Goldfish are either quite robust or very fickle. You can drive them around in a plastic bag when you first buy them & they really don't get fussed, but introduce something new into their environment & they tend to freak out & hell, it's possible for the little buggers to die from the stress!

Therefore introducing a sizable quantity of sand into the pond they call home is probably not the best idea.

The area around the pond is nicely covered with plant-life including some very cool palms & the previous owner installed a sprinkler system, which also has one nozzle spraying water directly into the pond. Leave it all running for a few minutes & everything gets a good drink & the pond's water level rises for the fishies.

I plugged in the hose after I got home from work & ran inside to change my clothes. A few minutes later, I walked back outside to see water flowing everywhere it shouldn't. Upon turning off the water & inspecting the source, the first section of the watering system had blown out, sending a jet through the ground & pushing sand directly into the pond.



The fish had already retreated to the very edges where the duckweed held back the sand & they definitely weren't happy with the situation. One was even squirming about & doing back-flips, while the others looked on trying to work out what the hell was going on.

After stupidly thinking the sand would fall to the bottom & waiting way too long, I eventually took notice of the distress of the fish & started bucketing the water onto my lawns & other plants while refilling the pond with fresh water.

Dozens of buckets later, it was possible once more to see the rocks on the bottom. It still took a couple of days for the remaining sand to settle & the fish have since forgiven me & are more active than before the disaster. Of course, they may be anticipating the next onslaught! (I was going to write that I was keeping them on their toes, but that just would have been silly!)