How do you clean a natural pond

Question

I have a pond in my back yard. It is fed by a spring, and has drainage. It is really mucky and fish will not live in it. There are turtles and frogs that live in it. How can I clean it up enough to let fish live in it? I live in Maine, so it does freeze over in the winter. The size is probably around 20 feet x 20 feet and about 15 feet deep. We tried to drain it, but the spring fills it up really quick.

Answer 1

Carp and catfish are indeed a great way to maintain a pond once established, but the problem as you have stated it is that fish cannot live in it as it is. This is beacause your pond is loaded with algae, which thrives in natural, sunny conditions when there are not steps in place to counteract it. Algae robs the water of the oxygen required to support fish, and you end up with frogs and turtles. So, first you need to get rid of all the string algae. Use netting to capture as much as you can and then use a blue dye, available at pond shops, that completely colors the water, robbing the algae and algae spores of needed sunlight. This will kill the algae. Add large barley bales, weighted (also available at the pond shops) to the pond to keep string algae from reappearing. Then you need to test the pH of the water. You will likely need to reduce the acidity level with pH Down, or another formula available at your local pond shop. Once your water is stabilized, add some catfish and Koi. Check the water after every rain to ensure that the pH remains at a neutral level. In spring, use a beneficial bacteria to eat the sludge off the bottom, and in fall, net the top so that leaves do not fall in and decay over the winter.

If you can shade your pond with some trees, that would also reduce algeal growth. Normally I would suggest adding floating plants, such as water hyacinth and water lilies to shade your water's top, but Koi/carp eat the roots off and the plants merely die.

If you want to invest some serious money to maintain your pond, aerate it with a filter to which you can attach a UV light -- the water runs through the UV chamber, killing the algae spores as it goes, keeping your pond pristine. The only problem with this is that your pond is large, and your system will need to be large to accommodate it. If you do this, you can have some fun adding a fountain or waterfall to the pond, driven by the filtering system.

Plant plenty of marginal plants around the pond, such as iris, asclepias, chameleon plant and bog plants that are perennial in your zone.

You are not going to gain perfect control over your pond in a day or a week, but with patience, over time. Once established, this healthy water feature will reward you with a great deal of happiness. I have had a pond for years and I just love it. The sound of water is soothing to the human psyche and you can feel good about creating your own ecosystem for the benefit of fish, birds and local animals that visit.

Answer 2

Usually spring fed also means Cold and it might be too cold for anything except trout.  The frogs ant turtles usually stay in the more shallow ends of the water where it is warmer.  When you say yucky do you mean string algae or filamentous algae?  It usually accompanies moving spring water and is hard to remove and keep it removed. It usually is best to hand remove it rather than using chemicals in the water. String Algae are a sign of a healthy pond.

The conditions favorable to string algae are limey water with a high pH.

http://www.pondappeal.com/string-algae_2...

We have several state parks in Missouri for trout fishing and they are full of string algae...sometimes yucky is not a bad thing it just a misunderstood thing.