i guess i have dealt with all of the water colors mentioned above. i posted a pretty nasty reddish surface scum a month or so ago. i fertilized my lawn with 34-0-0 and not long after received a pretty good rain. my yard runoff is within 75 ft of my pond. up until then i was fertilizing the pond, but having a hard time establishing a good bloom. after the lawn fertilizer washed in the pond it got REALLY green. i am not sure if that was what caused it or not. recently i am seeing a greenish algae of some type on the surface. it is very thin (not fa). seems like the more you do to manage a pond (fertilize and feed the fish) the better chance you have a causing a negative impact.

i would recommend to the original poster not to eat any fish during the times he can smell that pondy smell. my old and current pond both get that smell from time to time. it definetley gives the fish a strong taste.

Scott Hanners