Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Fertilization NO Vegetation

I have about a 1/4 to 1/2 acre pond. It had grass carp that I disposed of. I am wanting some growth to help the bluegill. pond stays muddy forever. I have taken a sample and it settled and cleared up nice within a couple days. What's the deal?

Something is keeping it stirred up but you already know that. What kind of external factors like livestock, wind, runoff over dirt, etc could be causing it?

Hello Dchance, welcome to the Pond Boss forums. Thanks for joining up and participating. I'll leave it to the experts for the advice.

no livestock, no more wind than anything else. There is runoff from rain and it muddies it up but that is normal. Just doesn't clear up. the runoff is down through tall grass/weeds, no dirt. seems when I moved in it was much clearer.

How long has it been continuously muddy? You have to search for THE factor that has changed since you moved in. How about other ponds in the area. What do they do?

Do you have any catfish in the pond because sufficient cats will muddy a pond.

Also tall grass and vegetation are not enough if you have sufficient flow, from a distal muddy spot. Also consider that drought conditions can increase dust and thus increase mud right after the drought and before fresh vegetation is established.

I love your name Wetlandssteward!

Welcome to the Pond Boss Family, where you will get so much help, and hopefully become "hooked" like the rest of us. I'm not in a muddy situation, I'm in a sandy situation and am I ever shocked at what grows in the sand in my buffer zone. So wish I would have thought of this the first six years I spent weeding the beach (it is on a slope) trying to maintain a place for the lake to clean itself as we have way too many seawalls here from the constant high water level.

no cats, just BG and 7 LMB. went BG fishing this weekend and it was good. All fish are very light colored due to the muddy water. just thought getting vegetation to grow may help it settle.

Is the fresh water supply to your pond muddy too? If it is you can create a couple small pools before the creek reaches your pond to trap sediments, but it would have to be slow moving to let the particles settle. Vegetation where the stream empties in would help too. Ive heard of Fish and Wildlife people in my area spraying chemicals onto the surface of a pond that bind to the suspended sediments and sink. The government does it, but I don't know how the fish would like it.

not creek fed, jus runoff. rainwater and it is not muddy. it is basically runoff from my yard (grass) on one side and tall uncut grass (pasture like) on the other. No livestock no reason to be dirty. Seems it all started a couple yrs ago after a HUGE storm and had SUPER fast flooding. Pond had current. Ever since then it has not settled.

How's the mud situation in the pond?
The very, very abundant crayfish in my mud bottomed pond contribute to the roiled water I get. Narrow trails of muddy water stretch out from the crayfish burrows into deeper water. As the ice got progressively thinner the last two weeks, the crawdad activity began to pick up; the mud trails were visible through the thinning ice.
Anytime a flock of ducks pause at my pond, they noticeably muddy the shoreline water for part of a day.
One of my goals is to establish some underwater vegetation to help lower the turbidity of the pond.
You've probably followed the fertilizer thread on this forum. Some people seem to achieve a lowering of muddiness as their ponds start a bloom. I haven't had a bloom yet. Pond is new to me. Another goal for this summer is to get a bloom going.
Love to hear more about your muddy water experiences.