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I jumped the gun at my new property, 2 acre pond, 10 feet deep, about 2 yrs old with no fish in it. I ordered fish, 2 aerators, Texas hunter feeder and began to add habitat. I was told that because I had wildlife present (turtles, frogs and birds and insects) it should be ok to add fish. After delivery all of the shad died in 48 hours and , 1/2 of the BG. You guessed it, unhappy water. Alkalinity was zero. Added 10 tons of Ag lime(alkalinity is 40ppm now) and habitat, fish coming to feeder until it got cold. I was told slow in stopping the feeder and now have filamentous algae growing. I’ve signed up for the Texas A&M class on the 17th about timing but wanted to know if I need to address this now or wait until spring? Thanks craig.

Sorry to hear about the fish kill. School of hard knocks could have given you a light rap on the knuckles with a ruler, but instead you got a roundhouse kick to the head!

Your water quality does not sound good, but if the fish died that quickly, then they might not have been properly acclimated to the pond. (Which is even more stressful.)

Read up on filamentous algae in some of the archive threads. That way you will have the lingo and concepts correct when you ask future questions in the forum.

In most cases, a brand new pond is the low point for available nutrients to enable the growth of FA. From that point forward, the battle will become even more intense as the nutrients in the pond water slowly increase.

Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet. It will be a constant battle, that hopefully you will "mostly" win over the annual growth cycle.

One small tool is to plant some beneficial shoreline (emergent) plants and some underwater plants. They should take up some of the nutrients in the pond water, and thereby deny those nutrients to the FA.

Of course, you need non-invasive plants that are a benefit to your pond and the fish and other wildlife you are trying to support. I would suggest reading a few of the plant threads in the forum. (Of course, plants from one region may behave much differently in your pond if you have much different geographic conditions.) There are some beneficial shoreline plants that will make your pond (and your property) more attractive. For me, that is an excellent time to get input from my wife, since she certainly has a much better "eye" than I do, and you definitely score some husband points by making her part of the process.

What is the water source for your pond? (Probably either groundwater coming up through the pond basin, or surface run-off water.) If it is surface water, you may be able to do some projects on your property to reduce or limit the nutrients coming into the pond after rain events. Are you near fertilized farm land, livestock facilities, golf courses, heavily fertilized home owner lawns, etc.?

Finally, there are lots of FA experts on the forum. Keep posting questions, AND specific observations about your pond, and they will be able to give you some good guidance.

Congrats on your new property and pond! Hopefully, your family will get great enjoyment after you get your pond management running in the right direction.

Is the FA floating or on the pond bottom ? Other than manual removal there is not much you can do right now. To cold. Likely the limiting condition ( 0 alkalinity) once removed by adding lime, allowed the FA to start.

Thanks for the input. I have spoken to a local nursery and plan on getting plants started in march for the shoreline. The underwater plants i will get from an aquarium supply locally. I have access to 3 local ponds that are well established where i work so i can bring fish and plants from them but I know there are things to watch out for as far as bringing in unwanted guests. The water source is mostly ground up with input from rain as well but no inflow or outflow from creek or river. There is no farm land close to the pond just 30 acres of forest and planted long leaf pines.
The FA is both floating and on bottom right now. The pond is still so clear that i can easily see all the way to the bottom everywhere. Do i fertilize this spring or try dye to help control bottom growth?
My goals are to have a high catch rate LMB and BG pond for my friends and grandchildren with the chance for a few trophy’s mixed in.

Not sure what happened but dead fish is either an environmental, handling or sick fish when purchased. Seeing the bottom means environmental. Certainly sounds like water quality.

Your water is so clear right now that even winter sunlight is enough to allow the FA to photosynthesize and grow.

I believe there is an optimal time in the spring to treat the pond with a copper-based algaecide, and then you start with the pond dyes. (However, I am NOT an expert. You might want to start a new thread in the Controlling Unwanted Plants sub-forum that mentions the filamentous algae conditions in your pond. That is more likely to draw some comments from our actual experts.)


A well-managed 2 acre pond in SC can easily achieve those goals.

Lots here on FA issues. What % of the pond surface and pond bottom has FA? You may not need fertilizer. Adding the lime may have freed up all the nutrients you need. Have you had the water tested?

See this https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=96127#Post96127

Ewest not much on the surface just a few scattered blobs here and there but i would say 30% of the bottom has a layer. Looks like a yellow green highlighter when the sun hits it. Water and spoil samples will go to our local Clemson extension for testing tomorrow. I’ll post results when they arrive. Thanks for the help.
Craig

Be VERY careful when adding plants from an aquarium shop. Look closely at the tank that they come from to ensure that there aren't any snails in it, AND be 1,000% sure you know what species of plants you are getting. There are many stories of invasive plants (and animals) showing up in bodies of water (BOW) that came from somebodies aquarium.

Look for native plant nurseries in your area or even on-line. Unfortunately, the submerged plants most likely won't be available from the nurseries until around May or June. Feed a good fish food. When I switched fish foods 8-10 years ago my algae in the pond was reduced by about 50% because the fish were utilizing more of the fish food - less passing through them to feed the plants and algae. If you live at the pond, listen to the fish. Stop feeding when they slow down eating. Typically low 60°F water temp, but it could also be when the BG are on the spawning beds. You don't want feed floating for more than 15 minutes on the pond. If so, cut back on the amount fed.

I’ve spoken to the local nurseries and they can order whatever i want in march and it should arrive in April or may. What are your thoughts on hyacinth and water lettuce as i have access to those here?
I’m feeding endurance fish food currently and have been hand feeding because my Texas hunter feeder is still throwing out too much food even at 1 second. I did adjust the internal plate but no better. How close to the bedding areas do you want the feeder?
Thanks craig.

Both of those plants can be invasive, especially with a longer growing season.

As for the TH Feeder, you can cut down on the food per second thrown by adjusting the spin plate up so the largest pellet barely has enough room to go between the bottom of the hopper and the spin plate. It's dang hard to measure it because the spin plate has that upturned lip. I will adjust the spin plate initially by taking a small (1" square) piece of steel bar stock that is the thickness of the biggest pellet, and drilling/tapping a hole at one edge of it. Screw a 12" piece of threaded rod in it, and put a lock nut on the top side. Screw the lock nut down so it is tight on the piece of bar stock. With the feeder empty, slip it through the bottom of the funnel and leave it rest on the spin plate, threaded rod up.

Adjust the spin plate up so that the piece of bar stock barely slides out. That should get you really close to the correct adjustment.

Fine tuning it I will pinch the spin plate motor shaft between two fingers, then loosen the spin plate. Squeeze my fingers tighter together to raise the spin plate, loosen them up to lower the spin plate a little bit. Tighten the allen screw so the spin plate won't twist on the shaft then you can hold the spin plate with the same fingers that you used to hold the motor shaft to get the set screw tight.

Throwing too much food is more of an issue with the smaller sized feeds, or when you have two different sized feeds in the feeder, diameter wise.

Thank you for the thorough explanation on the feeder adjustment. Is it desirable to feed right over the top of the BG bedding areas?

No, when they are bedding they won't be feeding.

Don't feed over bedding areas as it will totally disrupt the spawn in that location. With some fish guarding nests and others darting in and out to get pellets it can do major damage to the spawning process.

So your advice is to keep the dining room separate from the bedroom?

Yes, you could put it that way.