Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants should I do something about FA?

Hey guys,

quick question about FA and its effects on fish health, not having any concern about aesthetics. This is probably something that has been answered, but I did a little reading and didn't find an answer that relates very well to my pond.
My pond is in Baton Rouge, (south louisiana). 1 acre. (BG, LMB, CC, and bunch of fathead minnows that showed up on their own) Very symetrical rectangle shape with sloped sides down to a depth of about 6-7 feet, levee/bank sides so no water shed, ground water well pumps 10 gal/min of good alkaline hard water when water level drops, very good natural soil chemistry, lots of sunshine hardly any shade, I hand feed food and am going to install an auto feeder soon,
Basically, a naturally healthy pond that produces a good bit of fish and never has any fish kills and never needs restocking.

I wanted to do some things to make it an even better pond. I want to grow bigger LMB instead of overly populated stuned bass. I would like to grow more 8"+ BG's and continue to enjoy a nice population of BIG CC's (I am already taking the necissary steps to adjust populations. I am only seeking FA advice on this forum)

I started fertilizing the pond for the first time this spring. Even though the pond has a lot going for it naturally, the only bad thing is water clarity. I can see a disk as far as 36"+. The pond didn't need lime. It responded immediately to the first application of ProSol Full Stringer 10-52-4. I was seeing clarity decrease by a an inch a day. Its at about 24" now (I'm not trying to rush it. Im slowly applying in 2-3 week intervals. I don't want to get an overly aggressive bloom, Especially since I started a little too late and its now full swing spawn time.

My question is: Along with a good microscopic algae bloom, I'm getting a lot of nasty FA. There aren't any major mats or anything, just A LOT of 3-6" chunks floating around. Should I worry about the FA this year or just keep fertilizing and then deal with the FA over the winter?? I should have treated and killed the FA this winter before ever applying fertilizer, but i didn't.

Does it sound like I should worry about my ecosystem as it relates to the FA, or should i just continue fertilzing through the summer and not worry about it's affects on my fish?
If I should do something, what? Get some Serile Carp? Cutrine?......I like the idea of a few fish dealing with all of the FA. I worry about using the cutrine during peak spawn time and killing all the FA and my micro bloom.

If its not going to be a problem, then will wait until next year late winter and treat and kill all FA before starting a fertilizing program.

Thank you guys. I really appreciate the knowledge I gain from all the experts and experienced pond owners/managers on this forum. Sorry such a long post.

welcome. Your long post was informative and useful. More posters should provide such good background info for their questions.

FA when it floats, is on its way 'downhill' and indidates that it has been stressed. In your case stressed by lack of sunlight getting to it due to - bloom shading. FA always, ALWAYS starts, life growing attached to a substrate. As it grows taller and thicker, the mats usually shade out the specialized holdfast cells attaching it to the substrate (bottom?). After periods of heavy shading, holdfasts begin to breakdown, weaken and bouyancy of mat causes it to float to the surface where it is obvious. At the surface it usually slowly starts to decay &/or hangs around until wave action or a heavy rain breaks it up and it sinks. It just went through the normal FA life cycle.

You are seeing floating FA due to it not doing well on the bottom where growths are starting to break down due to poor growing conditions. New FA growths will not reappear in those locations until enough light occurs i.e. clearer water. IMO maintain fertilization progarm to keep bottom area shaded and new growth of FA should subside, although you may see more floating FA due to more old bottom growths getting stressed, releasing and floating.

Bill Cody,
Thank you for your informative response. Thats what I was thinking. I wasn't too worried that there was any damage being done to the fish, but just wanted to be sure before I continued fertilizing throughout the summer.
The entire problem is that I only recently stumbled upon this website and all the information on managing a fish pond. I didn't start reading up on it all until mid March. I have done a good bit with the pond in the last 2 1/2 months. I started feeding them for the first time in years, started pumping in well water to combat the hight heat and very low rain, started running a surface aerator (mostly just to try to push the chunks of floating FA to the sides and out of way of my fishing line), I have thrown several limbs and brushes into the shallows to help with habitat, thrown 20-30lbs of pea gravel out into beds for the BG spawning, half way sunk an old aluminum boat with pea gravel lining the bottom (the BG LOVE IT FOR SPAWNING!!! its tlited up on its side so the fish can get into the bottom parts in between the seat benches only from one side so they're able to better defend), thrown a few piles of cinder blocks out for structure, started fertilizing for the first time ever, etc

All of this unfortunately has had to take place over since mid March-April. Like I said, wish I would have started reading up and doing all of this stuff back before the spawn ever started.

The reason I was asking whether or not it was urgent that I did anything about the FA is because honestly, if I don't have to do anything...I don't want to do anything about the FA. I really would like to just keep fertilizing, feeding and fishing and not much more else. I don't want to keep "shocking" the fish with major changes to the pond while they are trying to get they're groove on and make babies. lol.
So thank you. I am very happy that what I was optimistically thinking was true. I will do nothing about the FA for now assuming it doesn't get out of control, but I don't see why it would since like you said the fertilizing helps stunt and kill it with reduced water clarity.

So as far as next year, what are you're thoughts on getting rid of it all just because it is ugly and annoying removing it from my lures. I would like to completely get rid of it over the winter before next spring. Should I treat with chemicals or try to buy a few Sterile Grass Carp?

Thanks again guys

Grass carp won't eat much FA compared tohow much can grow in a pond. FA is not a favored food for GC. If possible remove a lot of it as it floats to shore this year. Removing it reduces nutrients for growing the next crop. In fall of this year if lots of it shows up reduce it with Curtine-Plus or Early next spring kill it with Cutrine Plus about 7-12 days before fertilizing.

Bill, thanks again. I didn't know FA wasn't big on the carp menu so that takes that out of the picture because there really aren't any other aquatic weeds.
So next spring if I do a Cutrine treatment to completely kill all the FA ahead of fertilizing time, do I need to try to get ALL of the dead matter out before the fertilizing? Or will the fertilizing keep it from coming back? And if I do have to do removal of the dead FA does that mean EVERY LAST BIT or just most of it?
Thanks again

While Im not a pond pro by any means, I have battled heavy FA problems so heres my 2 cents.

I was getting FA for the last 3 years that grew quickly and matted up half my pond by the end of May. I struggled with treating it fast enough to kill it off and protect my fish at the same time. This season I treated the edges and coves of my pond where it typically starts, very early in the spring. Early enough to not interfere with bass spawn. Well, my pre-emptive strike seems to have worked and I havent seen the slightest bit of FA yet. Weeks after I treated my pond, I got an unexpected bonus, darker water early in the season. Being spring-fed with quite a bit of watershed, I have trouble with fertilizing or gaining a natural bloom in time to thwart the chara in some areas. This year it is greatly improved. I may not even use tilapia this year, although the bass appreciate it when I do...

Adam, goal of Removal was to reduce the amount of FA that needed to be killed and thus less dead to sink, decay and add nutrients to grow more plants. In a pond that is to get a bloom removal is less important. If the algae is dead it will not regrow if it can't get light due to a new green water bloom. In clear water more FA will regrow due to algal spores or those filaments that did not get killed by the herbicide - there are always a few viable filaments 'around'. Nutrients from the slow decay of dead FA should theoretically assist the nutrients from fertilizaion for the bloom. Large amounts of decaying FA can consume lot of DO and in warm water (70F+) stress fish to the point some die due to DO loss.