Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Please Help- Muck coming off the bottom of my pond

[img:center]http://www.carfifun.com/muck1.jpg [/img]

The bottom soil of my pond is floating to the top surface. Nobody can figure out what is happening including 3 MDC experts that are very puzzled. This started early in the Spring and is expanding rapidly. The muck is a combination of soil off the bottom and the roots of the Lily pads. The floating soil seems to be about 6-8" thick and there is 4-5' of water below the suspended muck. Hope we can figure this out before my pond turns into a swamp.

Have you been able to obtain a chunk of that stuff, and examine it up close?

My guess?

Decaying organics under that layer are creating gas as they decompose. The upper layer (that is now on top of the water) is thick and dense enough so that it traps the gasses. Once enough gas builds up, it breaks free from the pond bottom, pops to the surface and floats.

esshup, that sounds similar to what happens in the old septic tank! Makes sense.

sprkplug, easy enough to get a sample. What am I looking for when I examine it?
esshup, if that is the case any ideas on how to stop this other than draining a 4 acre pond and starting over?

I was thinking along the same lines as Esshup...trying to obtain a sample might tell you just WHAT is making the stuff float. If you get up close, do you see any bubbling, or smell anything "off"? Are you physically able to get a sample, or will it sink once disturbed? (gasses released)

Ok, That's a start. I will get the boat out this weekend and get an up close look at it. Thanks

Do you have any plans to control the lilypad population? That looks pretty thick, and pretty large.....

bass heaven!... but yeah.. out of hand! lol

Sounds like you need to poke it with a stick and see if it sinks.

Right now I have about 40% coverage of Lilypads. Three months ago I started spraying rodeo on them and they are dying off. I only spray about 5% of them at a time and wait three weeks before I spray again. By the first frost I should have reduced the lilypads by 30%. Then I will start again next year.

Good plan. Get on 'em as soon as they start breaking the water surface in the spring.

Aha!
Lily pad "roots" are full of air, and normally help anchor the plants to the bottom with fine root hairs of of the main roots. (I think they are named something else) When you killed off the plants, some of the fine root hairs decayed allowing the plant's thick air-filled roots, and muck to pull up from the bottom and float. Probably assisted by turtles in breaking loose.

It is probably worth raking that out I would think.

-Mark

liquidsquid - That makes perfect sense except I have not sprayed anything even close to that area...yet

Hmmm, it does look like dead lilies floating. Perhaps they died after floating up?

Anyhow I find myself having to put large stones on my lilies in my garden pond to keep them sunken, otherwise the plant lifts off the bottom rubber liner and floats. Perhaps the bottom of your pond is a very solid impermeable layer of clay that keeps the roots of the lilies from getting a good grip? Plant gets to a certain size, and lifts up like a leviathan?

Even so, with some back-breaking labor, it may allow you to rope in all of that crud and drag it over to shore and compost it. Get rid of some organics, lilies, and muck all at once! Do you have a winch available?

liquidsquid- I'm 58, old and overweight. I bought this farm with 7 acres of ponds to fish. Sold my place in the city with a in-ground pool because I hated taking care of it. Boy did I wake up when I found out what it takes to take care of a pond. I'm afraid manual labor isn't my cup of tea. I'm going to go out on a boat and stir it up and see if I can get it to sink.

Hmmm, let me think on a "Red Green Show" solution... bbl.