Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations losing rainbow trout

Not sure if this is right category for this.
I have a 1/4 acre pond average depth 8-10' with the middle being 15-16' deep as it sits. It was dug last fall and filled up quickly, water clarity varies with rain, mud influx, but is generally 1-2' into a clay like colored water. bottom af pond is a modeling clay consistency.
I had plans this spring to only add FHM but that plan was trumped by my 84 year old Dad with the reasoning of " I aint waiting one more year to catch fish outa your pond"....so , needless to say he stocked the pond the way he wanted....
hehe.
any way. this spring he bought 30 x 10-12' trout, half brown, half rainbow, 75 yellow perch, and 3 catfish. I bought 10 pounds of FHM.
all was well, fish were eating pellets, very active etc.
We had a fish day yesterday and he had ordered 25 more rainbows, catfish and I bought 16 pounds more FHM.
previous to the second stocking I had lost 1 brown and 2-3 rainbows, due to swallowing hooks and "someone" not just cutting the line.......again, hehehehe.
but as of this past week I've found an additional 3-4 more healthy looking rainbows just floating.....
not sure what to make of it.
I have an aerator coming Friday along with a water testing kit, I also happened to treat the pond last Monday with "muck pucks" but followed the directions and actually under-treated due to not buying enough.
my ability to measure water temp kinda stinks as the thermometer i have just gets the surface temp which is 65 deg.
the pond stays shaded and walking in the shallow end I can tell that part of the bottom water is much colder than that.
Now i understand that this pond may not be able to support trout, but I figured the best way to find out is to buy and try....
My question ( I know, finally) is , with the info provided, does it sound like to warm water?, maybe not enough oxygen in water???
thanks in advance for advice/patience..

Don't need "muck pucks" in a new pond. Maybe your PH is off. In a new pond with cool water and small fish probably not an oxygen problem either. Trout cannot take much turbidity.

Turbidity could be an issue depending on amount of turbidity. If someone has been catching and releasing the trout then I suspect that is the main contributor to trout deaths at this point. Catch and release if very hard on trout when water is above 60F. Once the water reaches 72F at 6ft expect most trout to be close to dying. Often dead ones sink and are not seen at the surface. When they quit eating pellets at the surface water conditions highly stressed for trout in a small pond unless it has a large amount of cold water inflow and short water retention time.
JohnF is correct. Muck pellets in a new pond have little benefit. You would have been better off using that money for fish, fish food, or aeration items or a better digital thermometer with a 10ft probe and or getting the water shed well grassed/seeded to minimize turbidity.

can you recommend a good thermometer with a 10'probe?

See this link from the forum for some ideas for digital thermometers with probes.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=443769#Post443769

I'm in 110% agreement with Cody. One thing I know about catching trout in a pond, they don't stop flopping around once you get them to shore. How are they taken out of the water? Dragged up on shore or netted? Are good C&R practices adhered to or is it dry hands and dragging them up onto the pond bank?

Here in Northern Indiana, I tell my clients that the trout need to be removed by the end of June or they will croak due to the water temps climbing, and the subsequent reduction in dissolved O2 in the water.

Trout are a cool water fish, catfish are a warm water fish. So, expecting the trout and catfish to live and thrive all year long in the same pond is like expecting penguins and ostriches to do well living together....