Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Pond Dye

Can anybody tell me if they think pond dye will kill off the Chara? I have used 25 pounds copper sulfate on the 2 1/2 acre pond, but it hasn't killed it off. The Chara is floating in mats covering about 2/3 pond. I also used a Roundup for ponds but it only killed the pond weed & cattails. I have Koi & Talapia but they haven't put a dent in it.

Probably not once it's established for the year. You need to use the dye early in the year before it gets started.




Do you have hard water? If your water is hard you should be using a chelated vareity of copper as the regular copper sulfate is less effective in hard water. Cutrine Plus is one example. That said, I have really hard water and even the chelated variety doesn't work that well for me.




Floating? Are you sure it's Chara? I've never known Chara to float and I have lots of it. And Roundup and other glyposates are not effective on submersed aquatic vegetation.



How long have you had them?

The Koi since last fall( mostly for the grand kids to watch plus provide feed for bass) & the Talapia since May. It is floating because the pond has dropped about 10-11 inches, normally about 3 acres but only about 2 1/2 now. The Alkalinity was 30 back in May, Have been liming all year. 3 dump truck loads shoveled in, about 12 tons.

Pond dye works by cutting off the sunlight from the plants. If the chara is high enough in the water column to get sunlight, then dye won't work.

Once it's established it's really hard to kill. You'll have an easier time next year controlling it if you treat the Chara when it's young.

I believe I would add about 30 grass carp. Koi and tilapia won't do it on chara.

Koi are scenic but aren't much good for weed eradication.

Tilapia are supposed to do everything but get out on the bank and mow the lawn. They seldom do much to stemmed plants. I believe it takes a lot more tilapia than people usually stock to even feed bass. Of course, that depends on how many bass you have.

Don't add the carp until the water cools down.