I have recently identified the growth in my pond as Chara, a type of algae. Do grass carp eat this or do you have to treat with cutrine? Also, I have recently noticed a nutria (a beaver with a rat tail) in my pond. I have heard that they only eat aquatic vegetation and not fish. If this is true will they eat the chara and control it? I would appreciate any suggestions.

Not so sure Nutria will eat chara.. in fact I am almost certain they wouldn't. As for grass carp eating chara.... I am sure they would as I do know that common carp, goldfish, and Koi will/do.

Chara is not a bad plant if it is not too excessively abundant. It produces oxygen, tends to stay on the bottom and stabilizes pond soils. I have it in my ponds and do not have a problem with it.

I have seen Chara become a big problem. I treat with granular Cutrine at the reommend rate, and have good control. Grass carp have a low prefernce for it. Years ago we stocked Bruce Sutters pond with grass carp about three times at a rate of 10/ac and still could not get them to control Chara. I feel even after loss there were at least 15/ac in the pond. Good luck!

Redfinger,

the only time I've seen chara become a problem is in clear lakes that lose water fairly rapidly. That said, it can happen. Fertilization usually controls it well.

grass carp are listed as providing 'good to excellent' control of chara in the 2002 North Carolina Agricultural chemicals manual, chapter 8. I haven't seen chara become a problem in ponds stocked with grass carp in Texas. One lake that had a severe chara infestation was essentially chara-free the year after stocking 7 carp/acre and fertilizing.

Because chara is often in a band close to the bank, it is my experience that liquid cutrine can also provide good control.

Your results may vary

When you apply cutrine, does it hurt the "bloom' from fertization? If the Chara appears just after fertilization, will it eventually die off by itself when the water turns green?

I'm in central Texas with chara. It does cover most of the bottom but they don't seem to get out of control. I do have carp though.

Hi. I'm a fisheries biologist in central Texas. Chara is not usually a problem plant, so unless it is in your case, I wouldn't do anything to it. We have been allowing landowners to stock triploid grass carp for 11 years and my experience with landowners has been that they do not control Chara very well. That's not to say they absolutely won't eat it, they just don't prefer it. Again, if it's not a problem plant let it be. I agree with some of the other posts that it can enhance water quality through photosynthetic oxygen generation and ties up loose sediments. It also rarely ever tops out; another advantage as many of the submersed vascular plants, even native ones, do top out in summer and are impossible to fish through. Hope this helps and good fishing!

Hey, Jeff. How are things down there in TX?? We were predicted to be in a drought year up here, but it rains about every other day! Pheasant crop is looking good.

Dave

I have chara in my small pond. It just grows in a ring around the edge and it never comes to the top but my water level rose a few feet last year and I have had a pretty dense algae bloom all year and it's still down there. So a heavy bloom didn't kill it.

I have had better luck controlling chara with granular cutrine plus than with the liquid. The liquid has been effective at reducing growth and keeping it closer to the bottom though. Up here it often calcifies later in the year due to hard water, and is pretty tough to treat. I often plant it in new ponds to reduce the chance of non desirable species getting established.
Robert B

This link will provide quite a bit of additional information about Chara and dealing with it.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=265724#Post265724

January 2013 Thread about Chara
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=318063#Post318063