Guys, My pond was complete on 7/7/16. Since that time I have been waiting for it to clear up some but to no avail. It is a clay bottom. Should it have cleared up some by now? I took a sample and left it undestrubed and it all settled out and cleared up in couple weeks. My fish that I stocked went from bright vibrate colors to plain yellowish. Any ideas on what I should add to the water or what I should try? Thank you for your time and ideas.

TKD,

Do you have erosion control in place to keep "new" dirt from entering the pond along the shore? Do you have catfish or other bottom dwellers that are stirring up the water? Is the pond fed by a stream or other source that could be providing "new" dirt or keeping it stirred up with a flow thru current?

I do not have any erosion control. Just rain water feeding the pond and. I don't have catfish just BG. Thank Billy D

I would have thought it would have cleared some by now.

There are several things you can do.

Add 200-500 #s of alfalfa hay, not sure how much this helps, but I did it and mine cleared in about 3 months. After it cleared I raked out all I could.

or

Add about 1500#s of gypsum rock

or

Use alum. CHeck out http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=283542#Post283542

Or

Wait few more months and see what happens

TKD, you will need to get the erosion under control before the water will clear. Every time it rains fine particles of clay are washed into the pond keeping the water cloudy. I would suggest that you plant some Rye grass or there are some straw matts you can buy to put around the pond keeping the runoff a little clearer. Then in the spring time you can plant a different kind of grass that will last all year.

IMO until you take some erosion control measures, I suspect the pond will just keep getting muddy every time it rains or there is wave action on the shores. Every time more dirt washes in it is also filling in your pond and reducing its life. IMO I would not worry about the muddy water for now and would spend time/money on getting some grass going on the shores and maybe some stone placed in the heavy erosion areas. To me, your jar test indicates the pond will clear on its own once you get the erosion controlled.

Not a pro, Just my 1 cent

Good Luck,

Bill D.

Edit: Looks like Smokey beat me to the post. I agree with what he said!

I misread your post about erosion control, not having any erosion and no erosion control are a little different:). I agree with others, you have to get the dirt covered first. Plant rye, spread hay over all the bare dirt. Plant something like Bermuda grass late spring.

TKD, rye starts germinating when the ground temp is around 50 degrees, so you may be close or at that temp in SW LA. That would be the first thing I would do. If you've got the ability to water the germinating rye, then your results should be much better.

I've also used construction site silt fencing in problem areas, and it's worked well too. I removed the fences once I got a good stand of grass.

Not sure there's much you can do to permanently clear your water until the erosion is at least controlled.

Vegetate bare soils as soon as possible, as described above.
Be careful the method you choose to clear muddy water. Hay might work, might not...and it adds organic matter to the water that must decompose. You could be trading problems.
Gypsum could be a great idea, have your water analyzed to see the levels of calcium, alkalinity, carbonate, bicarbonate and sulfates.
Be especially careful with alum. Rapid pH drop happens in minutes, once you reach the breakpoint for that water chemistry.

I only have one area of bank that has fresh dirt, probably 70 ft wide. Can I mix rye with bermuda and if so would that be helpful? Or is it just better to do one or the other? Which would ya'll choose?

Bermuda won't germinate unless the soil temp is near 80 degrees or more. This time of year annual rye would be your best choice.