water getting more cloudy

Hi, I bought a house last year with a very large pond. I estimate about 10,000 gallons. The pond is 4 feet deep in the middle with a plant ledge around the whole pond at about 2 feet deep. Its about 30 feet long by 26 feet wide.
I know a lot about keeping my indoor 90 gallon aquarium so I thought I would manage fine with the pond. Things are great EXCEPT as the water got colder it got more and more cloudy with what I think must be the end product after the bacteria has broken down the poo and debris. The lady that owned the house before me hated the pond so it has a lot of leaves in there from two falls ago. I've kept up on scooping the leaves so not many new ones are in there. I have two skimmer baskets too. My water parameters are PERFECT all the time. I haven't lost any fish in the 18 months I've lived here. Everyone looks very healthy and happy (about 100 fish), but after adding the winter bacterial treatment, micro-something, I noticed that more and more the water got more and more cloudy. This stuff collects on my plant stems and it just stirs into the water if I move the plant. When I would use the net to scoop leaves it would stir this fine matter up TERRIBLE and it appears to be green. I'm guessing this is the stuff that is left behind after it can't be broken down any further. The filter pad gets coated with this thick slimmy green goo that I wash off now and then. It completly coats the slats in the skimmer basket to the point that water can barely pass through the basket to the pump. Its not algae since the water is 40 degrees. I have UV sterilizer bulbs, but I put them away for the winter. Would they do anything to this stuff? I'm thinking no.

My question is, other than completely draining and cleaning the pond, is there a way to gradually clear this water and get this thick goo off the bottom? Recommend a vacuum? I'm afraid the fish might be smothering in this stuff while they are hybernating down in the bottom. I guess they are fine but I wish I could clean this water without having to put $1500+ into a professional cleaning. Even worse I don't want to go through having the fish and frogs removed from the pond for an entire day while it is cleaned and then refilled. I doubt it can even be finished in one day. Should I get a finer filter media material? I have two Savio pump wells, so I have a very nice system I just don't know exactly what I'm doing. I realize its probably too late to try to do anything now that snow is on the ground but I have to ask and at least I can be ready to tackle it as soon as we get a warmer day.

Thanks for any ideas I can get.

robyneller

Could this be filimentous string algae? If so, it wont hurt your fish. The uv light should take care of it and perhaps you need more plant coverage?

Robyneller
See my post on Waterfalls;

http://www.gardenpondforum.com/showthread.php?t=1019

This might be just what you need. My pea green pond cleared up in 2 - 3 days albeit the summer when I activated it.

For what its worth, my pond is cloudy now, I think it is due to the seasonal cold.

Where are you located? Geographical location is helpful when responding to questions.

Thanks for the replies. I live in Fort Washington Maryland which sits just on the out skirts of Washington DC. I have determined that the stuff I'm seeing settling on the plants and clouding the water is just the very end product of the complete cylce of everything being broken down to its final stage. THere is so much leaf debris from two years ago that the bacteria have been going to town on it. It really needs to be drained and properly maintained from that point on. The lady that owned the house before me didn't do anything with the pond at all, including getting the leaves out. I ordered a micro fine filter pad and if I stir it up I think that will help a bit. Its just like a dust storm when you stir it up from the bottom. Its going to be a long process. I have two fairly large waterfalls, but with the amount of stuff in the pond its hard to get ahead of it. At least its not toxic to the fish!

I agree that you need to get rid of the aging leaves, however, that alone is not going to fix the problem.

The nice thing about the bio filter I built is; it has a 2" dump valve that allows me to clean it in a matter of seconds. All the sludge gathers in the bottom cavity, what comes out the top is clear water.

I also built another filter for my large waterfall, and it uses the elements you mentioned. It did not remove the green color from the water.

For the amount of water you have to process, I don't think you will ever catch up with it using filter elements.