I am raising shiners and fatheads in a 1/4 acre pond for later transfer into main pond. Since built it has been very turbid. I cleaned it up with alum once but returned to mud color by next day. While seining it this summer we discovered that the fish? have dug one to two feet back and 10 inches down under ground all the way around the pond. Just this week part of my garden on one side of the pond collapsed 10 inches into the pond. The other side is lawn. Standing on the grass at edge of pond is really standing over underground cavern. I do have crayfish in there as well which I am trying to catch out.
Has any one ever heard of these baitfish burrowing around like this?
I am not a pro but IMHO it is not the fish.
Do you have subsurface water entering the pond in the eroded areas? This might cause the undercuts as well as the turbidity. Do you have a high water table, spring, etc in that area?
What kind of crawfish do you have? A burrowing species?
Crayfish can do some digging into the banks which may cause sloughing of the sides. It would take a huge number of crayfish to do that much digging. Are the banks not well compacted and soil fairly loose? The minnows/shiners are definitely not responsible for the digging.
I was leaning crawfish just because, if the forage is there, their numbers might explode with no predators present. My thought was Redfishman may not see that many during the day if they are up in the undercuts.
Redfishman, are there any other fish in the pond besides the FHM and the shiners?
How steep are the banks of the pond?
The only other fish in the pond are six tiger muskies about 15". I don't knoqw what kind of crayfish they are , they have yellow streaks on their bellies. The water table is not particularly high , their is a spring but very small , few gallons a minute.
The banks are pretty steep. Thanks for all your replies. I think I will draw pond down a few feet before next seining Will get some pics then