Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Water Lily Control

I would like to remove water lillies from a 1 acre spring fed pond. The pond has about 70% of the surface covered with what I believe to be hardy water lillies. If I use an herbacide, which on should I use? Will the decomposition of all the organics suck all the Disolved Oxygen out of the water and kill the fish?
I was considering taking the water level down and putting tarps over lillies, then refilling the pond. Any ideas on how long the tarps would have to stay in place to kill the lillies roots and all?
Also I keep reading about grass carp. Would they be effective against such a large amount of hardy water lillies? I dont know where to find out what the order of prefered food is. LOL Will they eat water lillies?
Finally do you think aerating a pond 1 acre and max depth of 7ft would help the population of bass and bream? Thanks in advance.

Heres a few other ideas. I was considering laying tarps accross the 1 acre pond as a phisical barrier. This way I could allow the lillies to thrive on one side of the pond and treat the other side with Navagate or WeedRhap (per Aquaplant Pond Manager). How wide should the tarp be? Or would I be better off just treating that boundry line every year. Any suggestions. Also when I walk into the pond I sink about one and a half feet. A lot of bubbles of foul smelling gas rise. If I airate will this muck become more healthy for fish or is to late for this pond altogether.

Shock - if you're still visiting the board...

It would help us all to better visualize, assess and provide suggestions for your pond if we had an idea of your location (state, etc.). So many variables exist in the different geographies of the country that I'm often hesitant to make comments on pond management stategies in areas with which I'm unfamiliar. Also, an email address sometimes comes in handy.

I don't think our board members (here) ever get spammed by providing these useful bits of insight - and it really helps us to better address your specific situation.