Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management A Mess of A Pond

Hello there, I am new here, I was recommended this page by a permaculture group.

I am not sure where to start, but I have a mess of a pond, and I am afraid of making it messier. See, I am wanting to get ducks on my 2 acre property and let them have access to this pond. This pond has turtles, frogs, visiting heron, bluegill and some bass in it, but is prone to algae blooms, mosquitoes and over grown weeds all along the edges.

I was hoping that maybe adding ducks would help reduce the weeds and mosquito situation, but we do use this pond for pleasure fishing, so I was wondering if maybe you guys could throw some advice my way. I have no idea what I am doing! The pond is 1.7 acres with no kind of filtration or anything like that.

The pond in question, hope this works...

[img]https://photos.app.goo.gl/icxiDSaGNLwrCUHv6[/img]

I believe that ducks will make things worse by making more nutrients available to the water. We generally discourage them on our ponds.

I would say your pond is likely a good candidate for aeration to improve it.

I think in TX you can get Tilapia fish to help with algae and weed control, they are plant eaters. It may take a few generations to really get things under control, as well as a couple of triploid grass carp. Once the weeds are thinned enough for smaller fish to get into the shallows, your mosquito problem should go away. If the weeds are too thick for the fish to get through, mosquitos can thrive.

Don't get ducks, they are messy eaters. Cute, but messy.