Here is a recent pic on my middle GA property. It seems no matter what the conditions or time of year, my pond water maintins a brownish tint. Here is some pond info: Pond is fed via multiple springs and watershed, 8-10 feet deep accourding to the prior owner, about 50 years old, not many trees near the edge, surrounded by grass. I don't think it has been managed on any level for over a decade, minimum. It has stunted bass, bluegill, and carp.
Cause?
Cure?
I'm not sure I want to add gypsum, alum, etc. to try and clear the pond immediately as I suspect I may be draining it and digging out 50 years of muck.

Thanks in advance.

Any catfish? How many carp? Both will work the bottom and stir up mud if there are enough of them. Had the same problem in my biggest pond due to too many CC. Muddy all the time. Had it dug out after it dried up a few years ago and didn't restock any catfish. Now it looks normal.

Might not be mud at all. It could be a form of algae that appears brown. This happens to my flow through trout pond if I don't run well water through it in the summer.

It looks like mud in the picture though.

Try jar test - see if particulate settles.

If it does, you have watershed erosion, wind/wave action, or fish species causing turbidity. Solution - Drain, seine, excavate, start over something special from scratch.

If it remains turbid, choose flocculant [Lime, Alum, Gypsum] and incrementally add until water clears. Record amount needed to clear, extrapolate dose needed to clear water following pump down. Will have to estimate remaining water to determine correct amount of flocculant.

All great advice so far, and I might throw out soil content as a possible cause also. High levels of iron ore in the soil can stain the water and give it an almost turbid look.

A jar test as TJ mentioned, and a secchi disk test would be the first 2 things I tried. They're both easy to do, and they could at least eliminate some possible causes.

So I have a question. Would a small dose of something like Cutrine in a jar test help determine if the color was from some type of suspended algae?

Al, could a person just put the jar in a dark place absent sunlight?

That's a great question. I don't remember algae in a jar test ever being addressed before.

Jar with planktonic algae would have to be in the dark for several days to a good week or more for all types of algae to die and drop out.

To perform a turbidy jar test, collect a sample of pond water in a clear glass or plastic jar. A larger jar of 1 quart or even a gallon is best. Allow the water to sit undisturbed for 24, 48 and 72 hours. Then collect another identical sized jar of pond water. Visually compare the water in both jars. If the first jar is significantly clearer than the second jar of water then when the water in the pond is undisturbed the suspended particles will settle to the bottom. If water in both jars are close to the same clarity then the suspended particles will not easily settle and you will have to use a water clarifier or you have an algae phytoplankton (bloom) and/or a bacteria bloom in the water.

Carp are likely the cause of the brown water in above picture. As few as 6-10 would easily cause that amount of turbidity.

No catfish reportedly in the pond. Not sure how many carp. I have seen close to a dozen swiming near the surface last May. A high iron content may be a distinct possibility. My parents property in the same county was high in iron as the metal barn and trees showed the iron from the irrigation system. I'll try the jar next month when I return to the property.

Thanks for all of the advice.

A dozen or more common carp are very likely the cause of turbid water. Assuming common carp and not grass carp. If you collect a quart of pond water in a clear glass jar and let it set for 2-4 days and it becomes gin clear with sediment on the bottom then you can be sure it is the carp causing the turbidity.

I'm looking forward to conducting the test. If it is the carp, I'll be leaving them off the restocking list. I'm only guessing they were stocked to control algae. Not sure what species they are right now.

You mentioned carp - that's the answer (at least I think so). They feed from the bottom and get silt and muck up mixed into the water.
If you don't need them much then try to remove this kind of fish. I suppose that they are rather large and gill net with certain mesh size could do the thing without harming smaller fish.

My pond gets clearer when winter comes and carp becomes inactive.

I just returned from visiting my GA property. I put a quart of water in a jar and it did not clear up. No sediment on the bottom even after 2 weeks sitting undisturbed. Looked at other ponds in the area and they are also a brown tint. I'm guessing a high iron content.

I respectfully disagree. Iron will settle out as it has a higher specific gravity than water. My guess is you may be dealing with very small clay particles (colloidal clay that is negatively charged) that are natural in your area that won't settle out. In the state of Oklahoma there is an area where all the bodies of water will not settle out and stay reddish brown indefinitely. It's due to the soil in the region.

I would try something to bind the particles and cause them to settle if this truly is not a form of planktonic algae or animals stirring up the bottom.

Have you tried adding a small amount of alum you can get at the grocery store to the jar? Bill Cody can tell you if you're dealing with planktonic algae if you send him a fixed sample.

Agreed Cecil 100% I see this often in E NE ponds - try some alum or lime and start with very minute qty and stir in and see if the particulate flocs and drops to the bottom.

I know this sounds dumb but I tried grinding up tums and it cleared my pond water right up in the quart jar sample.



Pat W

That doesn't sound dumb at all! Sounds like a clever use of whatever calcium carbonate source you had on hand at the time.

I've limed my production ponds after draining and the lime made the standing water that was stirred up exceptionally clear.

Ag lime has also helped clear up my ponds. We are also in an area that some of the clays (not all) will stay permanently suspended without some help with flocculation of the clay particles.

In my experience carp can be controlled with bass. I was using a certain amount of carp for FA control and their off springs never had a chance to grow up. I know this because I could count them at feedings for over a decade.

But carp can really muddy the water. I was kayaking in a clear reservoir and paddle into a 5 acre cove that was so muddy that when I stuck my paddled into it to see how deep it was, it was only 6 inches where I thought it might be 6 feet. Every now and then I would see a carp jump, so they were thick.

Looking at your picture it would seem you have enough grass to keep the pond from becoming that muddy from run off. If you do a jar test for mud let us know. My guess is mud from carp and CC. A 50 year old pond should have weeds growing in it, so the sun is completely blocked by what ever it is.

John, I can't see how bass could control carp offspring in muddy, turbid water since they need to see their prey. But, I suppose if you can see your fish feeding, the water can't be too muddy or turbid.

Rex, sight is only one variable in LMB foraging.
Sound and smell is very important IMO.
Cheers,
George









ch

If it is clay particles, I will probably wait until after I drain and dig out the pond to worry about clarity. The very deepest part of the pond was a measly 10 ft. Most of it was 4-6 ft., much of the narrow end only 2 ft., but no problem with aquatic vegetation.

Rainman it wasn't my intention to say that bass could control carp minnows in really muddy water. My water during those years had a clearity of 1 1/2 feet or so. The coloration was tan green which I believe was a bloom & mud mixture. My total carp population was 26, 6 Israeli's and 20 KOI. I had a good LMB population and some CC. I put in 4 trash can to promote CC young but never got any. To me, the bass & CC had to be cleaning up all the minnows. I had hoped to get off springs of KOI, Israeli and CC. I saw young bass growing and bluegills but not the others I mentioned. Even though I wanted more Israeli I also worried that the Israeli would populate and take over the pond, but the 6 always showed up for feeding and never any more. You can understand the KOI young being picked off but not the Israeli young.

Food for thought:

"The Largemouth Bass has the same five senses as most other game fish. Sight, sound, smell, taste and the lateral line. The Largemouth Bass uses each of these different senses to different degrees depending mostly on the water clarity and environment that they live in.

Smell and Taste
Smell and taste are likely the least used senses of the Largemouth. They have a poorly developed sense of smell due to the low number of olfactory folds contained in the nasal passages. The nasal contains 15-20 of these folds compared to 120 or more in some other game fish. Unless the water is very dirty or murky the bass will not rely on this sense nearly as much as others. The sense of taste is a bit more difficult to measure. Although many anglers use scented lures, sprays, gels or concoctions to doctor up their favorite lures, this practice is mainly to cover human scent more than to entice the fish to bite. But, I do believe that by adding scent to a lure it makes the fish hold on to the bait longer than they would without the scent or taste.

Hearing
The hearing of a Largemouth Bass is a bit better the smell or taste but it is still not their main sense. They do not have “external” ears like a human but rather they have inner ears. These inner ears are made up of tiny bones that can pick up even the most subtle of sounds such as the click of a crayfish. It is for this reason that many anglers add rattles or some other means to add sound to their lures and baits.

The Lateral Line
The lateral line of the Largemouth Bass is much more utilized to find prey and hide from predators. The lateral line is basically a line of pores that extends from the gills to the tail along both sides of the fish. These pores are actually nerve endings that can sense very minor vibrations. By sensing these vibrations the bass can determine not only if prey or food is present but also help them detect if there are predators in the area. It is amazing that a bass can even tell how big something is through theses nerve endings. When sensing prey, the bass can detect them at some distance and they can swim in closer until they can use their best sense, sight, to move in for the kill.

Sight
The sight sense is the most used sense of the Largemouth Bass. In clear water they are able to see upwards of 30 feet. In dirty water it is much less and that is where the other senses kick in. The position of the eyes is key in this sense, a bass can see in every direction except back and down. The bass is also able to see colors very vividly. Many lures contain the color red, this make sense due to the fact that it not only seems like blood but the color red is also the easiest color to see up to about 10 feet deep. In water deeper then 10 feet bright colors are easier to see."

Source: bestbassfishinginfo.com