Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Decaying vegatation problems

I have a 2-3 acre pond that was dry last year through most of the summer, so I had a pretty healthy weed base growing along 70% of what is now anywhere from barely in the water to about 4 feet deep. These weeds are the land based type, grass, sunflowers, thistle, etc. This spring the pond filled up , but now those mounds of weeds are dead and decaying . My question is if all this decaying veg. is likely to drop the DO in my pond? There is tons of Fil. algae around (I'm assuming that is the stuff that has a consistency of thick, waterlogged cotton candy) which is starting to wilt in the Oklahoma heat. I noticed there was extremely clear water (2 Ft. vis at least) in early spring, but now the water is starting to turn a brewed tea brown. Haven't noticed any kind of fish kill, but there are thousands of little bass fingerlings! Even caught a few of the little buggers with a Sabiki bait rig (small gold hooks with "wings", kinda like a trout fly. But I digress. Should I be worried about my water quality? No significant rain in about a month.

Some years back I had a 5 acre pond and had the similar situation occur of a drought, low water, and much decayed weed and plants. We had a heavy, cool rain and the pond filled rapidly. The coolness caused the water to turn over and I lost all oxygen - killed almost all of my fish including catfish up to 16 lbs and bass up to 8 lbs. It was devastating. I was told the only thing that could have helped prevent this was an aerator - so, if your pond fills back up with all the decayed materials and you have a cool night, keep an eye out.

Shawn,
Thank you for defending our country and our way of life.
Get a quality areation system and you'll have little to worry about when it comes to D.O. problems. I've heard soo many times about the devestation of fish kills that I'd pawn my wife's ring to get one installed. Good luck!