This may sound stupid, but here goes. Would running a drag through my pond bottom be any benefit for pond muck? Thanks.

I would say yes, BUT only if there is oxygen at the pond bottom. i.e. as in an aerated pond.

If the muck is in anoxic water, no; you could do more damage than good - releasing quantities of hydrogen sulfide into the pond, and that is toxic to the fish.

The pond is aerated by a windmill.

IMHO I would do very small areas at a time so the fish always have plenty of safe water area available.

Depending on how much wind you have at that time I guess. I had a clients pond winterkill because of low wind for 2 weeks.

I agree, small areas every other day to be safe.

Hi John

Aeration can help at least keep up with organic buildup by eliminating stratification of your pond, introducing O2 to your bottom layers. This enables aerobic bacteria to thrive in new zones and they are significantly more effective consuming organic matter than their anaerobic cousins. I'm not a aeration expert so I don't know what to expect regarding muck elimination, but I believe aeration should assist in at least keeping up with new buildup.

How to remove existing muck? I've only used mechanical removal [trackhoe] - it's expensive and sloppy and one can risk damaging the integrity of the clay liner - so it's risky, too. While I have no experience using bacteria, there exists an entire school out there that support it's effectiveness. I spoke with a guy at Newtechbio.com [where I buy my chemicals] and he raved on it's efficacy for 20 minutes. Of course, that's his job to sell products - I didn't purchase any, but learned a lot. Hopefully someone can chime in with some scientific evidence regarding bacteria applications.

What I am wondering is if I stir up the muck and with the air if it will help the anaerobic bacteria to thrive. Don't over time the muck gets compacted and not allow the bacteria to work? Just wondering.

It all depends upon if the aeration system is working well enough to keep O2 levels up at the bottom of the pond.

Keeping the O2 levels up won't help the anaerobic bacteria as that bacteria is the type of bacteria that is in water that is devoid of oxygen. Aerobic bacteria thrives in the presence of O2, and breaks down muck faster than anaerobic bacteria.