One of our readers wrote in the other day asking what he could do to clear his muddy pond. The pond is home to speckled trout and became muddy after heavy rains. Since the pond is rather small, a quarter acre in size, the muddy water doesn't seem to be clearing.
In response, I did some research and came across this article published by a group in Texas. Hoping others will benefit from the information, I wanted to publish the link here.
The article is title, "Clearing Muddy Ponds", and you read it by clicking here.
Folks at Virginia Tech published another good article, titled, "Clearing Muddy Pond Waters."
If you have a fish pond you need to take care of, make sure there is plenty of grass around the shoreline. This will help prevent more mud from washing into the pond during a good rain.
There are compounds you can add to the pond to help clear the water also. The most popular compounds include gypsum, agricultural or hydrated limestone, aluminum sulfate (also called, alum). But be careful using these compounds as they can change the pH of the water.
Adding Alum to the pond will lower pH, and keep in mind that trout typically don't do well in water with a pH lower than 6. The lower the pH, the more acidic the water. If using Alum, most experts recommend using it in conjunction with limestone at a ratio of 2:1 (Alum to limestone).
Read the above mentioned articles for more information and if you have questions, your local fish and game department will most likely be able to offer more detailed help in regards to using compounds to clear your muddy fish pond.
