Hi,

We are new to your site. We bought an old farm in south-central Pennsylvania a few years ago. It was kind of a general purpose farm, with cattle, hogs, and many other animals and gardens.

It has several ponds, and what appear to be older ponds that have been completely overgrown.

This past springtime, we brought in a contractor to rework the pond we see from the kitchen windows and back porch of the old house. It was rather small, maybe 75 x 75 feet. It had mostly filled in with cattails and muck. It was only 3-4 feet deep. It had some fish in it, but we don't know what kind they were.

It is just below an old barn. The contractor drained the pond as best as he could, but it is fed with several springs in other parts of the pasture. He took out the cattails and muck from the old pond, and moved them to a lower pasture with a dumptruck. He then elongated the pond, to where it is now about about 250 feet long. We wish he would have made it deeper, but he had several concerns about doing so. It is maybe nine to ten feet at the deepest, but it has steep banks going into the water. He said he did that to keep the cattails from coming back.

The pond quickly filled up this spring when he finished. The water was very muddy, and it has stayed very muddy. Starting in about July, it was covered with what looked like floating green cow manure, which then turned brown. It then really looked like cow manure.

There are still some kind of fish living in it, but they are too small to catch. We'd like to clear the mud. We would also like to start adding fish to it.

We would like to start with trout.

We need suggestions for the muddy water, the floating manure, and where to get fish to stock the pond.

I forgot to mention that the other ponds seem to be infested with muskrats. The renovated pond doesn't seem to have any. Will they go away when/if we renovate the other ponds? Will they move into our renovated pond?

MM, welcome to the forum! The muskrats will have to move somewhere when you renovate the other ponds. Maybe to the one that you renovated, maybe not because there probably won't be a large food base developed (cattails and other plants). Conibear 110's work wonders for muskrat problems.

I have read similar stories about reworked pond having high nutrient problems and water quality issues. I think that stems from sediments from the old bottom being mixed back into soils or washed in during construction. Probably a lot of nutrients in the pond right now from old sediments, and it doesn't take much! The best thing I think to do is get the water tested so you know what the problem is. I would bet phosphorus is high...

Note, trout need cold water. Lots on the site about them.

Can I use an aquarium water test kit, or do I need to send it to a lab somewhere? When we bought the place we had to have the well water tested by the county health department. Can they do this kind of testing?

As for cold water, we are at about 2200 feet, with lots of ski resorts in the area.

I had to search the internet to find out what a Conibear is. Neither my husband nor I have ever done any trapping. I guess we would need to find a neighbor to help us. We have two very curious dogs. Are these traps dangerous to them?

Personally I am not a fan of trapping. I would rather make the habitat less than appealing to them or invite some mink over. With that many ponds, you would have to do a LOT of trapping. Otherwise set up the pond banks to be mow-able, and then construct the ponds to have a fairly steep slope down into the water to discourage much plant growth.

Do some searching here (I am at work) on water tests, there are some labs for it that you can mail the sample to. I don't think aquarium or pool tests are sensitive enough to measure the lower levels of nutrients in pond water vs. aquarium water.

The "manure" is likely FA that attached to the bottom, then filled up with gas lifting the algae and some bottom sludge.

The good news is you came to the right place to get answers, and I don't think you will have much trouble getting the pond cleared up.

How large/small are your dogs? Do they go into the water much? Do they run around unsupervised?

Typically you set the conibears in the muskrat "run" and that is completely under the water.

If you're concerned about the dogs possibly getting into the Conibears, look into Colony muskrat traps

If you are looking for a person to rid the ponds of muskrats, I'd send CJBS2003 a PM. I believe his Dad does some trapping in Pa. You could also contact The Pa. Trappers Association

While trapping is my preferred method of dealing with muskrats, a few evenings spent perched on a strategic site overlooking the pond, and especially the entrances to the dens, with a .22 can help reduce the problem. About an hour before dusk works well for me.

With the .22lr method, I'd prefer to use high velocity HP (hollow point) bullets to reduce the chance of a ricochet. Don't move or wiggle around on the bank. I think the 'rats that are in the den can feel or sense vibrations and won't come out if they think someone/thing is waiting for them - they are a preferred prey species for a lot of predators, both with fur and with feathers.

I've even caught a Northern Pike in a Conibear 110 that was set in a muskrat run, so don't rule out fish as predators either.

C'mon now, the chance for a ricochet happens if you miss.....You're not supposed to do that!

True. But, I can't claim 100% hit ratios as much as I'd like to!

.17 Mach II or .17 HMR are even more frangible.

Penn State has a testing lab right in your back yard. Look here.

Thanks for the great info. I'm on the run, but we'll be at the farm for the weekend. We don't leave guns at the farm, but my husband got a new 17HMR that he wants to try out.

Thanks for the link to the Penn State water test lab.

They like plants to eat. Do you have a plant problem.

We don't have plants in the reworked pond. The muskrats moved out of there. It is our lower ponds that have lots of weeds and cattails. We'll probably rework one or two of those ponds next summer. Will that probably get rid of the muskrats in those ponds?

Probably. Reduce their food source and they'll move on. They don't like walking over land to a food source.