I have looked through as many posts regarding removing muck from the bottom of a pond, but I have not seen anything about ponds in the Pacific Northwest climate. I am hoping that someone might be able to help me with some advice on the "muck issue"

The pond is very small, maybe a 1/4 acre, about 5-6' deep.

The pond is fed by two small creeks and has a spillway.

It was clean and clear 15 years ago and was restocked with Trout around the same time. The trout are no bigger than 3-4" long.

The pond is surrounded by trees that the leaves fall into it every fall.

It has algae growing in it and has a layer of "scum" floating on the top. The cotton woods just added their layer of seeds to the top this week.

There are otters in the pond.

The bottom of the pond has about 1 to 1 1/2 layer of muck in the bottom.

I have been told that there are leaches in the pond, although I have not seen any.

I would like to be able to wade out into the pond without getting up to almost my knees in muck.

Is there any treatments, or fish that I could add, that might help clear up this problem? With temperatures in the mid to upper 30's and 40's in the winter it is hard to figure out what fish could survive over the winter in the pond.

I have read about some type of snail that could help clean it up, and I have read about bacteria also. I am pretty sure that most of the muck is organic.

We have a lot of clay and rocks in the ground here, and I was told that the bottom of the pond was clay and rock 15 years ago when it was still clean and clear.

Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks.

I've heard of various quick fixes but, IMO, it makes more sense to dredge it. However, the problem is that it takes quite awhile for it to dry out.

Look at "Muck Away," a bacterial treatment. I have a new, small, one year old pond that suffers red and live oak leaves falling into it from fall through spring, several times covering the surface and piling up at the wind-blown side. This spring it was fairly mucky, comprising dirt and organic muck and lots of not yet rotten leaves. I also have a heavy fish loading...the fish are fed. Added aerators and that lifting action spread muck and leaves through the water column. If I moved the aerators, more muck distribution could be seen. I got the bacterial treatments for organic bottom (Muck Away tablets) and organic water loading. It's been two months and my water looks great, the bottom is relatively clean, my gravel spawning beds look great. The product claims it can gasify (mostly CO2) and consume two inches of muck per month.

Thanks for the recommendations.

Drying out the pond is not an option as the county here owns the water in the pond; and neither is dredging it. The state of Washington is absolutely ridiculous when it comes to anything with water. The county put in the pond to help with rain water and so they own the water in the pond. The county is a major pain in the behind.

I think that tilapia eat a lot of that stuff

I agree it’s better to re~dig, that’s what I did and I would hire someone to do it! Bacteria and an aerator will reduce the muck too but it takes much longer. If you re-dig you will most likely want to aerate and add bacteria to keep muck down.