IMO I'm not sure that going through all the effort and expense of trying to sample and microscopically look at zooplankton in the pond will be worth while and all that beneficial. Not all plankton nets have the same mesh size. The net I routinely use has 64um mesh. Other nets have 80um or 100um mesh sizes that capture only the larger types of plankton. I suggest nothing larger than 80-84um mesh size.
Generally a new pond quickly develops a decent phytoplankton and zooplankton community as soon as the pond gets water in it. However new pond water that is continually muddy / silty does inhibit quick development of plankton. Nature has many ways to introduce microscopic life forms into a pond. Adding water that the FHM came in, I guarantee you this added some tiny phytoplankton and some zooplankton such as protozoans, rotifers and small crustaceans that were too small for the minnows to eat.
Jbrown2004 - have you ever heard of anyone buying a plankton culture from a laboratory supply company and trying to get it established in their ponds?
This is possible and some fish farms sell these natural mixed plankton cultures.
Ewest - I even moved 500 gals of water from one pond to another with no luck even with 'ideal' circumstances. If you find out different I would like to know. Because I tried it 3 times under ideal conditions and it did not work.
CJBS2003 - Why do you think transplanting plankton from one pond to another doesn't work?
In my experience one can move plankton from one water body to another. There is lots of phytoplankton and some forms of zooplankton in each gallon of water “depending” on the conditions of the source water and where it is/was collected. Usually but not always ponds/lakes with what appears as good clean water with no surface blooms, it is generally okay to move water from what seems to be "ideal conditions”. Now - how well the ‘critters’ from the source water survive in the receiving water - that is a completely different matter. In many instances many of the things introduced into the receiving water will live providing they are not eaten or die because of a significant water chemistry change. What thrives in one pond may not survive in the chemistry soup of another pond. All ponds are different, just as all people are different. Each species has its own favorite growing conditions where it just continually ‘gets by’ or it thrives very well and can even create a bloom.
This is why I do not like to add water from one pond into another pond unless I know what is in the source water.
Not all pond owners are capable of doing the microscopic visual check of the source water. However I do this as life’s routine work. I know microscopically what is and can be in water. Thus as a precaution, I always dip net single or double rinse all the fish that I get from a fish farm before stocking them into MY pond. Just dumping someone else’s pond water especially from a fish farm into your pond is IMO risky business. Fish growing water often has low densities of problematic bluegreen and other species of algae year round. At certain times of the year the farms have significant water blooms - some problematic. This practice of putting someone's water directly into your pond can introduce or “seed” potential noxious algae problems from pond to pond.
Almost every fish farm buys some of their fish from other fish farms and this practice potentially spreads different types of microscopic items throughout the distribution network. Another example of this concept is waterfowl spreading some of the common fish parasites from lake to pond or pond to lake. We basically have no control of that, but we do have some control about moving around different pond waters. Another example is DNR’s recommendation of draining your boat’s live well water before entering a new water body.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/17/25 09:01 PM.
