new pond needs help

Hi everyone,

I just moved into a new rental house in Northern Arizona. The house has a nice garden with a small molded plastic pond (maybe 3 ft wide by 3 ft long by 2 ft deep?). The pond is very pretty with nice rock landscaping and plants growing around it, but when we moved in, it was empty.

Our landlord has a gardener that comes around every once in a while, and last time she was here, she filled the pond and put some goldfish in it. It looked great for about a week. But then it started to get murkier and murkier. The pond has no filter or aeration or pumps or anything, so now all the fish are dead (poor guys!) and there are mosquito larvae hanging out in it.

Obviously this is not good. The gardener doesn't seem to want to have much to do with it anymore, so I decided to take action and make this pond nice.

My plan is to empty the pond with a bucket (shouldn't take too long) and get a good fresh start with some means of filtering the water and keeping it moving (maybe a little fountain?) to keep mosquitos out. Years ago I had an aquarium so I'm a little bit acquainted with filters and pumps and hoses, but I've never had a pond before, so I was hoping you guys could give me some tips before I head to Home Depot.

Hopefully I can get something in place that will keep my pond looking nice, but not have to spend a lot of money.

What do you think?

edit: here's what the pond looks like, but it's a little smaller

yep, got to have a filter of some sort. Home Depot has a selection as well as the waterfall basin that you could add instead of the fountain to keep the water moving. Add plants then wait to weeks as with aquariums then add a couple of small fish. I woulldn't try to spend a lot of money because you are renting. Having this pond clear and working is going to make you wanone of your own and much bigger! Good luck.