Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Manure run off

Last weekend, here in frozen WI, we had about an inch of rain. Well right next to my property is a farm field that the farmer just spread cow manure. Well with the frozen ground and snow cover the manure appears to have washed off the field and into my pond. I could see a brown streak in the snow running into a large plume in the pond right to the open hole that the aerator keeps open. Do I have to worry about my pond especialy with the ice still on? Is there anything I should do?

Be prepared for a possible algae problem with the increased nutrients.

Is there any preventative measures I could take before the water warms up?

Sort of like shutting the barn door after the horses got out. Not much can be done now. IHMO, all you can do is divert any future run-off away from the pond.

A dairy farmer got a pretty hefty fine for doing the exact same thing. His field run-off went into a ditch that ended up in a stream. The first time he was told that fines would be levied if it happened again. It did so he got spanked. I forget the monetary fine, but part of the fine was that he had to hire a company to spread his manure for the next "X" amount of years.

Normally wouldn't be much of a problem since the water has to run through my yard for about 75-100 yards and would normaly soak in, but since the ground was frozen nothing soaked in. I wish I could get a silt fence in but with frozen ground I don't think that will happen. The frost will be out in another couple of weeks maybe I will do something then. Do you think a silt fence would stop the nutrients in the water?

It'd stop any particles, but once the nutrients are dissolved in the water, no.

We had the frost disappear 2 days ago here.

Not much you can do now.

Practices that would reduce nutrients running into your pond in the future: prevent manure spreading with frozen ground conditions, retention basins, in-ditch low grade weirs (creating mini retention basins) in conjunction with vegetated waterways.

In the world of nutrient runoff, it would be in the farmers best interest to better tend to his business and manage his nutrient runoff.

Ice is just starting to melt and already I can see some algae starting. Is there anything I can add to counter the nutrients before the water warms up and I have a full blown algae bloom? I usually use dye, add bacteria and sometimes have used a floc log, but not this early.

The algae that you see might be a cool water species that will die off by itself once the water warms up. But, raking it out now will reduce the amount of nutrients in the pond, which will help you later on this summer. I don't know what the low water temp threshold is for applying algaecides without having to look.

Never used algaecide before. Never was a fan of it. I always just raked it out. Guess this might be the year to use it. What is a good one to use? I have been told to stay away from the ones with copper in them.

If you have trout, then I think you're limited to Green Clean, Green Clean Pro or Phycomycin. If you don't have trout in the pond, then Cutrine or Cutrine Ultra. The Cutrine products are available in liquid or granular.

The ice is almost off. I have green mats of algae starting. one thing that has me baffled is the water has a brown tint to it so I assumed it was the manure. I collected a sample in a clear bottle and left it sit for two weeks and it did not settle. I put a cap full of bleach in there last night and it cleared out. Does that tell me it is some sort of a brown algae? Is that bad and how can I treat it. The whole pond is like that.

Bleach will kill the fish in the pond. See my previous post for an answer to your question.

I am waiting to see this summer if not having any animals around our ponds makes a difference as far as pond growth. When we bought the place a year ago the guy next door had been allowed to run several donkeys and horses on our property. At first we liked the animals, but then realized the donkeys/horses were often around and in our ponds. The shorelines were full of deep muddy ugly hoof marks and of course there was manure everywhere.

So since we are building cabins with contractors coming and going all the time we decided to shut down the animals for the time being. Hopefully this may help slow the blooms in the pond this summer. We'll see.

I know the bleach will kill the fish. I did it in the test bottle because I thought the brown color was manure, when it did not settle the bleach told me I was dealing with algae. With the whole pond like this I can't kill all the algae at once right? My thought is the way to get ahead of the algae would be to tie up nutrients. Maybe alum?

You can treat the pond with Phycomycin. IIRC it was designed for the aquaculture industry to treat blue-green algae.

If it's planktonic algae, that's probably a good thing. It keeps light from getting to the pond bottom, which in turn would grow FA.

Alum would definately help. Keep an eye on pH when using it.