Don’t know if you’ve fixed all of your pond problems in the past 5 years but I’ve been thinking on a duck pond as a bio diverse feature of a permaculture property plan when I came across this post. I’ve been thinking of a duck pond because ducks make good eggs meat and love to eat snails and slugs but also they make for muck as you’ve described. To combat this I’m thinking of irrigating muck water to a holding pond when rain is forecasted and this holding pond will allow me to spray compost piles with additional nutrients. Also, I think it’s important to have a freshwater no duck holding pond in the event of drought. Having smaller holding ponds will help you utilize your pond better without ever touching your well.
Next permaculture calls for more plants and animals. I am thinking of making floating rice paddies as well as wild rice and cattails around the perimeter. They both soak up nitrogen well and make shade and habit for… crawfish if you can figure out a way to make them plentiful crawfish boils are the best and make a good compostable mineral additive. I haven’t figured out yet which but I’m going to be looking for a mollusk to help with filtration too. Also I wanna stock with minnow, bluegill, and rainbow trout….
I think if you think about this with a permaculture mindset, that pond could become a centerpiece self producer on your property.
