Pond Boss
Posted By: Stevie Ray Pond Algae - 03/13/19 07:54 PM
So I have a small....<10th of an acre pond that I have stocked with HBG. I have been feeding once or twice a day since August. I have a small fountain set up in the pond. The problem......I am starting to see some shoreline algae forming, like fine hairs, also I have brought up what looks like Chara on a fishing lure out of one end of the pond. How do I rid my pond of the algae without having a fish kill? My pond is located in SW Louisiana.
Posted By: Mike Whatley Re: Algae - 03/13/19 08:55 PM
Stevie, we're both in SW LA and have ponds of about the same size. The Algae you describe is likely FA (Filamentous Algae). We all have it to some degree and there's really nothing you can do to prevent it. I look at it as a sign of a fertile pond. Luckily it will only grow around the banks and about 3-4 feet deep, depending on your clarity. Luckily, with ponds like ours, it's easy to take a rake to it when it comes to the surface. You can put in pond die to reduce the sunlight penetration which will reduce it some, but I dont think it will kill it completely.

The Chara.. I cant help you with, other than telling you to try to transplant some beneficial plants like arrowhead or wild Iris, as they will help use up nutrients and maybe slow the chara down some.

How deep is your pond? How old is it?
Posted By: Bill Cody Re: Algae - 03/13/19 09:17 PM
Here is link to many discussions about what causes algae (FA) and how to deal with it.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=257088#Post257088

I suggest two methods, one for the hair algae(aka FA) and one for the chara. 1. depending on your preference for use of the heavy metal copper algaecide, a simple common way to temporarily kill it for your 0.1 ac pond is take a 1 cup of copper sulfate (CuSO4); best type to use is the form with particles 1/4"-3/4" size pieces. Divide the cup into 2 to 3 equal parts because you don't want it all dissolving quickly as you circle the pond applying esp when using the small fine sugar size particles. Put the chemical portions in some sort of small cloth bag or old fine mesh sock attached to a long handled garden? rake. Drag this unit quickly alone the shoreline as far out as the rake reaches. You should be able to dose one shoreline with the 1st dose. Refill the sock and do the other shoreline. etc until the entire 1 cup is consumed/dissolved. Another option is to use copper based Cutrine-Plus or similar brand of buffered copper product. Copper sulfate will not control Chara. Don't waste CuSo4 on Chara. Another common non copper product is GreenClean Pro - aka granular hydrogen peroxide. Follow instructions of the bag as a dissolved spray or granular spread technique.

2. Non algacidal method it control FA and Chara is to use tilapia. Chara can be manually removed by raking in a small pond. See an excellent tool called Lake Rake. Chara can be used as garden fertilizer and mulch.
Tilapia work very very good consuming lots of algae and Chara IF you add enough numbers of tilapia to consume the volume or amount of the
problem plants over the course of 4 to 8 weeks. Grass carp (white amur) also will consume Chara but will not eat much algae, some but not lots. Remember each fish can only eat just so much food per day. So amount that needs to be consumed, is dependent on how big the problem is. IMPORTANT - Tilapia work best when a significant amount of algae is removed (manually or chemically) before the tilapia are introduced. This way they don't have a HUGE backlog(stockpiles) of algae to eat. Also note big predators will eat small size tilapia so be sure you are not just feeding your big bass expensive snacks.
Posted By: Stevie Ray Pond Re: Algae - 03/13/19 09:43 PM
The pond is 6ft in the deepest part tapering up to the shore about 6" deep. The pond was built in 2014.
Posted By: Mike Whatley Re: Algae - 03/13/19 09:59 PM
I didnt refer to Tilapia because they're illegal in Louisiana.

With your pond being relatively shallow, you are likely to see other issues with plant growth as time goes by, so using chemicals may be your only option.
Posted By: Stevie Ray Pond Re: Algae - 03/13/19 10:04 PM
I really don't care to use chemicals if I can avoid it. Where did you get your arrowhead from? I called Greengate today about some water lillies but they won't have any until the end of the month.
Posted By: Mike Whatley Re: Algae - 03/13/19 11:48 PM
My arrowhead (lanceleaf variety) came up on it's own. I'm surprised you havent had any self propagate after 5 years. I only have a couple of plants right now, but I'm hoping it spreads. I do have some wild Iris you can get a few bulbs of. Itll take time for it to spread, but it's a start.

Shoot me a PM if you're interested.

Be real careful with lillies. With your pond being only 6 feet deep, it could be completely covered in a few years. You can set them in pots to help control their spreading.
Posted By: Bill Cody Re: Algae - 03/14/19 12:56 AM
If you to have minimal chemical desire to use for algae (FA) then reconsider using the GreenClean-Pro (or Phycomycin). Active ingredient is hydrogen peroxide composed of hydrogen and oxygen same stuff water(H2O) is made of except GC-P is H2O2 an extra oxygen added. The carrier substance for the dried H2O2 is washing soda, sodium carbonate(Na2CO3). All having very low toxicity that I consider safe substances.
Posted By: Stevie Ray Pond Re: Algae - 03/14/19 05:16 AM
I think anything that I plant I will pot it up to make sure I don't have a take over I just thought the water lillies would be nice to look at. Right now the only thing I have growing looks like rushes. I might hit you up for some of those wild iris. And also look into the green clean pro.
Posted By: Mike Whatley Re: Algae - 03/14/19 08:50 AM
I wasn't aware of the GreenClean product, but after researching it a little, I think I may order a bucket to do shoreline maintenance of my FA. I tried a copper sulfate last year on some BGA (bluegreen alg) and it worked, but I didn't care for the toxicity. This stuff can be diluted and sprayed for that.

Worth a try, I think. Especially since it wont hurt the other plants. I've got some widgeon grass trying to take hold that I'd like to keep as well.
Posted By: Bill Cody Re: Algae - 03/14/19 02:51 PM
Be aware the Green Clean-Pro is not as effective nor powerful on larger longer filaments as large masses of FA as copper sulfate. GC-P is much safer but not as effective as same dosages of CuSO4. GC-P is most effective on new short growths of FA before it gets long, stringy, and bulky. Use it best as a pro-active management.

GC-P is best used as early reduction of new growths of FA on the bottom; a pro-active form algae management when FA is still short strands covering bottom areas. GC-P is not as effective for big floating masses of FA because it takes a lot of GC-P to work on killing the high volumes of biomass FA growths. GC-P works on it but it takes a lot of GC-P to do the job which can get expensive.

GC-P is specialized for and highly effective on floating thin films(scums) of blue green algae at and near the surface.
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