So this spring I had a little FA and was able to keep up by raking it out. The water level in my ground water pond has stayed unusually high in June, even killed a foot or more of grass around the edge, although now that the water has slowly dropped again some of that grass is coming back. During June I have had slow increase in FA and I can continue to rake that if needed. I put about 20 tilapia in as an experiment to see if they had any noticable difference. I can deal with FA, but the weed explosion is a different matter.
The water is exceptionally clear, the weeds start at about depth of 4 feet and the 2' closest to shore is large floating mats and rooted plants that are tall enough to have the majority of the plant floating. I can try to rake but it is enough mass that I almost would need a large chain dragged on the bottom, a box spring dragged through etc. The pond is small enough that I could probably do that although I would worry a bit about my aerator and bottom line would want to be sure to work around this or remove it first.
Can someone give advice on the weed? It seems to be only 1 type that is growing so avidly. If I go the chemical route what is preferred?
Only fish are tilapia, FHM and GSH, Depth in middle now is 7-8', fluctuates a foot or so depending on water table. Aerator running 12 hours overnight every night.
I don't feed the fish, I don't fertilize although I'm sure some lawn fertilizer does wash into the pond.
Every spring I have lots of turtles, and a month ago they would float on top of the mats of FA, but lately I haven't seen them, last night only saw one in the middle of the pond.
Where do the minnows hide, under the vegetation? I haven't seen them much but maybe the dense weeds on the edge are the problem as well. The pallets I put in are engulfed in weeds as well.
The pond is maybe 25 yrs old, but was drained and redug spring of 2012, no vegetation most of summer of 2012, only a bit of weeds all through summer of 2013. Big time growth this summer.
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