The answer to your question depends on the size of your pond. With a low stocking ratio your fish will be fine. If you have lots of fish relative to the size of the pond, you might have a problem. If your pond is more than three or four hundred gallons, you are probably fine until the water warms up.

Darbygurl, the first thing is, Don't Panic!
Your fish will be okay for a few days or even more.
It all depends on the size and depth of your pond and whether it is clean i.e. not full of decomposing leaves and other debris.

Pond water during winter, contains much more oxygen than that of a warm summer pond. The thing you have to keep an eye on is, a possible dangerous build up of ammonia in the water, which could be detrimental to your fishes lives.

Should your pond freeze over, do not try making a hole in the ice by smashing it with a hammer or any other heavy object. The shock-waves from the hammering can damage the fishes hearing or internal organs and can even kill them.

If you do not have a pond electrically powered de-icer.
A pot of boiling water placed on the ice and allowed to melt through [with frequent top ups] will make a hole large enough for gas exchanges.
You can replace your pond pump at your leisure.

If you are interested there are many posts about winterising and pond up-keep during winter. Do a search on winterising or pond de-icers or ponds in winter.
Also, there is an excellent article in the FAQ section, about various methods of venting and gas exchange of a pond.
"Horton"
P.S. you have e-mail

thanks so much for your replies, Larry and Horton!
Truly appreciated!
I will stop panicking! : )

pond is a drop-in one from lowe's (one of the larger ones)--maybe 125-150 gal. 9 fish. I put a net over it when leaves started coming down in sept... tried as best I could to pick leaves out by hand before that. there is some muck in there but you can see the bottom, and we do still have some plants that are semi-green, and some floating oxygenators (forget the name...not parrot feather) that are still hanging in there.

I bought a water test kit a couple months ago and checked today... all test patches look fine (not sure about ammonia levels).
I will check on deicing articles- (also glad to know about not making a hole in the ice with an object...I had no idea about the shock wave issue! thanks, Horton!

thanks again both for your kindness and help!!

Darbygurl,What a pleasant reply. Thank you, it is so nice to receive a response, such as yours.
Sounds like you have taken care of business properly and kept the pond clean, before winter came along.
I think you and the fish should be okay.
Take care,
"Horton"

A few things, I think 9 goldfish in that size pond is pushing it, especially for long term care. They will be ok for a year or two, but they can get > 10 inches long, and thats a lot of waste in that size pond.....expand soon.

If oxygen levels fall, (noted by fish gasping at the surface like they are trying to eat, but there is no food), then do one of the following:

Add a sprinkler nearby, the falling water which is colder will have more oxygen and as it hits the pond water, it will provide some surface agitation to get even mroe oxygen in. Problem: the pond will overflow.

Add some hydrogen peroxide. WHen hydrogen peroxide comes into contact with water or light, it become water and oxygen. Adding small amounts will increase the oxygen content of the water temporarilly; I would advise doing this in extreme conditions (temps over 100F and no other methods). Problem: overdose is possible, I can't remember the recipee/dilution, so double check online somewhere.

Add an oxygenator (airstone-driven) that runs on batteries for the evenings since oxygen levels fall at night as submerged plants do not photosynthesize (release O2) but respire (release C02). Problem: Batteries will run out eventually.

Buy a cheap submerssible pump and teach neighbors how to use it so if it happens again, you can at least oxygenate the water while you fix the filter system.

The filter does not really do anything in the winter except move water, which helps the water stay oxygenated and keeps ice from forming up to a degree. As said, cold water in winter holds more oxygen, so there is no reason to panic short term whatsoever. Ice would be the biggest worry now if the coldspell hits you this weekend.

Make a bubbler:

1 two outlet air pump (Walmart)
2 air stones (those blue ones)
2 5 foot lengths of tubing
2 anti-syphon devices (sold with the aquarium stuff)
1 rubbermaid shoebox or other plastic box with lid
electric tape (if you think you need to wrap anything)
large brick or block (to set the rig on it to keep off the ground)
plastic or scrap rubber liner (to keep out snow/rain but not air)
rock to place on top (to weigh it all down if windy)

Cut a hole on one end of the plastic box and fish the elecric cord of the air pump out that end. On the other end of the box make two holes big enough (or slightly bigger to allow more air) to fish the tubing through. Place the air pump in the box and hook up the tubing to the outlets and snake the plug out the other end. Put the lid on the box, wrap the whole box in plastic or rubber (not air tight but secure). I leave the ends tapered downward but partially open on my bubbler. The object is to keep water and snow out, but not air. Place the wrapped box on top of a few bricks to keep it off the ground and put a rock on top to hold it in place. You can use an extension cord, but make sure you use a GFI outlet. The end of the extension cord and the air pump plug can be wrapped up inside and placed on top of the box before you wrap it up in the rubber or plastic, so rain or snow does not get on it.

Put the airstones on the ends of the tubing that is hanging out of the box (put the little anti-syphon devices on the tubing up near the box) and run the tubing into your pond near the bottom (about 12 to 18" down). I like to twist them together a bit so they are close together (concentrates the bubbles). Plug it in. This should keep a hole in your pond most days. In very frigid weather, or extended cold, you might get an ice bubble or dome, but you can melt that with warm water or just let the air gurgle under it. Most times the air finds little cracks and crevices to slip through around the edges of the pond, but keep an eye on it.

If your pond is below the frost line the fish will go there and not freeze, but you do need some type of opening if your pond will freeze on top all winter. Air bubblers work very well except in continuously frigid weather of very cold zones. In those situations you need a deicer too and having a pump just under the surface works well too (unless it bites the dust like yours did).

For the money you can't beat home-made bubblers IMO.

Good luck.

Bubblers work great in your zone.

This is just an example so you won't worry so much. I do not advocate this as a way to raise precious fish.

I set up a 500 gallon stocktank last March. I had no electricity available so there is no moving water or filtration. I added a few goldie babies I had wintered over in an aquarium in the house and some extra water lilies that were destined to the compost heap. I have thrown out several inches of ice several times so far this winter.

I go to work at 6:30 each morning so I don't open a hole most days. It is still 3 months til spring here so I don't know if they will make it the whole winter.

I would never do this with my precious goldfish that are 6 years old now but the few fish in there all summer multiplied and are alive today. I did water changes weekly all summer and replace water when I remove the ice this winter. There are some elm leaves still in there from the fall.

Were do I buy an oxygenator (airstone-driven) that runs on batteries?

All I can find are the solar powered ones. I don't see how that would be enough since it will not operate at night.

Rita, I sent you an email thru GW. Post back here if you did not get it. Dianne

I did get it thanks! :-))

For ongoing help with goldfish, Koi, aquariums and ponds, with our very own disease diagnosing & 911 treatment expert, visit our informative website for goldfish owners.

Here is a link that might be useful: AquaPuppies - A goldfish Community

I woke up this morning and my pump was not working, guesing it went out last night.How long will my goldfish be able to live?I can not replace it for two days till i get paid.Are there any ways i can give oxygen to my fish untill i get a new pump?

My spouse had 15 three inch common goldfish in a 450 gallon tank for about six months without running the pump. It froze frequently and much of January was frozen continuously. She did not break the ice. All 15 fish seem to be happy now.

I ha e a 295 gal, getting 2 small goodies, do I need a filter?

Pumps and filters are useful but not necessary as long as no other severe damage isn't being done from some accidental source. I have two ponds. One has a pump that is almost always running and another pond without any pump or filtration. Both were started ~10 years ago. The more uncared for pond mostly maintained fish as well as the filtered pond. However, I accidently drained it twice, but the fish loss was from my serious errors and not a lack of pump or filtration. I have had complete freeze over on several years without major problems.

As long as your pond was otherwise healthy, you probably needn't worry for years.