Pond dredging Project

[GreensvilleJay]

There isn't ANY way to dredge a pond without killing some/all of the fish. Once the 'muck' is floating in the water, the fish will suffocate.
hmm, OK, drain the pond ,then rescue the fish, put into another pond ??

dig a new pond, next to the old,cut channel between them, 'encourage' fish to relocate. ??

 

[Easton]

I remember when I lived in Florida, I used to visit Wekiwa Springs with it's crystal clear waters and abundant fish life. But from time to time it would overgrow with seaweed and have to be cleaned out. Because of the protected ecosystem, they couldn't use enzymes and such that would radically change the water composition. Always wondered how they did it until one day I saw the solution.

A dude would "dredge" the bottom by pulling a 4' tall chain-link fence gate across the water bed with a rope. Unlike with a traditional rake with tines that dig into the spring bed, the gate would just sort of scrape over the top. At the same time, weeds and such would get wrapped up in the chain link and be pulled out. The fish got out of the way, and there was minimal sediment stirred up.

Homeboy did the job by hand wading through the spring and pulling the chain-link gate behind him because of the no-petroleum protected environment. Might be able to adapt the process with more power in your situation pulling the gate with your tractor.

Just a thought....would love to hear what your ultimate solution is.

 

[JeremyBX2200]

I remember when I lived in Florida, I used to visit Wekiwa Springs with it's crystal clear waters and abundant fish life. But from time to time it would overgrow with seaweed and have to be cleaned out. Because of the protected ecosystem, they couldn't use enzymes and such that would radically change the water composition. Always wondered how they did it until one day I saw the solution.

A dude would "dredge" the bottom by pulling a 4' tall chain-link fence gate across the water bed with a rope. Unlike with a traditional rake with tines that dig into the spring bed, the gate would just sort of scrape over the top. At the same time, weeds and such would get wrapped up in the chain link and be pulled out. The fish got out of the way, and there was minimal sediment stirred up.

Homeboy did the job by hand wading through the spring and pulling the chain-link gate behind him because of the no-petroleum protected environment. Might be able to adapt the process with more power in your situation pulling the gate with your tractor.

Just a thought....would love to hear what your ultimate solution is.

If I end up doing something I will let you know.

Not sure if/when I will do it. Last thing I want to do is kill off my fish population.