Hi,

I need some help with my 40+ year old, 3/4 acre, run-off filled, farm pond in Iowa.

When the pond was built they pushed the dirt to form a dam which is roughly 8-10 feet wide. Over the years, trees have started growing on and around the dam. Some of these trees have gotten rather large with trunks measuring up to 6-8 inches in diameter. I like the trees, but a neighbor of mine told me I should cut the trees down because bugs can eat the roots causing leaks to form in the dam. Is this even possible?

My next question is basically, should I drain the pond or what should I do to make the pond healthy?

The following is random stuff about the pond:

The owner before me completely neglected the pond and really did nothing to help the property.

When we first bought the acreage and fished the pond we only caught small Bullhead Catfish. Last spring, we contacted a local fish breeder and bought their recommended mixture of fish. We ended up getting some Bluegill, Hybrid Bluegill, Crappie, Bass and a couple of grass cats.

We fished it a couple of weeks ago, but only caught small Bullheads again. I guess we could of just had bad luck or maybe the fish are still too small. My opinion is that the pond wasn't healthy enough causing them to die.

The pond is home to 6 Geese and 3 Muscovy Ducks. I put in an aerator to keep the pond from freezing.

When full, the pond is roughly 8 feet deep. The bottom has about 5-10" deep of some nasty, stinky, disgusting black mud covering it. Also, the water clarity is less than a foot.

Last fall we dug part of it out and made it about 15% bigger, and a couple of feet deeper in some places last fall.

The only thing that seems to be thriving is duckweed.

Here are some of the things I have considered to fix the pond:

a) Pump out the pond using a larger trash pump and try to remove most of the yuck off the bottom. I have even considered completely draining it.
b) Build a silt pond at the point where most of the run-off enters the pond.
c) Use a herbicide to kill off the duckweed.

Do you have any suggestions? We need all the help we can get.

Thank You