1 acre pond NE Tx, year 3, deepest 13 feet, 50 acre watershed and spring fed. Last year, paradoxically after I installed bottom diffused aeration, FA problem began. Sprayed gallons of copper on it, raked out tons of it, stopped fertilization: accomplished nothing. This year, put in 10 lbs. of tilapia, still no fertilization, stopped my fish feeder to keep tilapia from getting full on it: accomplished nothing. Tilapia have been in 3 months and FA covers about 75% of pond surface. Is there any hope? What shall I do?

I have a terrible FA problem in one of my ponds too, and it's not spring fed. All the clear ponds around here have bad FA. I think the only solution for me is to cut off the light with dye, or introduce a bunch of big Koi to make it turbid and keep it turbid. I have raked and raked myself to not much avail.

Pondwish, I'm no expert, but until the professional chime in, a few thoughts...

50 acres of watershed for 1 acre of pond is really a lot for NE Texas. Most ponds there require something more like 10 acres of watershed for 1 acre, depending upon local conditions. So your problem could be that the watershed is excessively fertile, and every time it rains you get another big dose.

I have about 58 acres of watershed for 7.5 acres in NE Texas, and it stays full most of the year. June, July and August are when it gets down a foot or two, like now, but more than half the year I have a net outflow.

Re TP, you might need more than 10 pounds. I put in 150 pounds, 20 pounds per acre, and my BOW is a lot less fertile than yours.

Hope you can turn things around. I know how frustrating it can be when things don't go right!

To do much good in the battle against FA you need to start early. That means March in SE Kansas and maybe earlier in your area. The FA starts its growth cycle early on the bottom of the pond. By the time most people realize they have a problem they are seeing the end results of the FA life cycle, too late for easy or good control.

Removing the mats will help reduce fertility for next years crop.

anything good about FA Here is a link to my battle.