Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Pea Soup

Folks,
I'm new at this but here is my question. I was asked by a landowner how to get rid of the algae in his pond. My first response was to remove the geese and ducks thereby removing the nutrient source. But once the algae is present what can be done about it??

Welcome to PB.

The pea soup look is usually a phytoplankton bloom (a good thing for fish in moderation - at least 12 inch visibility). It is the base of the food chain. Can you post a pic ?

You are correct about getting the ducks and geese out.

Can you post a pic of the algae that you are talking about?

I do not have a photo but I have seen the pond. I doubt the visibility is 12 inches.

If the algae starts to die off, lots will go at once and there may be dissolved O2 issues due to the decomp.

I read some older entries here that mentioned stocking Talipia to consume the algae. Is this an option?? If yes, what is the stocking rate?? And Talapia also die off in cold weather, if I remember correctly??

Tilapia will eat FA not suspended Algae, which do you have?
Where in FL are you located? Blue tilapias are legal inmost counties and survive most winters without total die off depending on your general location.

The algae is suspended in the water column. Northwest Fl. We have a local fish producer who grows Talapia but has to cover his ponds during the winter to conserve heat and maintain water temperature.

I'm a new member here and came upon the site through an interest in floating wetlands, horticulture, and water quality in general. I've a lot to learn about growin' fish.

Being unfamiliar with commercial/chemical products, my first thought regarding your post was barley straw (logs.) I've heard just a bit about them. I searched this site for references to it and found several. Some refer it as "preventative" (rather than curative?) I don't have personal experience with barley straw, but it seems like a pretty low-stakes, and almost certainly harmless, approach.

A quick google search found this article that explains the theory on the process/chemistry... (barley straw article) I have no idea who's a good supplier -- this was just one of the first articles I found. Sounds like aeration is still important to proper function of the biology that consumes nutrients and breaks down the straw.

For what its worth...(which may or may not be much.) I'd be curious to know! Good luck.

Neat article there phytomike. I am not much for understanding chemistry but two things stick out to me when reading how it works:

1) It works by breaking down. My common sense tells me that if it is doing this, it would just be recycling back into nutrients that will be used again by the algae.

2) The other thing I noticed was the mention of hydrogen peroxide. This was recently discussed in a thread and to how it affects algae. It's interesting that the barley does this.

Thanks. Yeah, I'm pretty fuzzy on most chemistry too. Some things like the effect of (too much) algal growth seem counter-intuitive to me at first. After all, plants make oxygen, right? But other steps kick in and decomposition ends up lowering the DO.

I sort of assumed that barley straw would be the carbon (food) source for the microbes that would also be using up O2 to eat it. Apparently not a big part of the equation.

I had no that hydrogen peroxide inhibits algae growth. I'll look into that discussion here with interest.

My hunch about the (re)cycling of nutrients in a pond was barely touched on in the article -- "Some reports determined that barley straw might also act as a clarifier by flocculating fine particles in water." If some biological activity is helping settle out resources from the water column, maybe they are less available to algal growth? I dunno. How stable/unavailable nutrients become in sediments and how desirable that is probably depends on a lot of factors including local conditions.

Thanks for the discussion! I look forward to digging into many threads here. It seems like a nifty community with a lot of talents and enthusiasm for high-quality h20.

Phytomike- go here for the affects of hydrogen peroxide on algae.

Ahh, that's great! Thanks for pointing me there.

Tests (studies) on barley straw for prevention/reduction of algae show mixed results. In some they work in others not. There is a lot more (chemically and biologically) going on than we know or understand.

ewest, I think of using barley straw as black magic. It might work, but not in every case and nobody that I know of can tell me why it works sometimes but not others.

They tossed in a bunch of bundles of fibrous materials all wrapped up in net like bags with cement blocks tied to them in the ponds around here. Said it was to control algae. Looked like there were also wood chips in there and things were kinda greenish/yellowish in color. It is working tho.

I will try and find the synopsis study which compiles lots of different tests and post parts of it.

Different species of algae cause different results. All algae are not the same similar to not all fish are the same. The big difference between fish and algae is there are many more species of algae each with different growth requirements compared to number of fish species.

Who's they and can you contact them to see what it was..

"they" = black helicopters.

They = the grounds keeper here. Next time I see Armondo, I'll ask him what it is.



More green in color. It seems to be fading tho. I'll try a pic later today.

How much algae was there begin with.. I'm looking into different FA removal options so if you can get any info from him if appreciate it thanks..

The bags them self are blue.

Looking closer, it looks more like straw now. Before they tossed them in, the color was much more green, like some sort of coating. Like the color of pressure treated lumber.

It is working tho. You can cast out now without catching a seaweed bass every time. It's thinned out quite a bit.

Pretty nice CC hanging out about 50' to the right of me.

It ain't working anymore.

Just hit the pond out back and ya can't get a hook wet without snagging a bunch of weeds.

On another note,
with a 2/5oz Little Cleo on my St. Croix/Symetre rig with 6# Nano, the first cast made it across the pond and onto the neighbors balcony. OOPS!

Been chucking SS on a #8 bait hook with no additional weight, so I was a wee bit off.

I really like this rig. Thanks to all for the suggestions!!!