Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water problems with water not clearing up and fish kill

Hey folks, new to forum and in need of help.My pond is app. 1/3 acre average depth of 13 to 14 feet and was filled with mostly well water and some rain (muddy water).My banks are slopped to keep runoff away from pond.I put a vertex aerator in service not long after filling and water has never cleared, stays cloudy even after adding 40lbs. of gypsum(maybe not enough). Is my aerator keeping solids suspended and need to turn off aerator (without hurting fish) and or add more gypsum? Forgot to mention , introduced 300 CNBG,500 FH and 30 LMB according to recommdation of fish supplier which seemed to go along with recommendations on PB.Had small fish kill 2 weeks after adding gypsum (30 CNBG and 10 FH), but county agent thinks it was some pesticide runoff due to 2 dead frogs also. I did try jar test and did clear up some but still more or less cloudy,will try adding some gypsum to jar test.P.H. of pond was 8.01 and alk accord. to pool strip was around 120. sorry so long but need advice!!!P.S. pond soil is mostly reddish sandy clay until about 10' then turns to hard clay. I' stop now,sorry.

I recently contacted US Gypsum concerning gyp. Take a look at the thread "Calculating Gypsum Amount". You probably didn't use enough.

Thanks Mr. Dave, I did the calc. and added the difference, but also will try with aerator off for a while to see if it helps but I'm scared to leave it off long I guess we'll see.Thanks for the reply.

Do you currently have in a 1/3 acre pond 800 2in. fish ? Tell us what concerns you about turning off the aerator - any specific matters as to your pond. You should not have a DO problem (absent pond specific matters)under current weather conditions with that small amount of fish mass, if you turn off or slow down the aerator for a few days. How hard would it be to turn it down and raise it off the bottom (to about 5ft. deep) to see effect on water.

Yes,but fish have grown alot(CPNB about 3 to 5" and FH 2-4").Turned of aerator 3 days ago and water has begun to clear up more and more everyday, so that leads me to believe it was aerator keeping solids suspended. Now all I have to do is recover aerator out of 17' of water and reinstall about 4'-5' off the bottom.I'm new to pond stuff so was worried about turning aerator off with water temps rising, just really nervous about everything after loosing those fish. Other than that everything else is OK , just really excited (alomst as much as my three kids) about seeing fish growing so fast.Introduced LMB (3"-4") two weeks ago and they are already eating everything they can catch or at least trying to. One more question , I now have 4-5 very large bullfrogs in pond with also babies (fish food), do I need to worry about them eatig my fish before I eat them? Aerator being off doesn't seem to be bothering fish, they are still eating and growing very well. Thanks for all the help.

Like most things, what I don't know about bullfrogs exceeds what I do know. They might get a small fish, but I doubt it. I don't see how their sticky tongue could capture much of anything wet. I would expect them to be a + for bug control. I've never heard of them being a problem.

I wouldn't worry about it to much, since they catch their meals with their tongues it would be difficult to catch fish. They eat insects,snakes, mice, other frogs, and anything that tongue can grab, and they can fit in their mouth. You can do a search on the site for more info.

Update on fish kills, seems that my neighbor put in a garden on other side of my fence . Well looks like pesticide run-off into my pond. Took my tractor and built up the leeve to keep run-off out of pond,guess we'll see.Also since adding gypsum and shutting down aerator water has cleared up, now running aerator on timer at nights and doesn't seem to be affecting water clarity.Thanks for all the help.