Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Identifying plants Plankton or Pollen?

I think I've read just about every thread referencing pollen on the forum, but I still am not sure exactly what's going on in the pond.

I have this film that floats on the surface that has the characteristics of pollen. It separates when you disturb it, doesnt have a slimy feeling or smell that I can detect, and when rained on it gets knocked down so the surface is clear again. Aeration opens a hole about 30 feet in diameter, pushing it all to the perimeter of the pond.

We had a good rain before dawn this morning and the pond was clear, but by mid morning you could see the film developing again and by dusk, the pond was covered all over again. Does pollen typically resurface?

Does this sound like pollen or an algae bloom? Water has been pretty turbid since the aeration was turned on and I added pond dye about a week ago and bumped it a bit this morning. Visibility is 17".

I would lean toward Pollen. And I suspect the new that show up is not resurfacing but just new pollen. It's spring time with lots and lots of all types of pollen around. The bees are making lots of honey right now. Mike, no expert here, just my thoughts and what I have seen here in the Ark-La-Tex over the past few years.

Most of the massive pine pollen is past. When we get inundated with pollen you will find it on your car, roof etc. A light rain will pool a yellow splotch at your rain gutters. In the pond it will look like someone spilled yellow paint near your downwind shore.

I'm sure pollen is local. Assuming you are still in the Piney Woods your pollen should be much as here. You may however have some other plant with a different schedule.

Hopefully one of the more knowledgeable folks will chip in. (I'm getting into guesswork here.) Could be dead algae/plankton. A certain amount of this is normal. Dye may have been a factor here. A breeze can gently push it to one end of a lake and concentrate it.

The thing to be cautious of is blue green algae. It can present as a film. I doubt that's what you have.

We are definitely in the piney woods! But they've been done spreading their yellow mess for a few weeks now. We left about 20 feet of wild growth all the way around the boundary of the property so there's everything from pine to honeysuckle near by, plus it's in the country.

It's just amazing how fast this stuff starts accumulating on the surface, and with the trees surrounding the place, it sees very little wind, but it does stack up on the north side with a strong south wind.

I've already seen the FA starting to die back with the dye I added, and with the combined turbidity, I just cant imagine an algae bloom this strong. I've read that when you remove one user of nutrients another will take its place and that makes good sense because my shoreline vegetation is really coming on.

Aeration got bumped to 3 hours of the morning and 3 hours of the evening to try to remove more nutrients and keep the DO level up, just in case it is an algae bloom.

If the pond wasnt right out the front door I probably wouldn't be as anal about it, but it seems to be a lot heavier coverage this year.

[img]https://photos.app.goo.gl/dv8hfGpbTDJ7dSJz7[/img]

I decided to do an experiment this evening by using my garden hose to make it "rain" on this crap. I took my time and really let the spray beat on the scum until there was no sign of it in the area I was spraying then moved on until I had 3/4 of the pond surface cleared off.

I guess it was an experiment in futility because after a couple hours you could see clouds of the stuff starting to gather under the surface. My guess is, it is plankton and not pollen. Hopefully, it's coming up so strongly due to the dye I added earlier this week and the lack of sunlight penetration is making it die and come to the surface.

I gathered a sample in a small jar and put it up for a smell test later. Hopefully it isnt BGA. Keeping my fingers crossed that this stuff will run its course soon and clear up. I'm getting really tired of looking at it but really dont want to resort to using algaecide. My other shoreline plants are starting to get a good grip and would hate to do something that might hurt them.

No smell this morning!! At least it isnt BGA!