Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Not sure if my pond is the right color

My 9 month old pond is a good color, from what I have read. Its olive green, but has VERY little visibility, about 6 inches. I dont have any FA. My pond is clay lined, but I dont think the clay is in suspension. The clay disappears within a day after a hard rain or after walking in the pond.

Do I just have a ton of plankton and algae since this is my first year, and will it taper off as the summer goes? I am just wondering if this is normal in the pond lifecycle.

If your clarity of only 6 inches is due to an algae bloom you may have serious oxygen problems once temps get higher. Optimum clarity is about 18 inches and anything under 12 inches is cause for concern.

Are you aerating?

No aeration this year, I dont have very many fish and I dont have the funds this year for aeration. I thought I could get by this year since my pond is so new and pretty deep (20').

I used to have a good 12 inches of visibility but now I cant see my BG until right before they hit the surface. What should I be testing for if anything?

Thanks for the replies

rex, you must have a really fertile pond to be getting that dense a bloom in the first season. What is in the watershed that could be supplying lots of nutrients? Farmland, fertilized yards, what?


I agree with this basic risk-taking approach; I'm doing it myself for a year or so in my new pond. A light fish load from new stocking that hasn't filled up the pond with biomass helps lower O2 demand also.

If you've got a trash pump have it ready on standby and monitor your oxygen levels at first light if you have a meter. If you don't have a meter look for piping fish first thing in the morning. Blow the water out of the hose over the water to provide an oxygen refuge for the fish.

On the other hand maybe due to your low fish load things may not get that bad as Theo suggests?

If your pond was a fish production pond and was heavily stocked with fish -- and your clarity due to phytoplankton was indeed only 6 inches -- a fish farmer would be gravely concerned.

I only stocked 150 BG, 150 YP, and 10# of FH in a 1/2 acre pond.

There is no fertilizer at all, the pond is in the woods with no farms in the watershed. I planted grass but used no fertilizer, and we have had almost no rain for a month. Last years leaves and this years junk (lots of it) from the trees when they bloom is about all of the nutrients in the pond. The pond was pretty much covered in Maple tree "propellers" for about a week. There is no plant growth around it yet. My bottom is pure clay, with a small sand beach on one end.

One thing I did do is put a drain tile in going from a low spot in my woods to my pond, and it drained for almost a month straight. Maybe this is the source of the nutrients? It has pretty much stopped now.

Do plankton blooms tail off as summer sets in or do they go pretty much all summer?

Plankton can bloom all Summer.

You must just have very fertile soil in your watershed.

So what does one do for an overfertile pond, if thats what I have? Just observe for this summer and try some aeration next year? Or dye the heck out of it so it doesnt look like an olive milkshake?

1. Don't make things worse: don't fertilize, don't feed, don't add organics.

2. Remove any nutrients/organics possible (not much to remove in a new pond, where the plant growth is virtually all phytoplankton).

3. Have a contingency emergency aeration method available if needed: bush hog blades on a tractor, outboard motor on a boat, (trash) pump or domestic water supply to make a spray. Look out for the classic Summer O2 loss fish kill conditions (overcast, windless days) and apply if any signs of low O2 (fish gasping at surface) appear.

Anybody else have anything?

Well I can always back the Boston Whaler into the pond and fire up the ol' 90 Evinrude if I see some gasping. Getting a lot of rain now so it might get even worse. I will see how long it takes the clay that washes into the pond to dissapate after the rain.

I have been feeding a small amount, only about 6 ounces a day. Thats all the fish will eat without leaving some on the surface.

Once I get a couple BG spawns though things may change.