Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Fertilization Planton bloom

What does a plankton bloom look like. I had a green film for a few days after fertilizing as mentioned in a previous post. I'm not sure what to look for.

It is usually green but sometimes brown. It is in the water column and in the absence of suspended clay is determined by looking at visibility. Check it see how far in the water you can see an object. Keep checking and if the "bloom" shows up you should not be able to see it as far.

I can see suspended particles that appear green when I get a good bloom. They seem to be suspended particles anyway.

Desirable types of plankton blooms normally tint the water various shades of green. You should not see greenish films on the water surface with good plankton blooms. The bloom should be distributed down thru the water column. Plankton blooms are like thick fog in the air, one cannot see very far in real thick foggy conditons. Instead of water droplets in the air that produce fog, plankton blooms are composed of very high numbers of tiny single or multiple celled algae cells suspended in the water very similar to fog.

If you collect a glass jar of water and hold it up to the light, you will be able to see the largest individuals composing the plankton bloom. The largest particles are algal colonies and small zooplankton usually rotifers and a few cruataceans. You will not be able to see individual algae cells with the naked eye.

Thanks, that confirms what I thought was the bloom. Don't know what the green film was for a few days but have seen the green tint in the water column. Water is also nice green color with about 18" visibility.