Why do ponds get muddy

This can be done using air cannons or dogs to scare the birds away. Applying product to vegetation to make it unpalatable can further discourage ducks and geese.

If you keep domestic ducks or geese, their access should be limited to one pair per surface acre of water. While some farmers use hay or other organic matter to clear muddy waters, this practice often results in poor water quality and dead fish. The decomposition of hay and other organic materials, over time, leads to lower oxygen levels that can kill fish and other aquatic life. This is especially true during warmer months since warm water contains less oxygen than cold water. Maintaining the clarity of your pond will likely be an ongoing effort, but with proper planning and the right tools, just about any pond can become a crystal, clear oasis for recreational fishing or just a quiet place to enjoy lunch on a sunny afternoon.

Looking for gypsum to treat your pond? Based in Lancaster County, PA, USA Gypsum provides high-quality, recycled gypsum, and ships nationwide, providing an all-natural solution to improve the water quality in your pond. There are many factors that can contribute to sediment animation including: Soil Erosion Runoff from rainfall often dislodges clay particles, especially in areas with bare cropland, over-grazed pastures or exposed shorelines.

Animal Activity Animals can also stir up clay particles, especially in shallow areas at the shoreline. Livestock Whether on the shoreline or in shallow water, livestock can stir up large quantities of clay particles. Wild Animals Feral hogs, deer, ducks and geese stir up bottom sediment along the shoreline or by entering shallow water. Nuisance Fish Bottom-feeding fish, such as bullheads, carp, or crayfish stir up bottom sediments when they dig, in search of food.

Weather Conditions Rapid changes in air temperature, heavy precipitation, and high winds can create thermal currents that result in water movement that disrupts the sediment at the bottom of the pond. Testing the Water Fortunately, water testing is simple and inexpensive, using the Simple Bucket Test. The Simple Bucket Test Fill two, 5-gallon buckets with water from your pond.

Buckets should be placed indoors, away from direct sunlight. Add a penny-sized piece of drywall to one of the buckets.

Leave the other bucket untouched. Check each bucket once every 24 hours to determine if the water has begun to clear. If the water clears in the water-only bucket, over a one week period, then your water clarity is likely being disrupted by something physical, such as animal activity or recent weather patterns.

Treatment Instructions: Obtain 6 identical, 1-gallon glass jars. Fill five of the jars with water from your pond. Set one jar aside to be used as a control for comparison. The remaining 4 jars will be treated with gypsum at different rates to determine the optimal rate for pond treatment. A major source of these nuisance fish species is the bait bucket. It is not unusual to see carp and bullhead fingerlings in buckets of minnows.

If the bait bucket is dumped into the pond, a muddy water problem may develop. Many pond owners prohibit fishing with minnows or any bait fish.

Maintain dense populations of largemouth bass. This predator species can control nuisance fish species in ponds. Try to keep domestic geese and ducks away from the pond. One pair per surface acre is tolerable, but anything more could lead to a problem. The expanding Canada goose population often causes muddy water problems. If nuisance fish species are already present and causing muddy water, they need to be removed.

Either drain the pond and remove them or treat the pond with a fish toxicant to eliminate the fish community. Restock with desirable species. If nuisance species are present but water clarity is acceptable, be sure to maintain a dense population of largemouth bass to ensure future control of the nuisance fish species.

This can be accomplished by limiting harvest of the bass. Keeping Canada geese away from ponds is becoming increasingly important as their population increases. If geese have caused a muddy water problem, harassment tactics are an option used by many. They range from air cannons to scare the birds away to dogs border collies are often used that continually harass the birds until they leave. There are also products on the market that make the vegetation and lawns around the pond unpalatable to geese.

If they do not like the taste, they will eventually leave to find food elsewhere. Some watershed activities disturb clay materials that can result in muddy water problems that are extremely difficult to correct. A prime example of this is construction activity in the watershed. Colloidal clay particles are very small and can take a very long time to sink to the bottom. If you take a jar of water from your pond and after several days it is still very cloudy in appearance, you likely have a problem with clay particles.

Several techniques exist that allow the pond owner to greatly reduce the levels of suspended clay particles. A time-honored method of removing suspended clay particles is the application of dry hay. Dry hay should not be confused with straw.

The hay should be loosely distributed throughout the shallow areas of the pond. Recommended application rates are about pounds per acre-foot of water. Quite often a muddy pond will not need the full application to clear the water. A good rule of thumb is that if water transparency reaches inches deep, enough hay has been added. There is one important reason to use as little hay as necessary. The addition of large amounts of organic material, such as hay, can lead to oxygen depletion as the material decomposes.

This is especially true in July and August. If hay application must occur in summer, supplemental aeration may be needed to prevent a fish kill. Agricultural gypsum is another material for removing suspended clay and does not cause the concern of a fish kill associated with adding hay.

Gypsum is also chemically neutral and therefore does not cause possible pH problems associated with alum, another commonly used material. Typical application rates are from 1,, pounds per surface acre of water, depending on the severity of the clay suspension. Again, it is wise to add the gypsum at a conservative rate of pounds per surface acre of water, wait several days, and determine if additional gypsum is needed.

This prevents excessive application and therefore helps keep costs down. Dissolve the gypsum in clean water and spray over the surface on a calm day. Films formed by blue-green algae are usually bright green and form swirls and bands as they move over the pond with the wind. On rare occasion the pond may develop a bright red or blood red film which is the result of the growth of "red algae.

Oils are produced naturally by the decay of leaves, algae and organic matter, but these oils behave differently from cooking oil or motor oil. To determine if the oil sheen you see on your pond is from a natural organic source, poke it with a stick. If it is from the decay of leaves and other organics, it will most likely crack and shatter like a thin layer of glass and will not reform as the stick is removed.

If it reforms or does not shatter, it is likely from automotive or cooking oils that have washed into the pond. Soil-based films usually accompany muddy water, are similar in color and will dissipate as the muddy water clears. Eliminating the cause of the muddy water will usually eliminate this type of surface film. How are surface films removed from ponds? Very little can be done to remove a surface film from a stormwater pond once it has spread across the pond. If it is biological in origin pollen or algae , it usually will dissipate or biodegrade on its own within a couple of weeks.

If the film is the result of soils and muddy water, the problem may persist until erosion can be stopped or the source of the muddy water is eliminated.

Oil films can be managed and involve a two-step process. First, oils can be removed from the pond surface using oil absorbing socks and booms. If the inlet where the oil is entering the pond can be identified, it should be protected by floating booms that will quarantine the oil before it disperses across the pond.

Second, the source of the oil must be eliminated. This means that the catch basins need to be inspected for evidence of oil dumping into storm drains, or the streets and driveways need to be inspected for evidence of an oil spill. If a spill or illicit discharge is identified, the community may choose to hire a mobile pressure washer who can clean the surface AND reclaim the washwater that contains the oil so that it does not wash to the storm drain or to the pond. Foam Foams that form on the surface of stormwater ponds may be the result of illicit discharges of soap and detergents see image on the left , or they can be formed naturally, usually in association with algae blooms.

All plant cells contain natural surfactants that change water surface tension. After an algae bloom occurs and the algae begin to die, their cells rupture and release these natural surfactants into the water. Add some current or wave action to this mixture and this water can begin to form a froth or foam see image on the right. This is the most common reason for the formation of "sea foam" at the beach. Natural foams also form in water with a lot of organic matter such as in black water rivers and swamps in the coastal plain.

All of the leaves and woody debris that fall in swamps decay and release their natural surfactants into the water. This is the same reason tea and coffee form a froth on the surface when being boiled. How can I tell the difference between foams from detergents and natural foams? The image on the left is the result of illicit detergents poured into a storm drain.