Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Pea Soup

We have a pond of about 3/4 acres that was dug a year ago October. We stocked it with 300 bream and 75 LMB a year ago. It has mostly been clear with a few mild algae blooms over the past year.

Starting about two weeks ago we had an extensive algae bloom and it has limited the visiblility in the water to about 6 - 8 inches. It has not started to clear up yet. We caught some bream this weekend and they were almost white.

We live in central Arkansas and the weather has been mild. We had been feeding the fish some and I did fertilize the pasture next to the pond last fall. I quit feeding the fish to see if that would help. The algae is starting to bunch up and float on the surface.

I have pictures of the water but I am not sure how to attach them to this post. Do I have anything to be concerned about? Should this last over 2 weeks at this visibility?

Would aeration help?

Regards

Tim Zimmerman

Sounds like you could be setting up for a fish kill if/when the algae crashes, especially if the weather is just right (wrong). Water visibility of only 6-8 inches is VERY dense; normal goal for Secchi depth is 12"-18". I would guess your current heavy bloom is due to the fertilizing you did in the watershed.

Good aeration could help prevent a fish kill and could be needed to prevent it - I will not be surprised if one of the Pros replies "aerate ASAP!" IF you have filamentous algae involved (it doesn't sound like that's the case, but I'm not entirely sure), you could help reduce the chance of a fish kill by removing (raking) out as much FA as you can to reduce the amount of plants in the pond that can die, decay, and consume oxygen.

You could do a search for "fish kill" to get some additional info while waiting for better, more experienced advice from one of the Pros or near-Pros.

Tim,

Theo's right your are indeed heading for trouble expecially this early in the year where temps haven't even begun to get high, which will make it even worse. Apparently you really did some massive fertilizing of your watershed!

Aeration is indeed needed pronto (not diffuser aeration) and/or a fresh supply of clean water if it's not too late. Maybe a trash pump throwing the existing water up over the surface would help too. However I would guess your D.O. levels have already gotten dangerously low just before dawn if not sooner at night due to all the algae respiration.

Here is a link to read up on algae blooms etc. that can give you some backgound on the mechanics and managing them for your pond. The source is the western U.S. but the principals are the same.

http://aquanic.org/publicat/usda_rac/efs/wrac.htm

Tim,

Here is a suggestion, based on the belief that you need to do something quickly...

If you have a small outboard engine 5hp, 10hp or so. Mount it on a fixed platform or on a small boat and run it full throttle to churn the water, aerate, and reduce the problem. Do this immediately, and every morning for several minutes....you can't overdo it.