I'm located in Brazoria, Texas (about an hour south of Houston). I have three small ponds on my place.
The oldest one is about 25 yrs old, 1/4 acre in size, and has some catfish, lots of bluegill, some crappie, and a couple of bass. It is windmill fed and mainly used for watering livestock and occasional fishing with family. I currently have no issues with this one. Water clarity is excellent.
The next pond is about 12 years old, 1/8 acre in size, and has similar species of fish. It is watershed and waterwell (if needed) fed, and used for watering livestock and occasional fishing with family. We get some filamentous algae growth (looks foamy) from time to time on this one. Water clarity is ok.
The final pond is about 3 years old, 1/8 acre in size, and has some catfish and some bluegill. It is watershed and waterwell (if needed) fed, and used for occasional fishing. Only recently have I had issues with this one. Earlier this Spring, I started seeing a red fern type of weed (think this is called azolla), which I keep in control with Diquat. About two months ago, I started noticing a very thin green film develop in the early morning hours (some type of algae bloom I suspect). This pond is aerated. Water clarity is poor. This has become my problem child and I will post in more detail regarding my issues with this pond with hopes of getting some resolution.
I have my private applicators license for pasture weed management, and I'm familiar with spraying practices. However, I'd like to learn both chemical treatment and natural treatment options.
My goals are to get my ponds healthy, maybe improve the fish populations, and educate myself on monitoring/improvement techniques.
Welcome, you are in the right place!! The experts will chime in soon. They will be asking your main goals. I know say you want to make the ponds healthy and improve fish pops...but are you planning to fish it more or just on occasion?? How often are you at the ponds? They will probably want to know about depth. If you are wanting to improve the ponds I would suggest a water test. Here is a link to the Texas A&M site with a form you can fill out and instructions.
I'll look into the water test. Thanks for the info.
The fishing will be only on occasion...my daughter and nephews love it. The two older ponds are in some pastures in the back on my place, so I visit them weekly when checking fence lines and cattle. The newer pond (and most problematic pond) is 200 yards from my front porch, so I see it daily.
Water is muddy. I can't see my hand 8" below the water surface. I may get that measurement disc for data purposes. I can get a sample of water in an old water bottle, and it clears up in about 24 hrs...looks like clay particles at the bottom. The green algae that floats on top is very thin and is easily broken up with a good breeze or rain. I'll take some pictures and post this weekend.
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