Hi all, I hope all in Texas are safe. We live in the Fannett/Beaumont area. For those who aren't familiar, this is about 70 miles east of Houston. We are safe and dry but the same can't be said for most in the area. We rescued my grandfather by boat today. Other than being worn out and tired he was unhurt. I know it's a little early after the storm to be asking pond questions but to be honest, anything to get our minds off it for a few minutes is helpful in the recovery process.

The reason for my post is that we were finally able to make it out to our property today. Our house we are building was dry and intact, but the pond had a major change. Prior to the storm we had a suspended clay issue and I mean big issue.. Our visibility was less than 4 inches. Today when we showed up, the pond had visibility of 20+ inches. The whole area turned into a giant lake with all the ponds in the area (75+ acres in land) and the drainage canal connecting with only the homes above water.

Everything has drained off and our pond now only sits about a foot or so above the level it was at prior to the storm. My question is can I expect the pond to remain clear or was all the fresh rain water what made it clear and I can expect the pond to return to the 4 inches of visibility. It has never had more than four inches of visabiltiy in the last three years. Prior to that I don't know as we have only owned for the three years. It looks amazing right now. I had even reached out to Rainman privately about possible Alum treatments, but if it can stay clear I might have saved some money.

The pond is 3/4 acre. No livestock or animal access. It did have a mudcat issue but we don't catch near as many after some predators were added two years ago.

Just curious what the experts think. Normally after a rain it is worse but today I was expecting the worst and pleasantly surprised. Thanks in advance for any input.



Kevin

I am no expert, but I would suspect that there is some sort of life in the pond causing that level of turbidity. Catfish, carp, etc? Perhaps with the clearing water or the flood, they got up and moved on?

No carp, but I have no doubt that the bullheads played a part in the turbidity. I guess only time will tell if they left with the flood. I'm just amazed at such a drastic change overnight at a rain event when rain normally muddies it up more.

Kevin

If the pond does not stay clear I have decided to treat it and start over as I now have no idea what fish left the pond and what entered the pond. I believe I read somewhere on here where you can treat with hydrated lime only if you weren't concerned with the life in the pond as the ph change will kill most things. I think I will go this route and re stock.

Well, bullheads are messy. The new water clarity will help the bass clean them out! At minimum it may drop their numbers so predators can get a leg up on them.

A few times I've had the same experience with my pond, including this weeks 15” rainfall from Hurricane Harvey. The water is not exactly crystal clear at the moment, but it's certainly more clear than it was and it seems to be improving daily.

The first time it happened the pond was half full of muddy water before it overflowed with a heavy rain, and a week or so afterwards the water was very clear.

Once, within the same day after a heavy rain event the pond's water changed from chocolate milk turbidity to a strange translucent gray color.

Yesterday I noticed that some large water puddles on the property which normally hold muddy water after a rain were full of exceptionally clear water.

I wonder if it has something to do with the composition of the rain water itself. Acid rain perhaps?

(Edit) Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm glad y'all escaped Harvey unscathed, and got your grandfather out.

Gully, Kevin, the rain water likely has a very high salinity as hurricanes often have water blown up out of the ocean instead of clouds formed from evaporated, re-condensing moisture.

Kevin, if you have bullheads, and your pond went underwater and connected with the canal system, you likely have common cap, gar, bullhead, suckers, and any other species in the canal.

Will clarity remain? Unless mechanical action like wind, wave, and bottom feeding fish stir up sediments and/or colloidal clay, it should remain clear.....saltier water is not great for many aquatic plants, but the fish will love it!

Glad you guys are safe!!!!

Threw a brush hog around the pond a few times while getting some water and caught this guy. So we still have atleast one of our bass.

Kevin

Thanks, Rex. That certainly seems like a plausible explanation for a pond which is near the coast; however, as a crow flies my pond is more than 150 miles from the coast.

A couple of other times over the past 6 years the pond's water has cleared after a heavy rain shower which was not even associated with a tropical event, only to be muddied again by runoff from the next heavy shower.

Maybe it has something to do with water temperatures, air temperatures, DO levels, and what-not and everything. lol

It is likely something to do with the chemistry of the water changing significantly. When clay is suspended in the water, it has something to do with how ions attract and repel other particles of clay. When you add Alum for instance, the clay particles clump up, and fall to the bottom. Likely the same thing is happening with the runoff water, salts being picked up, low salinity, etc. Just something has changed enough to settle the clay and likely kill off or flush out the plankton also.

Kevin B,
After things settle down, I wouldn't restock without evaluating further.
Check water chemistry, first. We use Texas A&M's Soil Sciences lab. Link here: http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/files/waterweb1.pdf

While awaiting your results, figure out the status of your fishery. You can hire it done by a professional (I don't know the size of your pond), or you can do it. You need to know all the species, and size classes within each species to make the best decisions.

With as much rainfall as hit that area, and by the description of your flood, I'd be surprised if there wasn't a significant commingling of fish from other sources.

Once you know water chemistry and have a solid idea of your fish population, then you can make better decisions what to do next.