I'm new to this site and have been reading the posts, I don't see much talk on blue dye good or bad.
I have a 1 acre pond that I have just added blue dye
and it seems to be working so far.
I'm trying to control filamentous algae that has got
out of control the past couple of years.
Last year it was 100% covered.

Mike, If your pond was 100% covered last year the addition of dye will (at best) slow up your algae but will still come. Consider looking into where your nutrient load is coming from and reducing it instead. The lack of sun light will also slow up 02 production.(not good) Normally the more dye in a pond the lower the potential for o2 production thus making proper aeration even more important.Your water temp is still very low and when it warms up your algae will be there. What is your water source and what fish have you stocked and what
do you do for aeration.Ted PS Welcome to PondBoss !!

Ted, My pond is fed from a spring that runs 11 months out of the year, which comes from the direction of my neighbor who has a septic tank and
heavily fertilized yard. (up hill from my pond)
Also I have a 120 acre corn field that water sheds
through a culvert under the road into my pond. Two
sources of nutrients I can not control or reduce.
This year after the ice melted I had 25% algae coverage that I killed with copper sulfate then once
dead raked out, then I applied my blue dye.
I have 2 very large grass carps a one koi that I have seen eating the algea. I also have bass and blue gill.
I have a large amount of water flow during a rain
that will totally wash the algea out my spill way
and with the spring too I figured I have plenty of
aeration or do I? I live in Southern Indiana.
Thanks for your input.

Hey there Mike and Ted,

I want to give it a shot. It seems to me that your problem might stem from the exchanging water in your pond. There is likely not to be a good phytoplankton bloom on your pond because there are not enough nutrients in the water column, however there are enough nutrients in the soil. When the pond is clear the sun will penetrate to the bottom of the pond and the filamentous algae will get started. Don't get me wrong, there can be fillamentous algae in a fertilized pond, but treatments with diquat can help relieve the problem, also sometimes these problems dicipate as it gets hotter. But if you get the fillamentous alge started at the bottom of the pond, it will be hard to get rid of. Can you divert any of the water that is constantly flowing in to your pond. Runoff is acceptable, but a spring fed pond would constantly be overflowing. Then, if there is as much nutrient runoff as suspected you might be able to develop a plankton bloom before the fillamentous algae get started. If there is not enough nutrients in the runoff FERTILIZE EARLY to try to get a bloom established. Good luck, sorry for all the writing. Aaron

Sorry, I meant to say if you are able to flush the pond so quickly, dye might not be a cost-effective solution.

Welcome to PB Mike. I agree with Ted and Aaron.

With the constant flow through your pond, the dye may not be retained long enough to be effective.

As Ted mentioned, your nutrient loading is the main causes of your problems, not necessarly the light penetration. By adding the dye, you are simply putting a bandage on the wound and not treating it.

The idea is to increase the ponds Assimilation capacity or the pond's ability to assimilate the nutrients comming in from your spring and your wonderful neighboor.

To do that you would need to ensure you have proper circulation and habitat for aerobic bacteria and orgainsms that aid in taking care of those nutrients. Ted can help you with ensuring you have the right turnover in your pond. Good luck and again, welcome

MC - Does the spring enter the pond above or below the waterline? If above the waterline I suggest you collect a water sample and test it for nitrogen and phosphorus. Test in spring right after corn planting or nitrogen application when corn is about 4" to 8" high. Tesing again in summer of fall after a rain storm would also be informative. Presence or absence of nitrogen and phosphorus will give you some indication of what percentage of nutrients are coming from spring water. If nutrients are low in spring water all your nutrients feeding the algae problems are coming from fertilizer runoff - neighbors lawn and farm field. Since you can not control these nutrients or reduce these nutrient sources, I question your ability to ever get this problem fully under control. Water flow through the pond and relatively short water retention times will minimize the affects of any type of chemical treatments. If your spring water tests are fairly "good", I would talk to the local US Soil and Water office about the feasability of, in the future, installing a diversion ditch for the inflowing water. If that is impossible, You have a major problem on your hands if you expect a relatively clean pond. Even if you stocked a high number of grass carp (white amur) they have a high tendency to migrate out with the overflowing water esp during highest water periods. State DNR will not like that.

If it was my pond I would also test spring water once for total coliform bacteria. The presence of coliforms is highly suggestive, but not absolute proof, that the neighbor's septic field leaches into the spring water. Septic leachate not only contains coliform bacteria but also high nutrient levels.

It quite possibly could be nutrients in the inflow, but if your inflow is a true spring I find it unlikely. Just be careful about jumping to the conclusion that you are recieving too much N and P. There are lots of issues besides N and P that facilitate fillamentous algae blooms. Just another side of things.
I am curious though, do you have plankton blooms with the fillamentous algae, or just the fillamentous?
Another thing to think about, if your spring is constantly causing your pond to overflow the only way you could have too much N and P in the pond is if the spring consistantly has high concentrations. I do agree that if you are worried about a septic tank seaping into your pond the fecal colliforms would be a good test.

Thanks for all this info, sounds like the next thing I need to do is have the water tested. The
spring comes into the lake at the waters level, so I should be able to draw a sample for testing.
I think I only have the fillameatous algea, I really don't know what plankton blooms looks like, if it is a greenish water, no, the water is
very clear except after a rain.

Thanks again, this is a very useful site.
Mike

I am pretty sure that if you measure the nutrients in the runoff water from your water shed, the results will indicate elevated nutrient levels of phosphorus and esp nitrogen. Nutrients that feed attached benthic filametous algae can also come from nutrient cycling from the substrata. However light is manditory for filamentous growths to develop on the bottom areas. Nutrients, day length and water clarity (light intensity) are the primary factors for proliferation of filamentous algae growing on the bottom. Species that respond with abundant growth to nutrient enriched conditions include the common genera of Spirogyra, Oedogonium, and Cladophora (Algal Ecolgy 1996). Nutrients that feed attached growth, when proper light levels are present, can come from sediment associated phosphorus or chronic nutrient loading of the water column (Lowe in Algal Ecology 1996). Under certain conditions Mougeotia, Ulothrix, Zygnema and Stigeoclonium can also become abundant in ponds.

For the most part and in most cases in typical "sportfish" ponds, if nutrient tests are conducted the results will indicate that proliferation of or nuisance growths of filamentous algae were primarily stimulated by over abundance of nutrients.