Aquacide Blog — Lake Sediment

Get the Muck Out!  3 helpful methods Is your pond muck out of control?  Is it time for a pond cleaning, but you just can’t figure out how to accomplish it?  Often times pond muck and lake sediment are the result of millions of tiny clay particles that are in a “colloidal suspension”.  How can you tell if your pond has colloidal clay particle suspension from rain and runoff, or if you have dead organic vegetation built up over years. Step 1.  Fill a 5 gallon bucket with water from your pond or lake. Step 2.   Place a cloth (an old t-shirt works well) as...

Pond Cleaning is very important for the overall health of your pond.  Pond water needs to be clear for good production of fish.  Clear ponds produce several times the amount of fish than turbid ponds.  , after pond cleaning, clear ponds are much more fun to swim in!  Most ponds become muddy after heavy rain, runoff, when ponds turn over or from excess decayed vegetation.  Normally, silt or decay should settle out within one week’s time.  Water clarity is normally 1 foot or more during most of the year.  Fish production will be decreased in water with less than 1 foot visibility....

Q---I’m considering buying a property with a spring-fed pond.  Before I sign on the dotted line, what kind of maintenance considerations should I be aware of? A---Spring-fed ponds are relatively rare.  Water flows out of spring-fed ponds at all times, not just after heavy rains.  Many people mistakenly think they have spring-fed ponds.   During construction, water gushed into the dug pond area from what was assumed to be instead what they saw was ground water flowing into the hole from veins of water–bearing sand or gravel.  If, however, water is discharged through a spillway, it is indeed a spring-fed pond....

While many people jump in the lake to keep cool, living life underwater isn’t always enough to protect fish from the heat. Many people throughout the US have noticed fish struggling at the water surface and washing up onto their shore.  This is due to the heat wave that has hovered over the Midwest over the past few weeks. Fish kills are actually common and do happen every summer, its part of the natural cycle.  Oxygen levels have reached an all time low.  Low oxygen levels combined with high water temperatures cause fish kills that sometimes have people convinced their...

Fertilization is done to improve the quality of fish growth.  In the United States, fertilization has been used extensively since 1925 as a means for increasing pond productivity. Applying proper pond fertilizer to a lake has the same effect as fertilizing your garden, it increases production.  Research has proven that pounds of fish produced may be increased 300 percent or more by proper fertilization.  How does this happen?   Pond fertilizer increases the small green algae called phytoplankton.  Phytoplankton is eaten by tiny insects called zooplankton. These little insects are eaten by your fish. The more food you produce from fertilization the...