Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Natural Algae Elimicators

Hello,
I have a 3500 gallon pond (small compared to some in this forum) and we have a small amount of string algae. The ecosystem is considerably balanced, but the water temperature and level is just perfect for this weed to grow. I've considered adding Crawdads (Crayfish) to the pond to help with the cleanup efforts (they would also help with pesky goldfish) but I don't want the pond liner to get cut by their claws. We have small snails in the pond, but they seem to congregate by the waterfall and they don't take care of the string algae. The fish are pretty useles as far as string algae, but we have goldfish and koi intermingled.

Is there any fish or critter that will naturally eat the string algae and survive for multiple seasons (either with offspring or by itself)? We live in Washington so the temperature is mild, but still too cold for tropical fish that help to clean things up.

Buckwheat:

One possibility which might help you out seasonally is tadpoles. My own experience with filamentous algae (FA) in small, ornamental ponds was harvesting FA from my Mother-in-Law's backyard pond to feed an aquarium full of hungry tadpoles (toad offspring, actually, so perhaps better referred to as polliwogs?). They also eat a lot of FA in my 1 acre pond every Spring.

Bullfrog tadpoles are the only kind I have seen available commercially, but perhaps you can catch or encourage some smaller Bufo/Rama species to lay eggs in your pond. Or if you have not had your pond for a full year, they might show up next year and pleasantly surprise you.

OTAY?

I agree with Theo that this may be a great way to attack FA. In my pond I have at least 8 varieties of frogs and thus pollywogs. When they are in there, they help maintain the FA along with the appropriate areation. But one thing to think of as well is that depending on what your goals with the pond are, once they become frogs, they love to eat all the small fry and minnows they can get their mouths on. I have seen a few varieties of frogs chase my minnows around and come up with a mouth full.

In my mothers ornamental pond ( about 5,000 gallons and 4.5 ft deep ) she has introduced a bullfrog pollywog in there and it took care of the FA. Fast forward 2 years and the frog now stays in the pond and she no longer has issues with the coy or goldfish over populating the place because the bullfrog eats all of the young.

One thing to consider is when the pollywog becomes a frog it either needs some sort of mud/dirt/ ..etc to burrow in to overwinter or it will not make it and or it needs a way to get out of the pond so don't cover it otherwise you may find a frog floating in the pond come spring time as well as a water quality problem due to the decaying frog. In natural ponds like mine the frogs find a spot to winter over, in liner based ponds they generally don't have the conditions to hide or winter over well.

If all your looking for is a FA eater and don't care how often you have to replace it, I would say a bullfrog pollywog is a good bet because they can stay in pollywog form for up to 2 summers depending on water temp and conditions.

Good luck!!

HI I HAVE AN ACRE AND A HALF POND WITH MORE FA THEN I CAN STAND. WHAT IS A A POLLYWOG AND WILL MY POND BENIFIT HAVING THEM TO HELP CONTROL MY ALGAE PROBLEM?

Pollywogs are frog tadpoles. If you have a good population of bass your tadpole numbers will usually be relatively low and not abundant enough to control filamentous algae.