Disadvantage to crayfish is if there are too many it will denude the pond of about all plant species and feeding activity will reduce the pond secchi disk clarity to 12". Without fish about the only way to eliminate over abundant crayfish is to use rotenone a fish toxicant. Trapping, seining and harvest can remove high numbers of crayfish, but definitely not all the brood stock. Best and easiest way to control them is to add bass. A strong population of panfish including YP will heavily reduce crayfish numbers especially young ones and after several years comparatively few crayfish will be present. Check your PM.
Manually removing FA is beneficial in that it removes all the nutrients that the algae absorbed for its growth. The more FA removed the more nutrients that are removed from the pond system thus reducing amount of FA that generally grows in the future. However, removing FA may not be enough nutrient removal to keep pace with the annual nutrient accumulation. It all depends. FA removal is worth the labor if you are concerned with chemical contamination of your pond - depending on the composition of the algaecide. Some algaecides are more environmentally friendly than others. Algaecides kill the algae (symptom) and decomposing algae recycle the bound nutrients (causative agent) back into the pond for more plant growth.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 04/21/15 08:52 PM.
