This is my opinion. I bought a home with a 1 acre pond. Didn't fish it before I bought it. After I was moved in I threw some rooster tails and jitter bugs even live bait and caught nothing. So that made my decision if I can't catch or get a bite on any of those there is either very little or no fish. That summer I bought a small amount of fat head minnows some shell crackers and a few small lmb. My inexperienced mind told me that if there was an issue with the water the fish I put in would die. I kept an eye for floaters. I didn't see any but I also didn't see any swimming around. Also that summer I got covered in Water Meal. At that point I started to do research. I bought an aerator and installed it. I read about the slow start up but decided to risk killing the fish I bought. I knew I needed to get the water and water meal in check if anything was going to survive besides the over abundance of frogs and turtles. I turned on the aerator. running 24/7 waiting to see dead fish. I didn't see any but the water meal floated away from the aerator. I decided to treat the water meal. I waited until the wind blew it to gather it as best as possible then sprayed with Clipper. Again taking a risk of killing the fish but I thought it was worth a shot since I didn't have much at stake. I hit it hard with Clipper because water meal is bad stuff to get rid of. I was able to kill it all. I ran the aerator through winter. After the thaw I noticed the fathead minnows loved the aerator as I saw thousands by it. I went and bought more fish and stocked more. It's been just under 3 years now and I'm catching LMB and the frog population is reduced. I've seen shell crackers on beds. So I guess my point is you have to weigh the risk and the rewards. I didn't have much to start with so I went all in. I still run 24/7 with the aerator. Best of luck to you