Captain, this year has been very unique for FA. I have had more calls than I can count this year concerning extremely heavy FA and other algae outbreaks in waters all over the country. One common theme I have discovered is that the outbreaks have all been in areas of drought and terrestrial vegetation die offs with an influx of rain washing the nutrients into ponds. Absent a drought stricken area, there has been freshly broken dirt that released nutrients, such as new building sites in a watershed.
Considering you have not answered the many questions asked yet, my educated guess is the long Texas droughts of late has built up an excessive amount of nutrient that the spring rains concentrated in your pond and the tilapia simply couldn't keep up.
I had one pond with a horse pasture/stable in the watershed that normally only used 30 pounds/acre of tilapia annually to keep FA at bay. This past summer, control was not achieved until a 150 pound/acre rate was reached.
For me, this past year has been exceptional in using tilapia for algae control. I don't anticipate years like this one happening often at all.
Don't take my "guess" as the explanation here. It could very well be that the tilapia were graded (and mostly same sex)...it could be from over feeding...it could be an algae took hold in your pond the Mozambique Tilapia won't readily eat...it could be the massive nutrient influx......or any combination. A true, "It all depends", but the Tilapia have already proven to be an effective tool in your pond and will be in the future as well, if used.
