I planted 2 water lilies in my 1/2 acre pond in NE PA in June of 2009. They survived the winter and did well this summer until a very hot dry spell which resulted in the formation of a lot of FA on the surface of the pond. It covered about 1/4 of the pond surface. After about 2 weeks we returned to the pond after a rainy period and all of the FA was gone from the surface but the lilies lost all of their leaves and flowers. I thought they died. There now appears to be some new growth of small leaves and on one of the plants a small flower. There was no negative impact to the fish during this time. Any ideas as to what happened?

Wild guess, while the algae provided some shade to the pond, turtles took advantage to chow down on the stems of the lilypads. Did you notice stems and pads floating about?

If turtles over populate a pond, to the point where waterlilies are being devastated, a turtle trap might help calm things down

Regards, andy