Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water What is this on my pond?

Hi Everyone
We bought property about 9 years ago. Its a high acid area and the ponds are old and were on the property when we purchased it. This pond is only fed when water is high enough to flow into it from a neighboring pond.. Its always been clear until last year.
The pond does have a high amount of leaves in the bottom from years of neglect. There are no fish and no vegetation,and the water only occasionally reaches the outlet, But it never smells bad. Last year we noticed this scum. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what it might be? Our fear is someone dumped something in it to kill mosquitoes.
thanks

scum on water

Bump.

I suspect it is pollen or other organic stuff, perhaps an algae.

Even oily-looking films on ponds can easily be organic and naturally occurring.

I have a lot of questions, I dont know where to start.
Where do we begin getting the pond healthy again? We do plan to aerate. We havent moved onto the property yet.

Are the leaves in the bottom an issue as far as pond health and fish? The pond is probably 10-15ft deep at the deepest part when its full. The only pond life besides insects, is frogs.
Thanks for answering my post.

It looks like dust to me or as Theo said..pollen.

What do you plan to use the pond for mcguinn?

P.S. Welcome to the forum!

Like Ryan asked, what are your goals?

We would love to stock it so the grandchildren could fish. Would also like to be able to swim in it but Its a wetlands area, I'm not sure if the water could ever be fit for swimming.
Ill try to get some pictures of it.
We actually have 3 ponds on the 11 acres, none of them are real big.
The ponds were dug back in the 40's for the clay. They took the clay from here and used it in a pond at a resort called, MT Airy Lodge. Subsequently the pond loses water, but does get some fresh from springs in the bottom when the inlet is dried up.
It never dries up completly but it gets very low.
We were also wondering whats the best treatment for leakage.
OOO and I forgot I do believe we may have mink or otter in there too. Dont know what they are eating unless they are eating the frogs.
Thanks for your response
adding picture of pond

Thanks Theo, We have been looking for a pond forum for a long time.I stumbled across this one while trying to find out about the scum.
What I dont get, is that we have never seen this in the 9 years we owned the propery.

mcguinn,Welcome to the forum and a big howdy do from Texas.Im no expert,just part of the welcoming committee.But the more info you can give the experts on here,the better and faster they can help.Size,depth,age and goals will be good starters for them.Again,welcome aboard.

Thanks Tom
The pond is from the 1940/50's it was dug because a local resort needed clay for their pond. The Size is approx 90 ft long by 40 ft wide. The pond used to be deeper. 8 years ago it was over 10 ft deep, today I was shocked to discover its half that deep and we have had a lot of rain. I guess we are getting a lot of silt and the leaf build up in the bottom is probably filling it in. It has never been maintained, the pond was on 11 acres that no one lived on.
This pond is fed from run off from a pond on adjoining property. When water gets low our pond doesnt get any above ground water only spring fed.It gets very low, I believe It needs to be sealed
The pond has frogs, and I believe either a muscrat or mink living in it. (I believe I said otter before). YES I see holes in the side.
We bought the property 9 years ago. Its 11 acres and has 3 small ponds. we're building a DIY house so we havent had time to do much to the ponds. We should be living in the house this year so hopefully next year we can work on it.
I would love to stock it so the grandchildren can fish(might even take it up myself) also would love to be able to swim in it.
The surrounding area is a wetland and the ground is high acid so Im not sure if it could ever be swimmable.
Thanks for your reply Tom.