My pond liner had a tear also, we had to remove 40 or so comets, plants, frog and of course all the water. We put everything into 2 large coolers. Got to the tear, which we figured was caused by a branch hitting the bottom of the pond. We patched the tear with a kit that came with our blow up mattress,put a cinder block over it ( cinder block also provides hiding space for fish) filled it back up and after treating the water, put everything back. That was a few yrs. ago and so far so good. The cinder block was also a nice resting place for a potted water lilly. Pond held 450 gallons of water. Hope this helps.
Dawn/Staten Island, NY