My pond is about 2 acres in surface area. Just a couple of weeks ago it was fairly clear, however yesterday it is green with algae. Anything I can do about it?

What kind of algae?

I don't really know what kind. The water is just green with it. I can see some clumps of it floating. Does that help?

If you see clumps it's some form of filamentous algae. But you could have an algae bloom of phytoplankton too.

Any ideas what can be done about it? Is phytoplankton a good thing or a bad thing?

Generally good, but bad if you can't see a white coffee cup when it's 6" below the water surface.

Thanks esshup. That helps alot. I can see that far into the water. As a matter of fact I can see the shadows of the channel cats probably a foot or so down.

12 inches for phytoplankton is optimum to retard macrophyte growth. If it drops below 6 inches you could be in trouble.

Is there anything I can do about this?

Steve, the phytoplankton are microscopic plant life. The are the basis of the food chain. They are preyed on by zooplankton which are microscopic animals(bugs). The zoo's are fed on by a bigger bug and this keeps on going up the food chain until you put one in the skillet. So the green color of the water caused by phyto is a good thing; up to a point. It indicates a fertile pond. However, an overabundance of phyto could indicate an overly fertile pond. When that happens, the phyto blooms too much, consumes all of the dissolved oxygen and causes a die off. The biggest fish go first.

The perfect range of sight using a sechi disk is 18 to 24 inches. You can vary from that some either way. BTW, a perfectly clear pond indicates that the water is sterile and has trouble supporting life.

Make a sechi disk of some sort and check the real visibility. You may or may not have a cause to worry but it doesn't sound like a real dangerous situation to me.

Any chance of getting a photo, so we can see what you're seeing?

I'll try to get a photo to post on here. Meanwhile, is there anything that can be done if I do have a problem?

Lots of things can be done once the problem is properly identified.