Spring is a crucial time, not only for sowing seeds, pruning to make way for new growth, rejuvenating lawns and preparing vegetable patches, but also for preparing your pond for the new season, as the rise in temperature brings about key changes in the water.

If you follow some basic guidelines, you can ensure a healthy balance of your pond in the next few months.

Give your pond a spring clean before the weather warms up, removing sediment with a pond vacuum and problem plants such as blanket weed with a net or winding it round a stout cane.

Start to feed your fish in early spring - there are many brands of fish food available and floating pellets and flakes are popular because they encourage the fish to the surface where they can be seen.

Only feed the fish once every two or three days initially, increasing the rations as the water warms up. Don't overfeed them because this may lead to disease. Fish will also feed on live food, such as gnat larvae, but you'll need to supplement this with high protein foods such as white worms or frozen live food.

Cut back old marginal vegetation from around the pond and contain vigorous perennials by planting them in aquatic plant baskets and topping them up with a layer of gravel to prevent fish stirring up the compost.

You should give your pond filters a spring clean by gently rinsing any biological media (material), often consisting of black rings, in a bucket of pond water and spraying off foam sponges under the hose. Biological media should never be washed under the hose as the chlorine contained in the water will kill any beneficial bacteria.

Lastly, keep a close eye on your fish during this period to allow you to react quickly to any signs of ill health such as white spot, fin rot and ulcers.