Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water murky green/brown water

I have about 1/3 acre pond about 6' deep stocked with rainbow trout. Before I bought the property the water was clear but all summer now has been very murky. The pond is cold water and fed by two natural springs. One flows down a small stream into my feeder pond, the other is tapped and has an underground pipe running directly into the pond. I cleaned out most of the feeder pond earlier this year and got the pipe flowing again but the water in the pond is still a murky green/brown even though the feeder pond is now clear. The pond has a natural clay bottom. I've been doing some research on the net through newsgroups and different bulletin boards and am getting a LOT of different views. One local farmer around here says he'll give me some fresh water mussels from his pond and they act as filters. The research I did on mussels says that during their larval stage they are a parasite to fish but are generally harmless. But it doesn't tell me what fish they are harmless to and they need specific types of fish to propagate but they don't say which kinds or which kinds of mussels I should actually use. Some of the other advise I've gotten is; to use gypsum on the water, to try adding alum to the water, add some grass carp to eat up all the algae, use chemicals from a pond store on the water. Before I go any further I was wondering if you had any advise or outlooks that might help with this problem? Although the mussels seem the most organic treatment I'm hesitant to introduce any new species into the pond especially as they could end up going down stream into other waterways as well. Thanks.

shinglhed,

If you haven't been there a year yet and your fish arent suffering from the water clarity I would suggest..... Do nothing! Maybe your water temps got a little high, maybe in cleaning out your feeder pond you stirred up some stuff that's not settling easily. Has anything happened to the surrounding land that would explain the changes? New silt sediment inputs? If yes you need to work on the cause rather than the symptoms. As for the suggestions you've received I believe (Emphasize believe as this is personal opinion)

1 - I would avoid the clams, then can cause parasites and there are 100's of species so what guarantees are there you'll be getting something desirable.

2 - Gypsum & Alum may work but if it was clear previously and is not now I think this is a band aid, whatever caused the situation will return.

3 - Grass Carp would likely not do very well in trout pond temperatures.

4 - I personally would be very, very hesitant to apply chemicals to your trout pond. Trout are extremely sensitive to pollution. I understand the need to use these products under certain circumstances but again unless what caused the problem is found it's just another band aid.

Understand I'm no expert.... The only qualifications I can point to is the love of my trout pond & some hobby reading. The point I'm attempting to make is be patient and be certain you need to fix something, don't fix problems that aren't really problems because the side effects of your solution may be greater than the original problem.

My trout pond goes murky for a cuple weeks in the summer, even picks up a slight odor but a few days latter everything is fine and the bottom is visible a 8-9 feet, the fish don't seem to mind.

Hope everything clears up for you,

Ok, thanks for the advise. I'll just sit tight for now and see what happens. Thanks again.

Shinglehead,

Small fry gives excellent advice and I too agree if your fish are healthy, you may just want to take a wait and see approach.

I too have a trout pond (maybe two if I decide to utilize another pond)

Be aware that phytoplankton (suspended algae) can be greenish/brownish in color and mimic clay turbidity. You could hire Bill Cody to sample some of your water to see if it's suspsended algae or you are looking at or clay particles. Not only could you have stirred up clay particles when you cleaned out your feeder pond, you may have stirred up nutrients that caused your phytoplankton to increase in number. As was stated in the previous post you may want to determine if there is any reason for increased nutrients. Feeding more feed will do it too.

My present trout pond has a murky greenish color most of the year due to a combination of iron in the well water that feeds it, and a mild algae bloom. Once it gets cold enough in late fall I shut off well flow and the water clears dramatically. The mild algae bloom does not hurt the fish and in fact shields light levels keeping submergent weed growth down.

I am presently filling two ponds with well water and initially they are brown from the iron which looks like silt at first (no significant rainfall and incoming silt), but in a few days after filling the iron settles and the ponds turn an emerald green.

If you want to try and settle clay particles if that is the cause alum will take care of that. In the right quantity it will be safe for your fish if your water is hard with high alkalinity. If soft go with gypsum. If you use either you will have to test the water to see how much you need if you go this route. Here is a site to go to, to explain how they work and how much to use:

http://agfacts.tamu.edu/D11/Calhoun/Mar/Recfish/Pondmgt/mudpond.htm