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.

bob - A high density of goldfish will make the pondwater cloudy. As food becomes in short supply due to too many goldfish they start picking at the bottom sediments for food items in the mud. However goldfish (Carassius auratus) are not common carp (Cyprinus carpio). These are two pretty different fish species. All this bottom feeding activity from hundreds & hundreds of fish roils up the sediments and wind action helps mix the whole thing. If it is truly largemouth bass you stocked, they after several years and spawnings should start heavily thinning the goldfish. The water after several years should gradually start getting clearer each year as the goldfish numbers are reduced.

The 'black' water in the basin is probably leachate from leaves (tannins). Collect some of the water in a quart glass jar. If it looks tea colored I'm correct. If not come back with your results and we will investigate further.