Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Green film

Kent is it floating in/suspended in the water or just on top?

Eric, it's floating on top. It doesn't seem to be affecting anything. When the wind blows it away from the pond edges the water is still clear to about 12" underneath. I hope if it's an algea bloom it dies off soon, it's ugly!

Can you post a pic ? Heavy plankton blooms can gather on the surface but that generally is accompanied by a water col. with lots of suspended plankton and limited visibility. Looks tiny little green specks suspended in the water.

Eric, I'll send you a pic by e-mail, I still can't post a pic on the forum.

Ok I will add it in your post above.

Here are 2 pics of Kent's pond noted above. What do you think this is and is it a problem ? Kent give us a few pond details like age , muddy or not , soil info (alkalinity etc), fertilizing or not.

Possibly, just possibly Euglena.

Eric,the pond is 1/2 acre and 1 year old. The muddy water is just starting to clear, I have approx. 12" visibility. The only fertilization would be runoff from the 13-13-13 fertilizer that I use on the grass.I am feeding the fish twice daily. I have an aeration system with 2 - 9.5" diffusers and a fountain. When I stocked the pond this past spring, I had a water sample tested. The alkalinity was 95, and the PH was 7.5. Earlier in the summer, I had a similiar situation, the only difference was it was green. It lasted a couple of weeks and it went away. This has been going on for a month now and doesn't seem to be getting any better. I purchased a gallon of algecide this weekend and I'm not sure whether or not to use it. My fish are really growing well and I don't want to mess anything up using the algecide.

If the fish are doing well I would not use the algaecide. It could have the effect of killing off so much plankton that you may have DO problems. I would watch it and with cooler weather it should dissipate. If you decide to use the algaecide I would dilute it way down and spray only about 5-10% 0f the surface area with a light dose. The yard fert. is most likely adding to the problem.

I am new hope it's ok to add a question to this post as it seems to be closest to a problem I am facing now. I have a powder like algae floating on the surface of my water. It will spread out to cover the entire water surface and it clings to anything it touches that leaves the water. If I try to mix it in to water column I can not as soon as I stop water agitation within seconds to maybe 3 minutes its resurfaces. What I do know is it is not any "normal" type of algae type that turns water green as if it was the Daphnia would consume it faster then it can reproduce. Is there any way to rid myself of this problem cannot involve chemical pesticides as they are starting food for my Ambystoma mexicanum and when they are just starting out they are hyper sensitive to everything.

Can you post a pic? Plankton etc.form a interrelated community which changes over time. It is not easy to affect one type with out having consequences on the food web. One type grows and another (plankton or fish or insect) preys on it which leads to changes.