Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations help this is driving me crazy

i am new to this board, and what i have been reading here the last couple of weeks, this is awesome. a lot of good info here. here is my problem and i hope someone can help. i have a .85 acre pond about 2 1/2 yrs old 5 1/2 feet deep. i have been battling algae this year and it is driving me crazy. i have the floating algae and what i think is chara. the algae is so thick that it is clinging to the chara and looks like it is coated with mud (1/2 th 3/4" thick on the chara) i have been treating it with crystal plex at the recomended dosage. i was told by the distributor that i should treat 1/3 at a time. i am on my last treatment and then they told me to use bio clear after the last treatment. i will do the last treatment tomorrow, but i wanted to rake out as much as i could first. i also read on other posts that a pool skimmer would work well for getting as much of the floating stuff out before treatment. got any ideas on what will work best for killing the algae, as the crystal plex does not appear to be working. i am thinking about cutrine + does the liquid or the granular work best. by the way, the pond has lb and bg in it.

cultrine plus works pretty good,i've used it several times over the last 2-3 years.only problem with cultrine plus is it seems to only work for about 2 months then you have treat area again.good news is cultrine will kill everything in 2 days.

fish, thanks for the reply. did you use liquid or granules. and did you use anything to "eat" the decaying algae?(such as bio clear) as i dont want to feed more algae

big bass,i've used liquid every time,i do think next time i will try the granule type.i have been told it works a little longer than the liquid.i did not use anything to eat the decaying algae,this has not been a problem for me.my lake is a little over 5 acres and i normally do half the pond and wait about 5-7 days then hit the other half.first time i used liquid i did the entire pond at one time,i have since been told not to do all the pond at one time.

thanks again for the info fish. i will give it a try. (hope it works cause the pond is just "ugly")

Dennis--

What a frustrating situation. First, a question--you don't mention aeration; are you doing it? Second, you have a shallow-enough pond that the water temp is undoubtedly high and facilitating algal growth. As to the Crystal Plex not working, it is very similar to Cutrine Plus--also a chelated copper product--and so it certainly should. Are you applying the algaecide by spraying it, or just dumping it in? Certainly, the muddy look you describe is not healthy, thriving algae but sounds like the muck which results from algae you've killed. After I've used Cutrine, I paddle around with a kayak, splashing and vigorously paddling to break up the clumps of algae. The chara will be affected by the muck, as well as the chelated copper, and so you undoubtedly will have a huge amount of degrading biomass in the pond, which will facilitate regrowth; thus you are right that it makes sense to mechanically remove as much as possible, although what a tough job--you can, however, compost it. If Biokleer is what was recommended, I wonder what it will do for you as it is more a degreaser than a farm-pond product; you might consider a large does of a more standard farm pond microbe treatment, such as Aqua-T or a similar product. I also suspect that with the shallow water column using a dye product would be important.

Others may have other thoughts, but it seems to me that the biggest problem you have will be the overall relative shallowness of the pond, which is a tough one to address.

Good luck getting through a tough patch!!

inland island, thanks for the comment. i am not aerating per se. the water level is kept up by a well that runs into the pond as we have been in a drought the last couple of years, and i do have a homemade venturi that i found in a post here. byt as for a aeration pump, no. and the product that i used is bio clear, made by the same people that make crystal plex. not the product that you mentioned. it is microbes that are supposed to remove all decaying material. i am following label directions on the crystal plex and diluting it and spraying it out of a hand sprayer from a small boat (scamp type).the pond has bg and lm and both seem to be doing well. when i was raking last night i noticed that i have a "bajillion" small bg (1/2 to 2") and they evidently love it in the chara even with the muck. i have been trying to do my "home work" on this site, but i have not read anything about the muck on the chara (its a mess). this is a backyard pond and i hope it will fill fully when we get rain, as i dont really want to run the well for 24/7. the water now has 6-8" visibility but the bass are finding the bluegill cause they are FAT. but you did give me a alternative to the product that i am using.

thanks and tight lines

also i forgot to mention that the chara was not a problem last year, just the floating algae and this is the first year that i have tried any treatment.

thanks and tight lines

Dennis, microbes are a relatively long-term project, but they do work. And you're right--fish love chara!!

Here's another thought..you may be mis-identifying your plant. Get a second opinion on the species. Or take a photo, up close, and post it here, or e-mail me.
Since the treatments don't seem to be working, I suspect you may have a plant different than you suspect.

[IMG]C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Pictures\fish pics\p1010008[/IMG] Bob, thanks for the reply. I think i correctly identified this plant, but if i didnt please correct me. I spent 1 1/2 days this last weekend raking as much out as i could. My back is still "complainin". I also put the last treatment of crystal plex in yesterday. it appears that either the crystal plex is begining to work or the "muddy" looking build-up is killing the top portion of the chara. but i thought of another question. what happens to it as it dies? does it sink or does it break off and float off? or does it just turn brown and stay the same.

sorry all, tryin to figure out how to post a picture.