rid of it strate away . i wouldnt do the pond now while the fish are dorement .i stand bye the fact it never botherd my fish in over 40 years but lets agree to disagree not worth the hassle drc .take care bye for now .

Hi all, sent hubby down to Dobbies this pm and he came back with a putty-like substance made by King British. It comes with 2 sticks and you mix the two together in you hands and just plug the hole. It can also be done under water! We found one big hole and several other smaller holes and plugged them all up then filled the pond back up (adding aquasafe Drc) and four hours later it is still full !!!! So far so good- fingers crossed.

Thats sounds good Skillen

brilliant skillen

We've got a leak in ours and we are going to get a new liner.
DRC , when we did our pond7 years ago we used tap water to fill the pond up with and we put fish in it , we had to wait 48 hours for the water to settle and they survived for at least 3 years , the tap water didnt kill them, we added water conditioner to the pond.
We still have frogs toads and newts in there and they are not dead yet.

Plus we top our pond up with tap water as we donot have rain everyday of the year

i rest my case thanks hijuju

people are so busy reading the facts or what they think are facts there blind to the practicalities and experiance of someone who hasnt done what the experts and i use that loosly say . theres so much misinformation out there just to get your money as the said experts work for the companies selling the goods.ive got an 11 year old springer whos been worme 2-3 times ever and i only get my dogs jabbed the first time and thats been fine for 30 years .again its money and people who are biast telling you what they think will put more money in there pocket.its the same in gardening ,diy,motoring the lot.some sheds and fence pannels have quality written on them but people dont actualy judge with there commen sense.my local garden centre is crimanly expensive and people flock there like sheep.as for rain are you sure thats safe in your pond ? however that putty stuff sounds very interesting skillen from king british . how much did it cost if you dont mind me asking please.

It cost £4.99 Nosey, I'm not sure wether I can recommend it as the pond is still leaking- not as bad as it was though. There may be other holes somewhere else that we haven't plugged yet but won't know till we get a proper look when the weather is better. Maybe the bit we plugged has worked but can't be sure, will let you know. We have been filling up the pond every day and have stopped using the aquasafe as we would end up needeing gallons of the stuff over the next few weeks! Fish still seem okay.

thanx skillen ill look into it.do you know why the leak as that mite be relevent to weather you have more holes . as for aquasafe ive never used it in my tank or pond and touch wood in 40 years of fish keeping its always bean good.take care thanks and bye for now .

No idea how it happened NP it may have been the thick ice but that doesn't explain a large hole and quite a few small ones in the bottom ledge of the shallow end. Will have to let it drain and check that level all round. I think the putty stuff would have been okay if there had only been one hole.

sounds like a heron have you lost any fish ?

I thought it may be a heron but all fish are present and correct!!

strange liners realy get the most grief at there water water level wear they get broken down bye the sun,ice,hot cold extremes if nothings done it.a heron would clear your pond quite quickly . if its under the water its quite a mystery .