Originally Posted by esshup
Welcome to the forum. Any freshwater aquarium test kit will do. Alkalinity, pH, Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite are the big ones. Dissolved O2 is even bigger, but I don't know of any inexpensive, quick and accurate test equipment for that. My O2 meter was between $1,500 and $2,000..............

The fish could have died from an O2 crash years ago too. Unlikely that ALL the fish would have died, but you never know. Typically some small fish will survive.

Cutting the trees back will help with the muck, less leaves going into the pond reduce the amounts of organics that go into the pond.

Throw some Fatheads in there, 100 or so Redear Sunfish, and 300-400 Bluegills. Then next Spring stock 30 3"-4" Largemouth Bass. You will probably have to go pick up the Largemouth somewhere, that is too small of an order to have delivered without a delivery fee.

Have you ever seen Watermeal or Duckweed on the pond in the late summer?

I haven't seen anything like that so far. I'll order some test strips from Amazon to get a general Idea of where I'm at. Thanks