Golden Shiner Eggs? - Pond Boss Forum

or something else?

This is the same stuff that covered my fish cage last summer.

A form of bryozoans. There are several types.

Thanks Bill! Any idea why these are so numerous? They seem to be on lot's of stuff in the water, I find pockets of them wrapped around the stems of aquatic vegetation as well.
The ones in this picture were attached to the underside of the stick.

Not sure of the environmental requirements for that particular species. Generally bryozoans are indicators of good water quality which is probably why your SMB are doing well.

Bill, I am going to toss a few more pictures from tonight in this thread for you to look at. I am still stumped, when I peel this stuff off the wood there is almost always a small blood worm or two underneath. Could this mystery stuff be some type of insect eggs? Or do you still think this is some type of bryozoan?

This small piece of wood was floating in the pond tonight.

Here is the end of it.

I peeled back a small piece off the end and there are three blood worms underneath, other places that I peal back also have small worms 1/3 this size that are not quite red yet, they are greenish brown and very small.

Thoughts?

Here are a few more pictures. There are four bloodworms/larvae in this picture, two red ones, a smaller brownish one, and an even smaller green one that is real hard to see.

Up close of one of the red ones and the brown one.

One of the long parts on this piece I peeled off was actually moving back and forth.

There appears to be a small green one (u-shape) just to the left of the the lower red one.

Could this be some type of midge egg mass? I know the pictures aren't great simply because these things are so small.

Bryozoans are probably not a significant part of the the food chain in my pond, but bloodworms should be.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/Urban/midges.htm

Quote:

LIFE CYCLE
There are four stages in the life cycle of chironomid midges. Eggs are laid on the surface of the water. Each gelatinous egg mass may contain up to 3,000 eggs depending on the species. Eggs sink to the bottom and hatch in several days to one week. After leaving the egg mass, larvae burrow into the mud or construct small tubes in which they live. Larvae enlarge their tubes as they grow. Suspended organic matter in the water and in the mud is used as food by the developing larvae. After they grow, the larvae take on a pink color and gradually turn a dark red. Consequently, mature larvae are commonly called �blood worms�. The red color results from an iron containing compound, haemoglobin, that is in the midge�s blood. The haemoglobin allows the larvae to respire under low dissolved oxygen conditions in the bottom mud. The larval stage can take from less that 2 to 7 weeks depending on water temperature. Larvae transform into pupae while still in their tubes. After 3 days, pupae actively swim to the sur-face, and adults emerge several hours later. Adults mate in swarms soon after emerging. Because they do not feed, adults live for only 3 to 5 days.

Midge larvae living among bryozoan colonies. Larvae have made cases from some of the available bryozoan material.

Thanks Bill!

The bryozoan colonies are back along with the bloodworms, it seems like every every stick in the water has some bryozoa on it. Even my pond thermometer has bryozoa growing it. Looking closely most of them also have small midge larvae on them as well. Any idea why there is such strong relationship between midge larvae and bryozoa?

The bryozoans provide a substrate and a substance for the midges to build cases.

Thanks Bill. I'm just surprised to see the bryozoa all over my pond again, this will be the third year in a row. I really feel my water quality is just average and nothing special. I'm glad they provide a substrate for midge larvae, I just find them to be a strange part of my pond ecology. They were so thick on my fish cage two years ago that I was worried about water being able to flow through the netting. The picture I posted of the cage was taken after I had already begun scrubbing it with a brush.

Bryozoans are habitat for lots of stuff (critters). They are often found in BG/RES stomach content studies. Not sure if the bryos are food for the BG or if they are just swallowed as they attempt to eat the critters.

Here are bryozoan colonies growing on the stems of flooded vegetation along the edge of the pond.