Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Anyone ever see anything like this???

Hey all,

The other day when I was at my land working I when down near the edge of my pond and about 7 feet up the hill from the bank this was seeping out of it? It had rained really hard here this spring and it's the first time I have noticed it. Only in one spot, but it's like a bright blue green almost looks like oil/gas on water but it doesn't smell or have any real smooth feeling to it like oil would. It's actually seeping out of the side of the dirt hill about 20 inches wide. It's not doing it anymore as the hard rains have stopped but just thought it was weird?? It's not from up higher cause I can look 10 inches up the hill and there is no sign of it anywhere??? Anyway hope someone can help me out. I might take a test tube back there and get a sample of it the next time I see it. Thanks,

Has the area been cut/disturbed by a dozer etc (the layers of ground cut) so as to expose them to air?

I've seen the same thing on the shore by my dock. I was thinking something must have leaked out of a barrel even though I rinsed them well and sealed the bungs with siliconed. I'm interested in what this is.....

Hey Eric thanks for the reply. The only thing we have done anywhere near this is about 110 feet up the hill we dug out a hole for my 1000 gallon septic tank. The tank was about 6 feet deep and the trench lines that's it?? Any idea?? It's not messing with my fish cause the minnows and frogs are swimming right through it and none of them seem to care or have died from it? It's really weird? Like I said looks kind of like when you drop gas on the water and you get that high blue color, but it doesn't smell at all and it dont feel like oil. Do you think I disturbed something underground??

Thanks for any help!!!

Once in awhile I get a sheen, like when gasoline is spilled on water,, on small parts of the pond and on wet areas where water is standing. It doesn't smell or feel oily and doesn't effect anything so I feel it is some kind of a biological happening.

Black gold.. Your sitting on billions of gallons of high quality crude.. YOUR FILTHY RICH..

I know right!!! I am thinking that maybe I need to dig a well near this area and change my name to Jed!!! One never knows!!!

Hey John thanks for the reply. It would seem I am not the only one with this issue so that makes me feel a little better. I wonder what it could be??? Like I said the next time I see it I may take a sample and see if I can get it analized.

Thanks,

I have seen rotting tree stumps and debris create something similar to this. Especially from oily trees such as cedar and pine. Oil or gas would seem to be a more probable cause however.

Captain your the man!! I bet that's what it is. I have cut down about 17 trees in this area just above this and still have about 5 stumps I have not ground out yet. They were cedar trees and Hickory trees. I wonder if its coming from them rotting in the ground? A couple of these trees were a good 25 inch in diameter.

Yes pines and cedars give off that type of sheen. They have oil/sap in them.

Now that I am looking closer at your pictures it looks like there are pine needles and a pinecone there at the site also.

Decaying organics will put that off in water. I see that sometimes when ground surface that is usually above the water table becomes saturated. But just to be sure, shoot your rifle into it and see if oil bubbles up. That's what Jed did.

Make sure your blowout preventer is functioning before you shoot.....

Our water table has been very high this spring!! Heck they even closed down parts of the interstate because of flooding this year!

Thanks everyone I feel a little better about this now. I apprecaite all your input!!

I have pines, cedars and spruce around my pond so I'll bet it is something like a turpentine derivative. My pond is bermed all the way around and not close to any houses or buildings so gas and oil are out of the question. But the trees are on top of the berm so run off from those trees would get into the pond. A couple of days ago I saw some of this stuff in a foot print next to the pond with water standing in it. I didn�t have my camera of I would have posted a picture of it.

Could it be a microbe producing this sheen?

I've seen stuff like that on the surface of my water after huge storms that broke pine and sweetgum trees - I always figured it was coming from those since there is no source for petroleum leakage anywhere near my pond. (I'm pretty sure we're not sitting on an oil field.)

It goes away after a day or so.