Really appreciate the input.
Nothing I can do about the runoff. Big chunk of a neighborhood drains into it. Fortunately it's a wooded area and there isn't a lot of fertilizer. The ditches that feed into it dry up regularly. Overflow from the pond actually feeds into a much larger lake about a mile away and there are 20' deep canyons in the woods between. Really neat, but it's one way (though of course turtles and birds go between them).
There doesn't seem to be any aquatic vegetation at all, probably because nothing can grow on the bottom. You can't see it if the water is deeper than 8" or so.
There's definitely snails. Parasites are the stubby white worm type that you mostly see around the fins. My concern is mostly that I think of the mussels as beneficial, and I'm worried redears will kill them off. I may start sniping a few coons! Hah.
HSB is a neat idea. Not sure how many people grow them around here. I did ask someone about them once (who did sell them but they're quite far away from me). They advised against it as they thought the pond would be too shallow and hot for HSB. I'm in central MS.
