We've got 17 Acres of water, 8 ft at deepest. I was gone this week and came back home to a muddy pond. It was 4-5 ft. visibility when i left - it usually doesn't get REAL clear - but now it is 6 inches to 1ft. We had some rain, but not enough to put 2 inches in my pool, so that's not enough to stain it. No cows in the water, it's not catfish.
The wind was relatively light this week compared to the previous 3 weeks and there really isnt enough exposed clay to cause a problem there.
Does the pond "turning over" sometimes cause this?
Or it sounds like from reading that maybe this is an algae bloom? The water is like chocolate milk - not greenish. Although I am seeing some new green algae on the surface near the shore in spots.
How do you tell if its algae?
thanks

Mine looks about the same. I think it is mainly due to high winds and rain. Should start to settle out over next 30 days if weather patterns slow down, but could have high winds and heavy rains again this week...

Turnover happens every year so its not really a phenomenon. Basically during the summer the cooler more oxygenated water is lower. The layer of water that has the best temperature and best oxygen (to put things simply) is called the thermocline.

The thermocline is where many fish suspend during the summer.

When turnover happens in the fall, it basically reverses, the lake well... "turns over" the colder water is on top the warmer on bottom. This is because water is less dense the colder it gets (why ice floats) combined with colder weather cooling the top quicker etc.

The lake your speaking of, I would HIGHLY doubt it has turned over this early.

How do you adjust?

I'd go read the "fall transition" thread for some great ideas.

Here is the thermocline archive.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...true#Post370094

Mine is exactly the same and has been for over a month since we have been getting the rains. Coffee milk color and visibility of only 6 inch at best. water temp this morning after 2 inch rain last night is 64 degrees. Cold front the other morning 8am surface temp had gotton down to 55.2 degrees. Don't believe it is mud but more of some type algea bloom. Think I'll run a "jar" test and watch for mud particles. I will report back.

James mine is olive green with about 6” visibility also.... fishing sucks.... mine is still down about a foot... but coming up

Cold water is MORE dense than warmer water. I can see how one could conclude differently when ice enters the discussion, but cold water sinks.

Now, ice is a strange form of water. It is actually less dense than water, but not directly related to it's temperature, but more of the fact that it is frozen. Something to do with the hydrogen bonds pushing the molecules farther apart which makes it less dense than water.

I've exhausted my knowledge on the topic and should stop before I start talking out of my ears.

Pat, I'm still down about 16 inch and no doubt even the cnbg feeding has gone way down. A lot has to do with visibility and them seeing the food in my opinion. I need a true gully washer to flush water over the spillway I believe to clear things up.

I hear ya James, think the water is nice and fertile causing the heavy bloom. Sure can’t catch any BCP with 6” viz....or anything else for that matter

One of my neighbors had his small pond turn over and he lost all his CC some up to 12#