Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Help please ! New pond Owner in Ga

Hello all. I am brand new to this website, as well as to the pond world. I am an independent producer for the discovery channel, and even with all of my outdoor contacts in the TV world, I have had the roughest time in the world getting pond advice of any kind. I must say that I have had a very difficult time trying to get any questions answered, and, I have even contacted a supposedly reputable management service that has promised to be here to give me advice for 7 weeks now. They wont even call me back at times so I have given up. I have an app. 1/2 acre pond that is spring fed with a drain placed horizontally on the bottom, constantly feeding water through the spillway. Very nice touch, as the pond was man made. It has been left untouched for 15 years, and I want to be sure that it is where it needs to be.

There is a lot of grass growing in the pond, particulary under the water, and the pond averages 5 feet up until the damn, in which it goes to 10 feet deep. There is leaves and silt galore in it as well.

I was told to put the die in there by a feed store guy, so I did. Then, I was told that may be a mistake and cause a die off .. this was from a pond expert over the phone who never showed up here for a look.

It is stocked with 400 bluegill and 100 catfish. The cat fish were put in there 3 years ago and are 7 inches long, and the bluegill are still minnows. There are also small bass, 100 of them, but there are minnows. There are 10 sucker fish in there as well to eat the grass.

I feed them fish food with high protein to grow them twice daily...but I do not use much food.

I have a 1 HP pump spraying water into the lake 24 / 7 , in which I have been told that could be bad as well...;

I guess I basically need advice...I do not know what to do, but I do know that the fish seem healthy and fast to eat.....

Thanks for any advice you can give me out there....

R. S. White

Welcome to the world of Pond Boss from a fellow Georgian who gets 99% of his knowledge and advice from the smart folks here.

Unfortunately, I'm not a guy who can tell you anything about your current problems but, I just wanted to let you know that you are welcome and you have come to the right place!

Thank You.

What Al said, welcome to the forum! You've found the very place to get ALL of your questions answered by the greatest minds in the industry! Like Al, I'm not an expert either and don't want to make a wrongful suggestion, but the true experts will be along in short time to dissect your issues and give you sound advice.

I will add that if the pond was stocked 3 years ago you are likely seeing their offspring if the fish you are seeing are fingerling size. I would think a 3 year old CC (channel cat) would be bigger than 7 inches.

Anyway, welcome to forum again, very cool to have a Discovery Channel producer on the boards. You should hit up MikeyBoy and talk shop!

wow. thank you....I like this site already....thank you.

ronphotodewd:
As a relatively new pond owner also, This is for your GA pond comparison...
My info: 200 BG's, 100 CCats stocked Feb09. 25 F1 LMB stocked May 09.
The pond is 3/4 acre, aerated(air pump to bottom diffuser type) and the fish(BG, CCats) are fed pellets. My cats are now 17-19" long. Some of the BG are 8 inches. I have removed 9 LMG, 7-11" for balancing. My pond used to be "Bass-heavy" I had several large bluegill, no small BG, and 12-15 skinny bass. I experienced a die-off caused from lack of O2 (phytoplankton die-off) in the summer of 2008. This gave me a chance to restock at a better fish balance, and an excuse to the spouse to spend $$$ for aeration.
I have to remove some of the cats because they are wiping out the forage for the LMG...they are good eating now. They are voracious and striking on spoons, spinners, jigs, and of course worms.
I'm still in search of the "ideal pond" config. for mine...
You can use your county extension agent for water quality testing.
I'm not an expert, nor claim to be, but your fish should be larger if those stocking dates are correct.
My advice, search, read and cross-reference a lot of internet info.
This is the site to get great info. Good luck.

Thank You so much. I am floored with this website.....I did find out that He stocked the catfish before I bought the pond, 8 months ago, so, I think we are about right for the size of them. I didnt know catfish ate grass and such...I am so worried about the die off.....there is a lot of grass in my pond, especially on the bottom....

I guess I do need to get the catfish out of there...I feed the small fish pellets, and, the catfish race in there and eat everything so quick that the others cannt eat.....

Ron, welcome to PB. There are some experts her but most of us are junkies who have fouled up a lot and shared our experiences.

Yes, the dye was probably a mistake but, the flow through should wash it out.

I'm having trouble believing that you are feeding the fish and they are still that small. By now, the bluegill should be 8 to 10 inches and the cats 2.5 to 4 pounds. Could poachers be getting to your fish?

I'm wondering if the flow through is keeping nutrients from establishing. Or, if the grass in the pond is sucking up all of the nutrients.

Bass should never be put in a small pond. But, that can be taken up later.

One of the best fisheries Biologists anywhere is from Georgia. He is Greg Grimes and is the guy that I would hire to do some on site analysis. www.lakework.com

How is the visibility? In other words, how is the water clarity? How deep can you see into the water?

Hi Dave. THANK YOU for your advice. You can see about 6 inches into the water due to the pond die.... I was told to put it in to get rid of all the grass from the past 20 years....the pond is so tiny.... I am SO glad that I found this site as it has been so helpful in the first hour of being a member.....

Thanks
Ron

ps The poaching thing could be possible however, I am putting a fence around it as we speak

Hi Ron, fellow Georgian here (Temple). Dave is right about Greg Grimes - he's about 100 miles
north of you - very knowledgeable and honest. "Shocking" your pond might be too expensive,
but if not, I'd do that immediately, and see what you've got in there. Greg can do this.
After that, everyone will help with the stocking.
Good luck. Love the Discovery channel!!

Thank You. I will call this guy....asap.

Ron

You are about to be in exceptionally good hands Ron. Congrats.

Welcome, Ron! Looks like you're already starting to get some great advice and input on your situation. One key thing in trying to help you figure out what sort of attention your pond needs is determining what your goals are for the pond, i.e., growing a handful of nice sized bass, having big bluegills, using it as a food source, using it strictly for recreational purposes, etc. That dictates a lot of what you'll need to do from a management perspective.

Greg Grimes is a great guy to cover those topics with and he can absolutely help you design and implement a management plan that will get you moving towards your goals in no time. Please post some pics of your place here - we love pics! And keep us updated on what is going on as you get the situation under control.

Best of luck on your new adventure! (Produce a series on it for Discovery!)

Ron, take a look around here at the cycle of life for a pond. The following is a rough generalization.

It starts with Phytoplankton which is the basis for pond life. Phyto is microscopic plant life and depends on light penetration for it's survival and regeneration. It also is the biggest source of oxygen generation and oxygen usage. Phyto is grazed on by Zooplankton which is microscopic animals. Tiny bugs eat the ZooP which are eaten by bigger bugs and then by bigger bugs, then tiny fish and so on up the ladder until we poke a filet knife in one of them.

This is the reason I asked about water clarity. Without light penetration, the phyto cannot form and it is the basis for all pond life. However, with too much light penetration, the plant life goes nuts and can suck up all of the nutrients and then deny phyto a chance to start. Confusing? Yeah, I know. So, the dye can be a 2 edged sword. It can cut off the light that the plants need but also kill off the phyto base that the pond denizens need.

This stuff is Ponds 101. However, I don't want you to have come to one more place that you didn't get help.

How was the water visibility/clarity prior to adding the dye? To test, get a white circular object like the top of a 5 gallon bucket. Poke a hole in it, run a piece of cord through it and tie on a weight. This is called a sechi disk. Lower the disc into the water. When you can no longer see it, measure that depth on the string. A healthy pond should have clarity of 18 to 24 inches with phytoplankton adding the color to the water.

I would get in touch with Greg. Getting him out there could let you sleep nights.

Thats it. I am going to do my best to pitch a show about pond life to my networks....I never had one hint as to how interesting a simple little pond could be......I sincerely appreciate your advice.....I think I am going to get up at daylight and go do that......WOW. Amazing. I am also amazed at how many people talk about this pond guy that I will call tomorrow...He must be great.....again, thank you so much and if you are ever in the atlanta area, any of you, please contact me and we will go to lunch on me....

ron

After you figure out what is actually in your pond; If you need fish, try http://www.owenandwilliams.com/ in Hawkinsville, Ga. I had good service and success w/ their fish. It should be close enough for you to transport any amount you may need (if you can't find a suitable farm/hatchery closer to you).

Ron:

Welcome to PB! It was asked before, but I'll ask again. What are your goals for the pond? If fishing, what do you want to catch? Swimming? Wildlife attraction?

I have a feeling you'll be spending more than a few hours reading here, and in the archives.

If possible, take a look at how to post photos here on the forum, and take clear close-up photos of the weeds/grass that you want to reduce in the pond. With the water flowing thru the pond, it might be hard to keep a plankton bloom going - the nutrients that those little buggers need will be washing out of the pond, minute by minute. While that may seem to be a bad thing, I think it will help you by helping to eliminate the normal Filamentous Algae (FA) problem that most small pond owners have (yours truly included). If you have a hard time keeping a bloom going, you can always add fertilizer that is especially formulated for ponds. I bought mine from Greg, although he's not the only supplier. I just feel that if a person is going to be kind enough to give me free advice, and they happen to sell a product that I can use, I try to repay their kindness by doing business with them.

If you can take pics of the fish as well, we can identify them for you. Good side views are nice.

There are biologists, pond specialists and general pond owners here. A few comedians as well, just don't pay any attention to them, and any glorifying that they spew about GSF (Green Sunfish). JHAP, I just donned the tin foil hat so I'm ready for ya!

You are in good hands here, changes won't happen overnight and you'll soon see why "it depends" rings true for so many situations.

What have you done on The Discovery Channel? It gets watched frequently in this house.

You'll see a lot of acronyms used, here's a link to what they stand for.

Stay tuned, the ride has just begun!

Thanks very much. I will do that.

HI. I went and did what you had told me, and, you cant see but 6 - 9 inches int he deepest part of the pond, yet in the shallow end, you can almost see the bottom......I wonder if there is anything to do to get the die out of there...also, would putting aerators int he pond help in this case..even in the long term if (when) things start dying...I hate the feed store guy told me to put the die in there.....

Hi. Thanks for your post. I started with the show mega builders, 'spanning the harlem' in which my crew and I shot this unique bridge from the day it was a bolt, all the way until they took it to NYC....then, I basically have shot segments for almost everything on there it seems....taking it easy now and trying to enjoy the country living....fearing I am killing my fish slowly ... I want to have the pond turn into a great place to catch fish....and have a catch and release kind of thing for the scouting programs in which I am a big part of...letting the youngsters come and enjoy the pond and property.... I am hopful that there is something I can do to get the pond die out of there.....but I bet I need to get the 'dean' of southern ponds down here and take a look....Thanks for the advice....thanks to everyone....

The dye will exit on it's own over time (maybe 2-3 months)depending upon how much inflow you have. I consider dye as somewhat neutral, equal pros & cons. It all depends upon what is important to you. One application isn't going to damage your eco system. The key is to educate yourself about pond management, set your long term pond goals then be patient and diligent. Quick fixes are rarely the path to long term pond management success.

We are all borderline obsessed with our ponds and by the sound of your posts you're not far behind. Welcome to Pond Boss you'll fit right in here. Being a steward to your land is a life long journey. Enjoy the ride and teach your kids.

By the way, I don't believe that catfish eat grass. If you consider the amount of grass that you have a problem... Look into the benefits of grass carp, that is if your state laws allow them. Aeration is always a good thing especially when dealing with a mucky/leafy bottom. Vertex makes some of the best systems available. Don't forget the photos as you progress!

Look into a lake mower as well, it may help you solve your grass problem.

Ron, I know we are filling your head with more than you may be able to handle, but
don't get overwhelmed. Call Greg and he will get you started on a solid path.
I go fishing down in West Point Lake, I'll call some time when I'm close by...

Hey. Thank You very very much.....

Hi Everyone. Thanks for your kind and prompt advice. I went to the pond this afternoon and fished some in it for the first time....everyone was right about the fish size. I caught 3 one pound plus sized bluegills within a matter of seconds...I had no idea that such was in there.....simply amazing. They were very healthy.

Now, I am sick to my stomach thinking I have killed my fish with this pond die I was told to put in the lake.....

If anyone can send some info my way about such...keep it coming. I also want to extend an invitation to anyone that is around the ATL area to come by and say hello....

ron