Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants help needed!!

Hello and good evening.

A close family friend owns an old paylake thats absolutly the best bass fishing ive ever had the pleasure to fish.. The pond/lake closed to the public in 1977 and since then only family friends have been allowed to fish it..

But we now we have an issue.. green scum and algae have taken over.. to the point now even buzz baits and any form of top water bait is useless..

im sure you get questions on this all the time..i tried searching around here some to no avail..

the pond is around an acre in size.. fed by 2 small springs. its got a constant flow of water year round. not always alot in mid summer but there is a small steady stream moving. Enough to keep up with evaporation anyway. from what i gather its around 20-25ft deep at its center..

what do you recommend? what would you use to get rid of the algae and green thick pond scum?

i heard that using a bail of straw helps alot and is used often in england. i guess there's a chemical that is released by barley straw that highly reduces the future growth of algae but isnt a algae killer.. it just helps control the growth of new algae.

honestly if it took 300 bucks to buy a liquid that would outright kill pond scum and some of the algae without hurting fish..im all for it..

how much greenclean pro would i need to cover an acre??? i know they come in 50lb bags
any information would be highly appreciated!!

thanks in advance.

Hello trailboss and welcome to the Pond Boss forums.

If you can take photos of the algae and post them here then the specific plant(s) can be identified. That would help in the treatment suggestions.

Here is a link to the archives that discuss Filamentous Algae and Barley Straw. Filamentous Algae, aka Pond Scum/Moss

The algae is most likely growing because of excess nutrients in the water. If the pond doesn't have plants growing in it to use the nutrients, that could be one reason. There could be a change upstream in those feeder streams that is now bringing more nutrients into the pond than in previous years. Cutrine Plus is one algacide that works well. It's available in liquid or granular form.

Raking and manually removing the algae is a more labor intensive option, but it's better than just killing the algae because it removes some of the nutrients from the pond. When the algae dies and decays, it releases nutrients into the water, starting the cycle all over again.

If you kill the algae, and don't do anything else, you probably will have to re-treat the algae in another 4-6 weeks.

Will Cutrine Plus kill phytoplankton?

Cutrine will definately kill phytoplankton because it is an algae. Effectiveness will depend on dosage and the species of phytoplankton. The range of species of phytoplankton has a whole range of tolerances to copper some very low, some quite high. It all depends.

Essup is right on...nutrients are most likely the root cause of your issue. Your pond sounds about like mine (only significantly deeper). I also have an algae issue. I've spot treated with cutrine, but the best option is definitely manual removal. If it's close to the shore I just use a landscape rake to pull it off. Larger areas I've had good luck using a nylon rope stretched tight and just pulling it right off. By doing that you're taking the nutrients out of the water and lessening regrowth. You can further help your cause with bacteria treatments and aeration...

Good luck! Unfortunately there isn't an easy quick fix but it's possible with persistence.