Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Muck remover and aeration

Hi all. First time user. I had googled the internet about getting some aqua shade dye and chemicals to get rid of a few masses/clumps of American pondweed and some coontail. In doing so I came across this website and someone with the initials of bz and another by the name of Cecil and burgermeister talking about septic tank chemical from Home Depot. I don't know if I am in the forum I need to be. Here is my issue and questions: We live in the extreme Northeast of Indiana. In 2002 we had two contractors dig a pond for us. It is 5.5 acres in size with 1/2 of the pond being 25 - 30 feet deep. The north side of the pond consisted of all sand. The south of the pond was clay/blue clay mix. They used the clay mixture to cover the sand 3 -4 feet deep then used a vibrating sheepsfoot roller to pack in 1,200 bags of bentonite. In the middle of the pond they constructed a 1/4 acre island with 3 trash pumps for pumping water over two waterfalls going north and a small stream running west. They brought limestone rip rap 12" to 24" in diameter from quarries in Fort Wayne to cover the perimeter of the island down to the 30 feet depth on the north side and 12 to 20 feet around the rest of the island. We have 5 trees minus the small tree tops anchored to the bottom with cement filled tires and chains. We also have a half dozen rock cairns 6 feet diameter and 4 feet high. We had a six inch 140 foot deep well dug that produces 150 gallons per minute. Using that water source 24/7 it took 45 days to fill the pond. We had the pond stocked with shiners and fathead minnows..Then bluegill, shell crackers, perch, small mouth bass,, largemouth bass, and walleye. Only during extremely hot, dry, extended periods do we need to overnite top it off. Now, an issue we have is this. The beach area we have gets mucky. I would like to clean that area up with some chemicals. The beach area is approximately 50 feet wide. I purchased a diffuser, air lines, and pump for aeration years ago but never installed them. I have read pros and cons about aeration. Good for deep levels and bad for weeds and muck. We have never restocked the pond. Would it be beneficial to have catfish in the pond? I would like to hear from anyone that can advise me on what I can do or not do about muck, restocking, weed control (we actually have very few weeds for the size of the pond) some cattails, american pondweed, and coontail to get rid of. Thank you.

Welcome to the forum!

I could write pages and pages but here's the cliff notes. You will have to look up the terms that you don't know unless someone else wants to fill in the blanks.

What kind of compressor did you purchase (rotary vane, rocking piston or diaphragm) and what are the specs on it (cfm @ "x" psi)? Your aeration system should be big enough to turn over the pond (100% of the volume of water in the pond) at least 1.5 times per day.

Aeration will help with dissipating muck, but at a slow rate due to the years of build up. Aerobic bacteria is what you want to work on the muck vs anaerobic bacteria. The more you use the swimming area the less muck will be there. Stirring up the bottom as you swim in that area will allow the aerobic bacteria to work on it faster and it will also dissipate away from that area with the water currents from using the area.

It would not be beneficial to have catfish in the pond unless you liked to catch and eat catfish.

Restocking the pond all depends on what you want out of the fishery. I need more info about the fish that are in there, and what your goals are for the fishery before I can recommend anything.

Cattails can be controlled chemically. American Pondweed (APW) is a good habitat for fish and only really needs spot treatment in areas when it becomes objectionable. Coontail is more of a problem than APW, that can be controlled with a mixture of Diquat and Cutrine Plus.

esshup: Thank you very much for responding. It has been a few years since I bought the aeration equipment and I don't remember what the make or the size of it was. I honestly don't think it was powerful enough to aerate the whole pond. At the time my intention was to put the diffuser in the 30 foot depth side of the island out from the waterfalls. The stretches of pondweed are in the deep side of the pond. 'If' I treat that with copper sulfate should I use liquid or granular? To keep the cattails contained in designated areas without spreading too much, I spot spray them a few at a time with 2-4-D. We have a good bluegill population. There are bass but not as many as the bluegill. Last year our one son-in-law caught and released a 25 1/2 " bass. No one has caught a walleye since my wife caught a 22" one in 2020 or 2021. I have read they usually don't reproduce in ponds unless there is moving water. I thought with the limestone rip-rap, water moving from the waterfalls, and 30 foot depth, they might. Guess not. For two years I have been purchasing 40 lb. bags of floating fish food pellets from Optima Fish Food. My wife has the fish trained to come to her every time they hear/feel the John Deere gator come to the side of the pond. It is remarkable to see the V shape wave action on the surface as they race towards her to feed. I'm not sure how many if any perch are still in the pond. A son-in-law caught a nice one last year. What is a proper way to kill coontail with cutrine plus and diquat? I believe I have a jug of Cutrine plus and also one of Weedtrine. I thought I had read that Diquat was banned from purchasing. Should some be left or try to remove all? Just do small areas at a time? Grovertown .... not too far away. We are on the Michigan line on east side of Clear Lake.Thank you.

Wallman, copper sulfate won't do a durn thing to the American Pondweed, it only affects algae. Look into using Aquathol Super K granules. Read the label for proper dosage, more is NOT better. There is a relative weight chart in the archives here. Weigh and measure your fish to get an idea on how they are growing. If they aren't 100% RW or heavier, start taking hungry mouths out of the pond. It's like having too many cattle in a pasture, there is only so much food available to them and they will stop growing.

Your bass to bluegill ratio should be 1:30 give or take as it takes a bass "X" amount of food to just survive (could be over well 10# per year depending on the size of the bass) then the bass has to eat roughly 10 more pounds of fish to gain a pound of weight. The fish that it needs to eat should be 1/4 to 1/3 it's body length to get the maximum use of the calories consumed vs. calories expended catching the meal. To give you an idea of how many BG a bass has to eat, a 12" LMB will typically eat 3.5-4.25" BG. Those BG weigh 25-44 pounds per thousand fish. Those 1,000 BG are enough to put 1# of weight on less than 2 and at the most 3 LMB that are now 12" in length.

A homeowner can buy Diquat. Reward or Tribune are the trade names of aquatic Diquat.Do smaller areas at a time. Follow the directions for the Diquat use for coontail and add between 0.6 to 1.8 gallons of Curtine Plus Liquid to the tank mix for every acre foot of water that you will be treating. I am assuming that you would be using a 25 gallon sprayer. You can treat 1/4 to 1/3 of the pond at a time, wait a week or so and treat more of the pond. Without proper aeration you don't want to kill too many plants/too much algae at a time and create an O2 crash due to plant/algal decomposition.

I would just remove the objectionable plants, you need some in the pond for nutrient sequestration, cover for the fish and O2 production (although planktonic algae will produce more O2 than vascular plants).

Yes, you aren't that far away, I will be going to Ligonier most likely next week, and will be making a few trips into Ohio to pick up fish this week and next week. I'm about 10 miles West of Plymouth and 1.5 miles N of Rt. 30.

esshup: Thank you. I quickly read your response. At present time I have to divert my attention to working with a mechanic on my bobcat skid loader. A must. I am amazed at all the knowledge you have on this subject. WOW. Thank you so much. ASAP I will get back on the forum. Have a great day.

I drained and revamped my 2.5 acre pond recently. It was finished and stocked two springs ago. As of that summer, coontail came back vigorously. I raked on it that summer. The next summer it came back worse. We also had a lot of spring algae mats those first two springs as it warmed up outside.

Here's what I have in my pond now and both the algae and coontail problems appear to be eliminated going into my 3rd spring.

I installed aeration during the first spring.
I stocked about 12 - 16 grass carp that were about 8-10" long.

It seemed like by late summer, or early fall of last year, the mass infestation of coontail disappeared. I had raked about half of it out that summer but there was no way I had the time or back to get all of it. Somehow, it disappeared and I am convinced the carp had grown enough by the second summer to have destroyed the stuff. Currently, from the looks of them swimming, I'd say they are at least five pounds and probably had grown large enough by the second summer to have eaten all of that.

The floating algae mats did not happen this spring either. I am not sure what is responsible. The neighboring ponds got it bad once the sun was out and warming everything but my pond was wonderfully clear of it. I don't know if my catfish, carp, aeration, muck away, or what it was that made the difference this third spring.

Anyway, the main point I wanted to make is that I believe my grass carp are the key factor in eliminating the coontail. That plant is a scourge and can take over a pond to the point of reducing most or all recreational fun. It did for us before our redo. We are so thrilled with how well our pond is doing now. It's beautiful and we get many positive comments from visitors. I love our aeration too, especially while we have guests over swimming. It's funny to float over them and feel that super cold bottom water bubbling up.

SherWood, If the aeration system was running for a week or longer, you shouldn't' feel that big of a difference between bottom and top water temp. 4-5 degrees at most.

If it's greater than that, the aeration system isn't running long enough per day or it's undersized for the pond.

It's probably undersized.