Mike,

First of all I apologize profusely for not sending you the D.O./temp meter. Everytime I thought about it I was in the middle of something and couldn't put it in the box. Part of the problem was I needed to change the membrane too, and needed to get some distilled water to do so. Kept forgetting to get some! I assume there is no need for it now, now that the hot weather is over? I'm really sorry!

As far as turbid water it does irritate their gills a little but if it's not constant they can handle it. Your well flow should flush the turbidity over time. Afterall it does happen in the wild. The larger the fish the better they are able to handle the turbidity, as the larger fish have thicker gill filaments. Fry, and fingerlings can develop gill infection if the water has particles in it. It's known as environmental gill disease.

Also something that I have noticed which concurs with what a fish farmer said is, there are times when you will get some mortality after a heavy rain for some unclear reason. Not sure why but, it's possible the rain washes in some aeromonas bacteria from the soil. However the mortality is usually isolated and doesn't last.

If possible you should try and do something to keep run off out of your pond. Or least prevent erosion that washes in soil. I had my ponds designed with a birm around the edges. Burlap over grass seeding has worked great for me, just after the pond is first excavated until the grass takes hold.

Now that the hot weather is over how many survivors do you think you have? Be aware that some of your dead trout will decompose on the bottom and never float up.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.