Being ignorant about all things related to pond management when I first moved here in March of 2012, I installed an aeration system within 60 days, hell-bent on turning this mess into a healthy BOW/fishery.

June 2012, riddled with FA, Coontail and Duckweed. And I had just installed the system.


Mission accomplished (in my mind):
Sept 2016


With not renewing my lease here I've begun my exit phase, including pulling my aeration system which I did about 3 weeks ago. Since then there seems to be a major digression occurring.

I've had Blue Green Algae before, but nothing like this!
And the photos DO NOT show how bad the entire BOW looks





So is this solely due to a non-aerated BOW? Likely not but I would think it is certainly a contributing factor. And it will be interesting to see what the next few weeks brings.

One thing I do know, is that once this stuff started showing up, the feeding and the fishing came to an abrupt stop!

So as this thread is titled "Should I aerate?" IMO, if done correctly it certainly gets my vote and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

What a difference. Your land lord is a fool to let you leave.

Have you found another place yet?

Wow. Huge difference. Beautiful work with that BOW.

Sorry to hear about the news, Keith - but boy what a difference a few weeks can make. Good photos and good post.

Where are you headed now?

Keith, you're a better man than me. I'd add alligators to the pond before I left.

Need me to send you 50 pounds of fire ants?

Hmmmm, fire ants!

Hmmmmmm Sure is tempting!

CMM & TJ, not sure where I'm heading yet, but I can tell you I know every property that's on the market within a 50 mile radius of Lincoln. I just know I can't live in the city and hoping I can find some affordable land (with or without a home on it).

come down to FL, we can put together one heck of a pond.

what a difference. A true testament to what happens when you manage and actually look after the body of water.
Dave

For a few days after seeing the clumps (above pics) we had some good windy days eliminating the clumps, but still ended up with the entire BOW and water column loaded with these little hairs:


Then Tuesday had some pretty steady rains, which not knowing any better thought it might knock down some of this stuff. But going out yesterday morning to feed, found this again all over the pond:



Still no feeding or biting and honestly don't even want to try, it's so bad.

On a good note, I'm putting an offer on a place today. No pond but a 3 acre area (of 6.5 acres) of what seems to be good potential but there's a lot of research to be done to determine that.

Will the fish survive long-term for how this pond has so seriously digressed since pulling the aeration system? I don't know how they could but that's for my crumlord to deal with once I'm gone. I hate to sound so spiteful, but godspeed on the digression. Maybe then he'll realize it took a lot of management to clean it up.

Keith -

I think this is a great example of the potential pitfalls to running aeration and feeding - if at some point that stops then what might happen to the BOW and its residents? Be it shortage of funds or no juice (power).

This is why I've never put in aeration, chemicals, or a feeder. Tempted at times enough to research and spec out, but then I keep coming back to "just let Mother Nature run the natural order" and so I leave well enough alone.

Keith, praying you get the place you deserve. Your landlord is a fool. When will you know if your offer is accepted?

Basslover, I understand what you're saying but with this pond Mother Nature (and/or lack of management?) may be how it got so bad in the first place, as seen in the first photo I posted above, and I can only imagine had I done nothing. Here's another just 2 months after I moved in (5-2012).

No way I was willing to play the "wait and see what happens". Too excited to have a pond, too impatient to hope for the best, and too many grandiose ideas .


So maybe the answer to "should I or should I not?" is....... wait for it.......

"It depends"

CMM, thanks for the prayers! The offer goes in today at 3pm so hopefully within the next day or two I'll know.
As far as my landlord, I'm now seeing his foolishness as a blessing. Nerve wracking decision but I'm ready for something I can again call my own!

Love that positive attitude! You have so many talents, I know you will be successful at the next place too.

Have you thought yet about what kind of pond you want? Sounds like you will be able to build it how you want it. Change species? Multiple smaller ponds? So many good options.

And, I almost forgot, does the place have a home on it already? Or will you build that too? I mean, really, plan the pond first, you can always sleep in the car until your dam is sealed, right?

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement, Cim, and you're funny, but so right about sleeping in the car. It's called pond priorities, lol.

They have until 10am tomorrow morning to accept or reject, so I'll know more tomorrow but there is a home on the property.

wow!

Keith, Curious on if your offer was accepted or not. Been thinking of you and sending good vibes.

Hey Cim,

Thanks for the good vibes but still no word by 4pm today so I withdrew my offer.

Started getting a bad sense about the deal, so I'm back to searching.

What? Not even a counter? I guess they want to hold on to it for a while longer then!!!

Man that stinks. The waiting game is the worst. I would've thought at least a counter offer like esshup said.

Are you good until you find another place?

Bummer. But, it must mean there is something else out there even better waiting for you.

I can tell you from experience that real estate buying and selling is not a sure thing until you leave the closing table with check or deed in hand.

The seller of that property is a pretty hard-nosed gal (widow), making it clear to her agent that she'll be selling the property "her way". So when she chose to ignore her agent's calls and texts about receiving an offer (without knowing what the offer was) I decided to pull out. She also made it clear she wasn't interested in lower offers which meant asking-price. Apparently she's in no rush to see it sold. She and her husband had a bull semen operation there and bought that place in '07 strictly for their "hired hand" to live at (I had to put that in quotations only due to the hilarity/pun).

peachgrower, I'm good here until March if need be. If I can't find the right place for me, I'll buy a house in a small town somewhere until I find it.

The last home I bought was in '88 and sold it in '08. And John, you're so right!

Another reason I'm ready to leave, is it's killing me to see this pond going backwards to quickly. This was just taken last night and although you may not be able to tell, the entire water column is full of algae clumps:

Keith, you're a much nicer man than I am. I agree with Fireishot but would do much worse. Don't wanna sound like a prick but I am. I would Rotenone it and then add carp, bullhead, dogfish, gar and lots of GSF. I'm hoping it will revert back to what it was when you first leased it. Don't like to wish negative things on folks but I believe your crumlord intended for you to make it much better and when it was as good as you have made it, refuse to extend your lease.
When I dug my pond I wanted it be like it is today(9yrs of learning and slowly repairing the damage I've done) in two yrs. Now my property is kinda hard for me to manage cause of some health reasons. Hate to leave what I've done but wouldn't mind doing it over again with my accumulated PB knowledge. I'm sure when things have played out you will be pleased and have a much better situation than you had leasing.
Best of luck and stay positive, good things happen to good people.

Well, to offer an update, once the algae died off, so did the fish . I first saw them piping for air a week ago last Friday and by that Sunday they began to surface. A complete kill I don't know, I just know the sad sight of seeing so many floaters. I can only guess that for as bad (and thick) as the algae had gotten, once it died off, which was within a week, it caused an O2 crash. It's unbelievable how quickly the pond digressed once I removed the aeration system!

As I had made my decision to not renew my lease in March due to my violent and unstable landlord/Trustee (I hate to give him that much credit calling him a landlord), he showed up on Sunday and completely lost control. Luckily my son and a friend's dad was here or I might not be. Not much scares my son but when you see someone with so much rage you just don't know what they're capable of. This has happened too many times but that was the last one. I'm out!

On Monday morning a guy whom I had met before, also affiliated with this farm (but not a part of the Trust) showed up at my office telling me Jim (the Landlord/Trustee) had admitted he was out of control and asked that he take over the leasing of the farm from here on out. Where was he 2 years ago??? He then asked "what are your main concerns?" I told him that 1. I never see or hear from that man again and that he does not step foot on this property until I leave and 2. that he agree to sign a lease termination agreement. To both he said "done!".

He offered two words: "Thank you and I'm sorry". Thank you for what you've done at the farm, and I'm sorry about Jim and that you had to deal with him. Admitting he's unstable, violent and just shy of crazy. Really?

Unfortunately there's nothing left for me here. That man has caused me so much grief and heartache, that for as much as I love this place I can't stay. Just driving through the gate over the past 3 months has been unhealthy for me. And it's such a shame.

As I thought I had until March to find an acreage I had an offer accepted on a home in a small town just a mile from my folks. They're in their late 70's and with dad's dementia progressing it was the right move for me at this point, and they couldn't be happier. So my acreage/pond plans will have to be put on hold for a few years and that's okay. I'll be close to help the folks and It'll give me time to plan and find the right place. But I sure will miss it!

Since I don't close until December 9th, I've moved everything to dad's outbuilding and will stay with them until closing. I'm not excited about moving twice but it will also give me time to get the new home ready and the folks will enjoy my company and cooking while I'm there .

Over the past 4 1/2 years this place has offered and provided me more pleasure and happiness than I can describe, and I have no regrets whatsoever. From learning about a pond ecosystem to all the work and effort I put into cleaning this place up to what it has become. My greatest and most satisfying accomplishment was of course the pond, satisfying all the goals I set out to accomplish and I owe it all to PB, the forum and all the incredibly generous members who helped and guided me along the way. Also, had it not been for the great people on this forum I would not have gone on the adventure of a lifetime last year. 5 weeks traveling and fishing across the country with Fatih and meeting so many generous and wonderful PB members that I now call friends. Truly an epic adventure that I can still recall nearly every minute of from the time I left Lincoln.

As it's a very busy time right now I will still be checking in periodically, reading and learning more and trying to stay in touch.

Thank you, thank you all for all you do so selflessly for so many!

Much love and blessings and happy holidays to you all!

Keith - Lovin Livin!


The end of Croakers Creek but memories for myself and many others to last a lifetime!

Thanks for sharing all your pond exploits with us. Best wishes for the future and be confident that things will work well for you going forward.

Good luck moving forward Keith

Bummer about the fish kill Keith. I have faith that if you keep looking a new and better pond will be in your future.

It's amazing that a pond could decline so fast! I was considering aeration in my mudpond. Can someone help me understand how it can destroy the natural ecosystem

I think there might be a misunderstanding. The pond deteriorated quickly after the aeration was removed, ultimately, resulting in the fish kill. The pond was a thriving ecosystem for the period of time the aeration was in place.

I understood that the problem occurred when he turned off the ventilation. But was the pond just as bad before he started with aeration? Does that mean that if you start with aeration, you can not stop?

Sorry! Looks like I am the one that misunderstood!

I will let Keith tell his own story ,,,,,

I will say that IMO, if you introduce aeration to a pond to improve water quality and then establish an ecosystem based on that improved water quality, I would expect that bad things could happen if you take the aeration away.

I'm not a pro. Just my thoughts.

Haab, the pond was worse before installing the aeration system (look at the photos in the beginning of this thread), and Bill D was right that the pond deteriorated quickly after removing it, and that it was a thriving ecosystem while in place. Long story short it took a lot of work to rehabilitate this pond and IMO the aeration system contributed to it remaining a healthy BOW. Removing the aeration system simply allowed it to go back to it's natural condition in a highly eutrophic BOW.

Yet I also think this is a very wise statement by Bill:

And thanks guys for the kind words and well wishes! All is good and I'm excited for the next chapter ahead. Including building a front porch, a deck in back and a 30x40 outbuilding/workshop. This time I'll be able to call it mine .