Where in VA are you located? I am in the Stafford area.

Often times people are in a hurry to get a pond into the shape they want it to be. Unfortunately, rushing the management of a pond often leads to serious issues.

As esshup said, it is very important to know what is in the pond before you go removing and particularly adding fish to it. I highly recommend you look at the archives section of the forum and do some reading. If you need help locating things, please feel free to ask...

We are a very friendly group of people on here who are looking to help. I highly recommend you take our advice. There are hundreds of years of experience collectively.