Quote:
Originally posted by Bill Cody:
...maybe use a long lasting herbicide like Sonar...If you don't have enough of a vascular plant nutrient sink you are liable to see a big growth of FA instead of a plankton bloom. Often bluegreen algae surface films appear when phosphorus is available and nitrogen becomes a limiting factor because surface growing bluegreens can get their source of nitrogen from the air.
OK, this is starting to crystallize a little bit.

I thought I was being thorough, but I failed to mention a couple of pertinent points.

This particular scenario is virtually identical to every other die-off I've had in some respects, but one really interesting similarity lies in the presence of a disgusting film of smelly algae that forms on the bottom of the pond in a blueish-green, gooey mat. This substance (maybe bluegreen algae?) then breaks apart and rises to the surface in puzzle-piece looking increments. I don't know why I didn't mention it, but this also happened in this last oxygen loss event. This leads me to the following question.

Could I not apply Sonar early to hammer the horned pondweed, then apply an alum slurry two or three times over the following few weeks to suppress the bluegreen algae, and tie up phosphorous that would have been utilized like FA and single celled algae? All the time growing cattails on the islands to stay ahead of the problem? I really don't need thousands of pounds of tightly woven vegetation to maintain an adequate invertebrate community. The fish can't really get to most of the nymphs anyway because they have so many hiding areas. And how much does Sonar cost, and how much would I use? And where do I send my check for all of this valuable advice? Maybe I could pick up the check for your next Pond Boss subscription. ;\)

Holding a redear sunfish is like running with scissors.