Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Identifying plants Showed up in my pond, what is it & what do I do?

I recently noticed something floating on top of the water, upon closer inspection it has taken over my pond. Not a lot of the surface, but it has coated everything under the water. My water is clear and this "algae" was undetectable Mid September because that is when I released my FHM and looked at the pond every evening looking for live FHM.

So in approximately two weeks it has taken over, there are no fish in the pond but they are supposed to be ready for me to pick up later this month. The only 2 variables are the heavy rains from the Hurricane that washed some sediment and grass in my pond (but no recent fertilization)and a few hay bales that I had in the pond to clear up the water. I removed 3 of the 6 a few weeks ago but the others were hard to get to. I have since pulled them up on the bank to dry out before I remove them. The hay bales do smell strong and obviously are breaking down.

Any suggestions? I don't want to treat with something that may hurt the BG Fry that I am adding later this month and I also have some crayfish coming from Smith Creek.

Chambers, I am absolutely not an expert. My first thought I'd that it may be FA. Is the stuff only on structure? Or on the bottom too? Are you sure it is a problem?

You could spot treat some with a copper product - see threads here on control of FA- and see if that kills it.

I'm my opinion, a little FA is not bad. Of course, there comes a point when it most certainly is a problem. Each of us has a different thresh hold for that I suspect.

Good luck with your stocking! Exciting times.

Are you in the path of the little storm heading up the east coast? Be careful if so.

It is covering anything under the water around the entire pond: rocks, submerged trees, grass, limbs etc. It is also on the surface in small clumps.

Check out posts on identifying and treating filamentous algae (FA) on here. Copper based products are often recommended, or there are some products with the active ingredient being peroxide. I've used copper, not peroxide. Lots and lots on the forum about FA. Easiest way to search is go to Google, then type in ALGAE POND BOSS that should show you threads related.

+1 Every time I skim FA from my pond a few weeks after a SF spawn, each net full has SF babies in it. They love the tiny critters living in the FA and the cover from predation the FA offers. Moderation IMHO is they key. I have also found dead YP hung up in FA cause they were apparently chasing small SF.

Keep in mind if you kill the algae, something else likely will replace it to use up the nutrients in the water. A good planktonic algae bloom with a two feet sechi disk reading would be great. But a bluegren algae outbreak might be worse than what you already have.

If it does not get worse than a couple feet out around the edge of the pond I leave it alone. Like was stated, it provides forage for lots of critters that fingerling BG like to eat and provides some cover for new fry.

But if it gets out of hand and becomes unsightly blobs floating on the surface, then it is a bad mess. By that time it is almost too late to treat as the treatment needs to be early before it establishes too much.

I know. I'm not much help. Here was my experience with the stuff. So far this year it has not been too bad for me.
Anything positive about FA?

After thinking about your original post a little more it hit me that yours is a new pond. keep in mind that it will go through one or more transformational stages before it hits some balance.

all the new surfaces in the pond will be colonized with new organisms that prepare the path for what ultimately will be there. Certain early colonizers are natures way of preperation for the next stage.

I would not get in too big of hurry on chemically treating anything just yet.

In the ocean when a ship is sank for an artificial reef or a hurricane tears up some coral so there are bare surfaces, a form of red/green stringy type algae is the first colonizer. It prepares the path for future inhabitants. Always the first thing we see on new surfaces when scuba diving.

Thanks everyone for the info, my main concern (which is why I posted another thread about suspected FA) is the fact that it is a small pond that is 3 years old that was tripled in size. The old pond never had any FA. Also the fact that I will be adding fish this month, just didn't want to set myself back with the fish.