BAK, Welcome to Pond Boss...tons of good info and helpful folks here. Someone should be along soon with good advice with regards to your issue. When you have some time, post some pics of your project.
Another welcome. I don't know about Gypsum. Amazing what a difference water makes. I presume the full pic is from before it was pumped. Did you do anything to make sure there were no hiders in the mud?
Do nature a favor, spay/neuter your pets and any weird friends or relatives.
I have a small, 80" diameter circle 16 feet deep. I drained it with a Trash pump last weekend to get rid of a million tiny crappie & blue gill. It is dry and lifeless now.
I have had trouble with suspended clay for three years. Last year I used alfalfa to clear it, but had to add more after each rain. I have a dump trailer bringing two yards of granulated gypsum tomorrow. The pond is dry, how should I best add the gypsum?
Also have a 2" well to add water and a Thomas pump for aeration. I don't aerate aggressively for fear of churning. The air pump is primarily used to airlift water from the well. Unsure if this is important to applying gypsum.
BAK, I am curious to know how you arrived at the amount of gypsum to add to your pond? The conventional way that I know of is to have the pond full of water with the clay suspension and turbidity present. A gallon jar of the turbid pond water will then have a measured amount of gypsum dispersed into the water and the floc (clarity) is monitored. If the water has not cleared, then add another measured amount of gypsum. This is done until the water clarity meets your satisfaction. You then will need to know the approx. volume (in gallons) of the water in your pond. With that, a calculation can be made as to how much gypsum will be required to clear your turbidity or clay suspension. Check out the link below. Further down in the download, it will explain in detail the jar testing method about how much gypsum to use to clear up your pond.
Wow those are some steep sides, I can see the clay sloughing off. I have a pond with some sides that are nearly 1:1, and when I drained and seined it the same thing happened.
If you are convinced your fish are all dead, I'd refill and if your turbidity persists contact Rex or Rainman from the forum and have him come down and perform an alum treatment. If there is any water left I'd treat it all with Hydrated Lime to spike the PH to 11 and ensure all fish are dead before refilling.
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Depending on your goals, maybe get some structure in there...
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
BAK, Structure is a necessity...I input limestone, Christmas trees, PVC structures made with 5 gal buckets, and made vented gutter drain pyramids for structure. There are a lot of ideas here on Pond Boss if you have time to peruse the archives. Cedar trees work well if you have some on your property that you can cut down, as well as rock structures as mentioned earlier. Good luck with your water clarifying project. Please post what you learn in the process...and as always, pics are worth a thousand words...
Question for experts, Now that his pond is dry, would it be helpful if he planted quick growing grass? to have a root system over the clay or would just add gypsum/lime be sufficient? I would think that even a shallow cover of grass would hold a lot of that clay down even after the rains and water come back..and even when its dead and gone as the root systems may stay in place for a while.
I'm glad you asked. My wife says we have a fish problem. The HSB we have checked were all 20-22" and fat like the one I uploaded. We see them feed on young BG. But there are thousands, perhaps ten's of thousands of BG in there. I have a small well that adds some water year round. I caught some people taking some HSB a few weeks back, unsure how many are left. Pond is small, we started w 100 BG and 26 HSB from Overton's. I wonder if the fresh water has the bluegill over producing.
Did you prosecute the thieves? I believe I would have. It's expensive to feed a bunch of fish.
I'm glad you asked. My wife says we have a fish problem. The HSB we have checked were all 20-22" and fat like the one I uploaded. We see them feed on young BG. But there are thousands, perhaps ten's of thousands of BG in there. I have a small well that adds some water year round. I caught some people taking some HSB a few weeks back, unsure how many are left. Pond is small, we started w 100 BG and 26 HSB from Overton's. I wonder if the fresh water has the bluegill over producing.
Can I ask how you caught them? And were the HSB alive or dead?
Perhaps some trail cameras, signage, etc. might help deter future thieving?