Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Re Goldfish and Bass and clarity of water

Hi:
I bought a property about 7 years ago and it had a pond of almost an acre on it. At that time the water was quite clear and the previous owner had trout in it. I made the mistake of adding about one dozen goldfish and there must be thousands of them there today. The water has lost its clarity. You can only see to a depth of about 15 inches now. Is this due to the goldfish. The deepest part of the pond is about 8' and the shallowest point is about 18"
I have just put in 10 Largemouth bass (10 inches) as someone said they would eat the goldfish. I no longer keep trout in the pond but I had a Basin dug just above this pond (in the woods) I pump water from the pond to the basin and it flows back into the pond, but the water in the basin has almost no visability at all. (looks black)
Anyone have any suggestions.
Oh by the way I am from Quebec in Canada. (about 40 miles north of the Vermont border

Hey Bob,

I am surprised that the trout that were in there didn't eat your goldfish... but no matter the bass likely will. As for water clarity... what colour is it? If it is greenish then it is only alagae and is actually good for fish production. If it is black/brown it may be that you have lots of decaying matter in there... that will most certainly be the issue with the basin in the woods.
What are your intentions for the pond?

Bob,

The questions I have are:
1. What is your CURRENT goal for this pond?
2. Did you add the bass only to get rid of the goldfish, or is the current goal to raise bass?
3. Why did you want to get rid of goldfish anyway?
4. Are you out of keeping trout for Good?

The largemouth bass will eat the goldfish, no doubt about it. But, I'm guessing that eventually the bass will eat all of the goldfish as they are not a speedy fish. In the mean time the bass will be reproducing and eventually you will end up with a lot of stunted bass in your pond. So, if you want to have a healthy bass over the long term you need to think about a forage fish. Are Bluegill bream available in your area? Since you've already added 10 10in bass, consider adult bluegills.

I am guessing your basin is in a Pine/Spruce Forest? It may be acidic from the needles and that's why it's black.

Thank you for the replies. OK First of all when I first bought the place, the previous owner has been filling his aboveground pool with the water from the lake and it was very clear. About 2 years after I added the goldfish I noticed that the water that was pumped up from the lake made the pool very dirty. I had a heck of a job keeping it clean so in the end I scrapped the pool.
I assumed that it was the goldfish that made the water a blackish brown color.
I am keeping the trout in the basin above the lake where the water from the lake in recirculated.I only buy enough for our consumption and restock every year.
My Goals for the pond are to breed the bass and to swim and generally enjoy the pond. I built a log cabin right there and I like to sit and watch the fish jump.
There are lots of big frogs and thousands of tadpoles (big ones) and also leeches. Do the Bass eat these things also.
I have caught other fish ( about six inches) but I dont know what they are and I have see hundreds of little baby fish I suspect that there is plenty of food.
I do not think that I can get bluegills here, I had a hard enough time finding Bass.
To sum up, I would like:
The water to be clearer
The Bass to breed
To get rid of the leeches
To be able to sit by the lake and watch the fish jump.
Thanks for any input.

Along with my large pond I also have a 1000 gallon Koi Pond in my greenhouse and have found that goldfish and Koi very agressively root the bottom so it is very likely that if you have a large goldfish population they will root the muck from the bottom. The bass should take care of the problem in time as goldfish are slow. Bob