Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water muddy again

I am all muddied up again in my pond, the pond was built in 2007 but still has not settled,I have used both Alum and gypsum and both worked for awhile, part of the problem was how I contructed the pond, the pond dam still has little to no vegitation growth and is solid packed clay. What do you think i should try to grow to stop the constant erosion? I have tried fescue but when it gets to our hot oklahoma summers most of it dies out quickly. We are still feeding but we are not sure if any fish have made it, (besides the channel cats we have a ton of them) I caught a LMB in 2009 but that was the last time i have seen any other species. we have 3" of visibility.

thanks
Cameron

I was fortunate to have access to a prairie that was being tilled under and dug a bunch of transplants to plant on my compacted red clay slope near my pond. They have filled in nicely over the years. It was just to harsh to plant seed, although the origianl plants spread by seed to cover the area. A lot of work, but worth it to me. Gray clay might not be so easy. Mulch is also a great help. Good luck!

Can the catfish be causing much of the muddy problem? I don't have them in my pond, but don't they root around in the bottom and stir it up. Why do you think it is caused by the dam? We have run off at a local lake from a worn out point, but it makes only a few feet around the point pasty white when it rains.

the dam is slowly eroding due to the wind/wave action and rain. I am not ruling out the catfish as the problem, we have a surplus of them, we have yet to harvest them since we stocked them in 2008. I have caught a few most are still around 2-3 pounds. They come running everytime we feed. there are some weeds that grow ok on the back side of the dam but they also seem to burn up around July. I will try to get a picture tonight to show you what I mean. the neighbors pond is just clear as can be would love to have ours look that way.

Catfish can definitely affect the clarity of pond water, especially if the pond is 1/2 acre or less. I remove all the catfish from a pond that only had about a 3" water visiability since it was constructed about 7 years ago. The pond cleared in 3 weeks after the removal.

I have a pond that is LOADED with CC.It had actually cleared some during the winter months. Now that the water has warmed, and the CC are active.......mud water. If I were a gambling man, I'd say that the biggest part of your problem are the CC. There's not much in there for those fish to eat with poor light penetration i.e. phyto-zoo-plankton. They are looking in the mud for dinner.

I feel you James. I heavily limed. I lowered my pond to dig out around it 5 feet deep. It hasn't helped. Ive harvested over a thousand cc out of mine and still see many when the feeders go off. It's very frustrating that you can't see your fish.

I'm in the same boat. I took out as many CC as possible and thought I had done a fairly good job over the last 2 years. This weekend we caught 2 about 4" long so it looks like they are breeding.

Do a jar test and see if it settles out. If it does, then it's probably the catfish keeping things stirred up.

CC IMHO...

Assuming no livestock...

I have tried the jar test and it never settles down, the pond is right under an acre and the average depth is around 4 feet, the deepest part is a 12 foot hole. I have tried the gypsum and like i said it worked for awhile, is there any corrective stocking I can do to get rid of the CC. or do I need to just invite everybody i know over for a fish fry, they arent to easy to catch. We have two horses that have access to the pond but dont seem to cause much of a problem.

thanks for the help guys

You are not catching bluegill and bass because they are sight feeders and simply don't see your bait. Use a worm and bobber and you'll catch some, likely all in very poor body condition.

Muddy water has probably also help allow your CC to recruit offspring only making the muddy water problem worse.

You could try seining and removing as many CC as possible, or use a heavy dose of alum/hydrated lime (1400# alum/700# hydrated lime) to completely clear the water quickly and make stirred bottom sediments fall back to the bottom quickly and fish out as many CC as possible in the window of clarity.

Rainman
Is (1400# alum/700# hydrated lime) the recommended amount per acre or whats the unit?

Agreed Rex...or maybe nuke it with lime and start over? Would be much easier to remove the CC and wouldn't cost too much.

It is what I would suggest on his pond if I were consulted/hired with his fish siuation to allow some excellent angling ability to remove large numbers of catfish....with exposed clay and high numbers of CC in a small pond, muddy water is going to be the norm.

There are tests to determine the minimum concentrations required to achieve clearing, but no two ponds, doses or situations are the same.

One avenue is to nuke/lime the pond, drain, remove all CC and start over. CC aren't expensive to replace, if you even want to go down that road again.