Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Watermeal Spreading Quickly

Well, here we are a year later and man.. have I made some mistakes.

Last year I bought about 80 bucks worth of tilapia which ended up being about 6 lbs worth... little to my knowledge at the time, that also turned out to be about 6 large tilapia.. not sure why I didn't get fingerlings but it was too late to go back (fishery is couple hours away).

Naturally that wasn't enough tilapia to make a dent in the watermeal so this year i tried something different.. in March I stocked 4 grass carp.. this was based on bad advice.. which I am only now finding out.

Thinking (in March) i was going to be OK I also actually stocked the tank with bluegill/redear fingerlings, minnows and catfish in hopes I would not have watermeal and be able to fish the tank next year.

about 4 weeks ago I noticed the watermeal coming back so I went to plan b and applied 8 oz of whitecap via sprayer wand throughout the pond. I may have waited too long to apply it because this is what it looks like 3 weeks later.



Maybe the whitecap needs more time?

Is it too late to try Tilapia again?

I fear my fish are dead... I see very few signs of life.

How big is the pond and what is the average depth?

Fluridone takes some time to kick in, but if you are at the right PPB, you should start to see the watermeal leaves turning white. My experience with it is, you see whitening about 4 days into it and substantial whitening by 2 weeks. At this point it stops spreading. By 1 month it is pretty much pure white and by 2 months dies off.

With an infestation as bad as yours... You really need to watch for a fish kill not caused by the complete coverage but once the watermeal dies, all of it rotting in the pond will take up large amounts of DO.

Is there any way you can aerate the pond?

its probably just over 1/2 acre with an average depth 3ft (8ft near the center and damn).

There is no electricity anywhere near the tank, unfortunately.

I should not have put fish in it without making sure the watermeal wasn't going to return.. i had it in my mind that the grass carp would control the watermeal... was told by someone that they were the ticket.

it's been about 3 weeks since we applied the fluridone, the watermeal looks a little yellowish, but thats about it.

I may just have waited too long.

Hey, if it doesn't die off completely, would you be willing to skim some off and ship it to me? I'd of course pay for shipping & supplies. I have a fish feeding project I'm working on, and I give you my word that I won't let the little nuisance spread into any waterways.

Got it! Finally won (I think). It took about a month, but my tank has little no watermeal finally.. Thanks so much for the help, the Whitecap did the trick. Now if I can just get my fish problem figured out.

Before:



After:

Congrats, Jaymz! That is just outstanding! I fully appreciate the sense of hope and satisfaction that comes with knowing you got one up on such an invasive plant, at least for this season. My best recommendation is that you tackle it proactively next year - hit the pond with another dose of fluoridone before anything starts growing. In my case, late application like yours in the first year followed by early application the next (last year) led to absolutely none showing up this year even though I didn't use fluoridone this year. Best of luck keeping ahead of it - that was one mutha of an infestation you had, bud!

Just curious, Did you lose any of your fish?

Thanks! Yeah, I think I lost my fish. I'm gonna give it another go here soon. I want to monitor to make sure it doesn't come back. I will apply a second dose earlier next year!

Jaymz - don't apply too early, or too late next season. If you apply too early, and heavy spring rains cause your pond to "flush", you'll need to redose it all over again. If applied too late, any mature seed-production the exists prior to the application will present another generation to battle the following season.

HL, if you were asking that of Jaymz, then you've seen his response. If you were asking me, no, I did not lose any fish that I could tell as a result of the watermeal die off. I think it happened slowly enough the first year that the O2 was able to keep pace. Last year, I hit the water after the other plants had emerged and a little before the time the watermeal had emerged the previous year. Again, because there wasn't a lot of established plant growth by that point, I think I was able to avoid a big O2 crash and, again, no apparent fish loss.