Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Pond surface turning green

Many ponds in our area are getting a layer of green slime on the surface. what is this? What causes it? What cures it?

I've seen it all my life around these parts of VA. but this is the first year I've seen it take over many ponds here.

Do you have any pictures? They'd help with a diagnosis.

PONDNUT,
look at my post a few days ago about green scum and see my pictures. Does your mess look anything like this?? Mine was gone in less than a week so never got to figure out what it was, but Bill gave a pretty good explanation that makes sense.

I've lived and fished in Virginia all of my life and if I had to make a guess, I'd say it is filamentous algae. It is caused by high levels of nutrients entering the pond. It grows on the bottom and then floats up to the surface and can drift around. If thats what it is, cutrine-plus should take care of it. its a copper based algacide. I know you can get it in a granular, but I think it comes in liquid also. You could always manually remove it once it appears on the surface, but I'd let the chemical do the work. hope thats helpful

Green slime...? without pictures its tough to tell but here in Florida green slime is usually cyanobacteria. If it looks like antifreeze in the water it usually turns out to be blue-green algae or cyanobacteria. There are many different strains some are toxic or produce neuro-toxins that can harm animals some do not. It really is quite a mystery to most researchers. Here is some great links...

http://lakewatch.ifas.ufl.edu/ToxicAlgae/ToxicAlgae.htm
http://lakewatch.ifas.ufl.edu/PDFFOLDER2008/FLWVol42.pdf
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/resourcesquality/toxicyanbact/en/