Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water Muddy Water in CA

Hello - I am new to this site. I do not know yet how to post a question, but it is very similar to this one. My pond is about 1/4 acre with the deepest being 5 feet. It is nothing but runoff, but with a trickle in summer with a hose, it keeps water all year. It has been fairly clear until last year. Now it is muddy and I can only see fish if they are 6 inches from the top. I have feeder goldfish that are now koi size, billions of bluegill and probably a fairly large number of lg. mouth bass. I think my pond is extremely overpopulated. Also, I have corrals above the pond that has runoff feeding into the pond. I clean the corrals, but can't get everything. I'm thinking of letting the pond dry up, save the goldfish and mosquito fish (I know you are all probably thinking I'm an idiot at this point), but the bluegill and bass are of no use. The pond is, like I said, runoff water and I wouldn't eat anything that I caught. This is strictly a pond for enjoyment. Also, I have never siphoned or dredged the pond in the 6 years that I have owned the property. There is a lot of clay soil around here. Any advice would be helpful. I'm sorry to post on somebody else's post, but can't find how to post my own question. Ann

Ann, I see you got it figured out. Great!

Ann, get a clear glass jar. On second thought, get two jars. Take a clean sample of the water (don't scoop the jar on the pond bottom), and set it on the counter for a couple of days. Don't move it. If the water clears up, and there is sediment on the bottom of the jar, then something is stirring up the pond bottom (most likely the goldfish). In the 2nd jar, add alum to it a teaspoon full at a time and stir it, then leave it sit for a while. If it's suspended clay, at some point the alum will cause the clay to precipitate out and settle to the bottom.

If the water is greenish colored, and doesn't clear, then it's a plankton bloom from too many nutrients (fish poop and runoff from the corral).

Or it could ba a combination of the two.

Once we find out what the jar test results are, then we can direct you towards a solution.

In the meantime, try reading this:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=124005&page=1

Hello Ann and welcome to Pond Boss!

Believe me, it took awhile to figure it out. LOL.
I will get the two jars and water samples. Is the Alum the same alum that you can get at the grocery store?
Our pond has water lilies and some pond grasses by the "dam". Normally it has a lot of vegetation in the middle by now, but there is none. Last year I pulled a lot of it out. filled a small boat 3 times. I'm thinking I have really messed things up here. Is there a way to get rid of the bluegill? They are way too prolific! When the horses are out, they do get in the pond and splash around. Of course that leaves it murky, but it has always cleared up by the next day. Last year we did have the green algae "bloom" I think they call it. We don't lose fish and everything in the pond appears OK.

I have the two jars of pond water. They are probably 1/2 gal and I put 2 teaspoons of alum (from my spice cabinet) in one and stirred it up. Will leave it for several days. I'm not sure if the two alums are the same. If not, please let me know and I will get the right alum.
Ann
p.s. I read the link sent and saw the pictures. The second picture looks very much like my pond water.

Ann, look at that thread that I linked to. I believe that the alum will work quickly, even faster than a few days. I believe it's the same stuff, although for a pond you can source it a lot cheaper than at the grocery store. But I haven't had to deal with muddy water yet so I'm far from being an expert!

The only way to get rid of the bluegills (BG) is to drain the pond and kill it with rotenone or hydrated lime. Adding a few more LMB will reduce their numbers.

I did look at that link. Amazing! This morning the two waters are still the same. No changes in either jar. I'll get the PH tested.
We will measure the pond today so that we at least know what size of an area we are dealing with. I appreciate all the help. Ann

See if your pond is on here - http://acme.com/planimeter/ You can measure it from the computer.

Cool! This is what it read:

498.3 m² / 0.04983 hectares / 0.0004983 km² / 5363 ft² / 0.1231 acres / 0.0001924 mile²

On an average, I'd say that the pond is 4' deep, maybe 5'.

Going by that, you have slightly more than a one tenth acre pond.

pH will vary with the time of day. If you see no settling in the jars by now, I'd add more alum to the alum jar until it precipitates out. I'd keep adding more 1/2 hr. apart and see what happens.

yesterday I added the alum, 1t at a time, 1/2 hour apart for 2 1/2 hours. No change this morning. We ordered a pond PH test kit which should be here by Friday. The water looks like a weak, brown tea.
In the meantime, we will be netting bluegill and taking them to a neighbors pond that is much larger than ours and full of bass.
We also have literally hundreds, possibly thousands, of bullfrog polliwogs. There is a lot of "life" in that little pond. I tried to attach a picture of the water samples and the pond, but couldn't do it.

Today, Thursday, the jars are much clearer. The plain one has settling on the bottom. The one with alum has the same clarity, but not much settling.
The pond smells like a normal pond, nothing is dying, and the waterlillys are healthy and blooming. I think the muddy effect has to be from the polliwogs, horses, and overall life in the pond. The ground is probably still perking into it as well although the small seasonal creek is no longer feeding into it. I do not think it has a spring feeding it and is strictly runoff. Being that it is basically an aquarium,do I need to treat it like an aquarium and siphon debris from the bottom and run some sort of filter or air system? Thanks for all the help and suggestions. PH kit should be here soon.

Ann, the nicest thing you can do for a pond is to provide aereation. See the sections on here about it.

However, horses do a pretty good job of stirring things up. Mine finally cleared when I sold the nags.

Dave, I'll check the section on aereation.
Yes, the horses do stir things up. They splash, paddle, roll and wreak havoc in it when allowed in that section. Can't sell them........they're family.

Ann, could you put out a dedicated stock tank for the horses to water from and keep them out of the pond? Maybe run pond water thru the tank on a continual basis, routing the overflow back to the pond?

I've often seen that done. Run an on demand siphon system to a watering tank below the dam. Or use a gasoline powered pump to fill a watering tank. Then fence the pond.

The pond is not in their corrals. When I let them out to graze on the back acreage (where the pond is), that's the only time they have access to it. Fencing it off is not something that I don't want to do. I have roped off the area with the water lilies. Got the pond PH test kit today and will test it this evening. Our property is 10 acres with most of it sloping toward the pond. When we bought the property, it was pretty much undisturbed. We have since built a house, barn, corrals and use the entire area. What was once harder dirt is driven on and trampled on. I think this made much more silt which, when it rains hard, flows into the pond. We're going to try to trench the corrals and other heavy runoff areas to bypass the pond and hopefully have it fed mostly by the existing seasonal creek.
I don't have the usual pond greenery yet this year. What is coming up is dirty looking. If the pond is muddy, is there enough sunlight to triger the pond grasses to grow? There is the usual grass around the perimeter, just nothing coming up in the center.

My guess would be the turbid water is reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the bottom in the middle of the pond. That's why the plants aren't growing.

Just did the PH pond test:
PH - 7.0 - 7.5 but closer to the 7.0 color
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Phosphate - 0

Well, I guess there is nothing wrong with my pond other than it being stirred up. I was very surprised with the pond test results and was absolutely sure that it was polluted by overpopulation. We will just have to be satisfied with a murky pond and happy horses.
Thanks for the input.