The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 letter word MARK TIME
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
M
A
R
K
T
I
M
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Tread water" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case tread water = mark time.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.