Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry What is this?

What is this stuff? I've looked at a lot of old posts about things like this. It has frequently been reported as pollen. At this time of year, I don't think so.

I'm not worried about it as it only covers a very small part of my pond. But, a lot of the other local ponds are pretty well covered with it. I'm sure more than one person will be asking me about it during coffee time after church tomorrow.










We've gotten a lot of rain this year -- I'm still at full pool in this 3rd week of July. It has been hot. I think it hit 102 each of the last three days. Before that, it was in the 90s most days.

My total hardness is almost immeasurable -- well below 50 ppm.
My pH is about 6.9
My total alkalinity is around 40 ppm.

I haven't measured my visibility, but if a fish pulls a bobber down, I can can see it at least 2-feet below the surface. I'm guessing I've got about 25-30 inches of visibility. We've been swimming in the pond a lot this year. I seem to have very little thermal layering, probably because we have had good winds every day. My feet and head seem to be experiencing the same temperature water when I jump into 7-8 foot of water.

Looks like dead plankton to me, mixed with some microscopic algae of some sort. Cody will know for sure, but I bet a plankton crash and floating bodies.

Bath tub ring? Just kidding, I couldn't resist.

Looks like slime! Just kidding. I think this is just biological - feeding on nutrients.

It's crud.

Cat - I have seen very similar stuff like this before. It can have various colors. I think it is the late stage of one of the Cyanobacteria (blugreen algae). I have found a good thing enviornmentally safe thing to remove it when it is blown into a corner as you have it, is to use one of the peroxygen carbonate products such as Green Clean, Phycomycin or Pak 27. Another thing to use would be to spray the scum with Cutrine-Plus liquid.

I'm not going to rule out bathtub ring, slime, or crud. But, late yesterday afternoon two well trained Auburn fishery-dudes stopped by for a visit. It was pretty simultaneous when they saw it. Their statement could have come directly from Bill Cody -- most likely Cyanobacteria. I just didn't hear them mutter "it depends."

I doubt I'll worry about it unless it gets a lot worse. Nobody will be swimming in the pond for at least the next week. My granddaughter, a cousin's dog, and I were in the pond last weekend for quite a while. My granddaughter and I were well away from it. The silly dog went through it several times. I haven't heard of any negative effects on the dog's part.

Thanks all.
Ken

That is definately the sort of looking stuff of varioius colors than makes animals sick either by directly drinking it or licking it off their body. Several species of Cyanobacteria can form surface films similar to those in your pictures. Most likely and it all depends are very similar "waffle" words.

Hello catmandoo,I'm new to the pondboss forum and I'm dealing with a cyanobacteria (blue-green algae)problem and was wondering if you have had any luck or even tried to remove the cyanobacteria? I have started using bacteria to reduce the phosphorous and nitrogen in hopes of treating the problem and not just treating the sympton by using cutrine. I'm getting tired of the viscious cycle of burn down with cutrine only to have a return in the new future. Hope you have cured the blue-green in your pond. If you ever get curious about reading of other blue-green problems... do a search on Grand Lake St. Marys in Ohio

swimjig,

Mine never got serious enough to cause me to try and do anything with it. We almost always have wind at our place, so usually it was in one corner of the pond, or another. It never covered a very large area. I was mostly concerned about friend's dogs swimming through it, and getting sick.

We have several great experts here on the site. Bill Cody in Malinta Ohio is one of them, and not all that far from you. Two other experts are Kelly Duffie, and then there is the Pond Boss himself, Bob Lusk. Quite a few others are pretty knowledgeable also. I'm sure that one of them will pop in with some ideas.

Regards,
Ken

Ken,

I appreciate the response! I think I'll try to talk with these gentleman.

Thanks Again

Brad