Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Please help me fix my pond

Since it's a small pond and it doesn't sound as if you have much of a fishery established, I would personally drain it down, nuke with hydrated lime, allow it to dry out and make certain your BH population is gone, and start over. Draining will also allow you to excavate excessive organic material from pond bottom and start again. 40 years is a LONG time for such a small pond to live - it's deep in it's eutrophication process, and you'll likely be managing multiple water quality issues in a BOW that small and old moving forward season after season. In short, I personally feel you're fighting a losing battle managing your current BOW. Draining and nuking the BH population is a cheap procedure. Having someone remove organic material with an excavator will cost some - but I had this hired out on a 1/3 ac pond and increased depth by 5 feet in 2.5 hours. Cost me 5 cases of Coors Light and a couple bottles of JD, but he was a neighbor and friend who owned the equipment. Hired out I bet it would have cost around $1500 - and most of that would have been transportation fees.