Looking for pond cleaning service in Southeastern PA (Bucks County) - any ideas?

[dutchstar]

heading into my 2nd winter as a koi pond owner, I'm looking ahead to next year and want to start looking now for assistance in my area.

our pond is approx 3500 gal and we have 6 koi which are about 11 yrs old. we took over this pond when we bought the house last summer (2011) and I don't think the prior owners had recently done any significant cleanup.

The pond setup is pretty neat and has a graded step-off sides, with a central deep area which could (theoretically) fit all six fish if they wanted to hide down there - that is, if it wasn't full of dead leaves, debris, etc.

There is enough junk down there that I am worried about stirring up toxins and harming the fish.

I tried using my MuckVac but the volume of debris is too great. I threw on my waders and got in there with my PondShark net and it brought up a ton of cloudy crud and I worried again about harming the fish.

I think most of this stuff has been there since before we bought the house, as we've been pretty diligent about covering the pond with a net to catch fall leaves (abundant here in Bucks County especially with the recent hurricane). The fish did fine over last winter (my winterizing process involves shutting off and removing the pump, removing my UV filter, covering with net, removing/trimming plants, and plugging in my de-icer, as well as Microbe-Lift Autumn/Winter Prep throughout the season).

The former owners (I do not have contact with them at this point) had told us that they had a pond service come out, remove the fish into a holding tank, and then drain and clean the pond. They never told us who they used, and I have searched the yellow pages and internet for local services to do this but have not found anyone.

I am definitely ok with DIY - to an extent - but keep in mind that I work a lot and have 2 young kids, so my free time is very limited, so i'd rather pay someone to do a project of this size than invest the time (and $) into trying to do this myself.

Any input that any of you may have will be greatly appreciated.

 

[sissy]

have you asked neighbors they are always a good source of info may have seen the name on a vehicle .You can google to find companies also and ask them if they have the address on file .Lots of companies have gone out of business also .

 

[sissy]

James ponds is up that way and do you know by chance if it was self installed or custom built .Your realtor is a good source or even the building department or your local business BBB may have names of reliable services .

 

[Phil]

I took the pond tour organized by Center Point Pond this past June. The descriptions of several of the ponds listed that they were "maintained" by Center Point Pond, which I would assume includes a Spring clean out. I went there for all of my supplies this year when I built my pond and even though I did the install myself they were very helpful with both the design and the installation. I don't know how far up into Bucks you are but they would certainly be worth a call. Good luck.

 

[capewind]

If nothing pans out, call some landscapers to ASK GENERAL POND QUESTIONS... Other than taking up your time, most companies wont charge for a free estimate. If you have to, play dumb... you will learn FAST who knows what they are doing, who is bluffing or looking to sell you CRAP that you dont need and who you will be able to count on.