I have so many issues going on, I wasn't sure where to post. I have bloom of coon tail vegetation that has overtaken the pond. And it is extremely dense. Causing a fish kill. I seem to be loosing mostly bass over 15 inches. I live in louisiana where the law states I must have a permit to stock and poses triploid grass carp. I spend days for several hours at a time removing as much of the vegetation as possible so the grass carp won't have to do all of the work. I have made a significant difference in the front of the pond towards the middle. I now have the back half to do.

Here's my problem, Ontop the water, there is a rusty color thick algae that sits over the coo tail. Where there is no coon tail there is no algae. Yesterday there was a hard rain that pushed the algae into the water, now I have more dead fish and the water looks horrible. The water which was crystal clear before the rain is now rusty color. I have plans to stock my grass carp this week. Should I be worried about their survival?

I would not stock anything now - too hot. Can you post a pic of the pond ?

I will try, I always have trouble posting pics here. If I shouldn't stock GC now, what do I do about the vegetation problem? It's what started all the problems and it still exist

You are in a tough spot.

I 100% agree with EWEST that it is too hot to stock grass carp now. Worst of all, I'm not sure the grass carp would be of much assistance this season due to the amount that is now established. If you can wait until it cools down a little, the grass carp will provide a little bit of assistance in the fall, but they will really start to make a difference next spring and summer. It may take two seasons for them to get it completely under control, but they will do it.

If you can't figure out how to post a picture, put it on some photo website, post a link to the photo, and one of the moderators will re-post it for everyone to see.

The photo would be helpful to know what is floating on top of the water -- is it blue-green algae, is it filamentous algae floating up from the bottom, etc.?

Be aware that with coontail, you must remove everything you grab. Every little piece that breaks off and doesn't come out of the pond will usually turn into a new piece of coontail.

I'm not a big fan of chemicals, but sometimes they can help as a last resort. We have a few real experts here on the site, especially Kelly Duffy. They may be able to provide some assistance on eliminating some of the coontail. The main thing is that you don't kill very much at a time. When it dies it will sink to the bottom and remove even more oxygen from the pond.

I normally don't have any issues here due to lots of wind, and it doesn't get as hot as where you live. But, we've had several calm days in the 90s. I woke up to one of my ponds covered in algae this morning, with one floating dead hybrid striped bass about 20 inches long. I moved my two-inch semi-trash pump to that pond and ran it for about 30 minutes this morning, about an hour mid-day, and I'll run it again for about an hour this evening around sunset. I choke the 2-inch output hose down to 1-1/2 inches, and it puts out about a 50-foot plume of water that I shoot high into the air and that falls into the pond. It isn't the best aeration, but it does help in these situations. 95% of the algae that was there this morning has sunk. I'm not sure that is good, but ...

Hopefully, a few others will pipe in with better assistance than I can provide.

Regards,
Ken

This is a pic of what my pond is experiencing. If it comes out

https://www.flickr.com/photos/83863497@N08/19275212804/in/datetaken/

Unfortunately, I cannot open the page. I get this error when I try to access it on Flickr:



Hopefully, you've found some relief.

Regards,
Ken

No results found for https://www.flickr.com/photos/83863497@N08/19275212804/in/datetaken/

Something is missing.........

Herbicides could certainly help with the coontail problem but it's unknown whether they'd improve or worsen the pond's other ailments.
Providing as many details about your pond would help with assessing the matter - ex. size, depth-range, water-source, water-transitions (if any), etc.

I don't really care for the idea of herbicides. If I kill the vegetation, I still need to get it out of the pond. So my plan is to rake, rake, and more rake. Once I have gotten it under control, then let the grass carp manage it. It was never my plan for the GC to do all of the work. I go through the this every year, however this is the first fish kill.

The company I plan to get the GC from is in Mississippi (Slades). They say the sell CG year round and as long as I acclimate to my water properly, I won't loose them. It's just as hot there as it is here in Louisiana.

I was told here on pond boss, it's too hot to stock them. Is the fear of loosing them in transport or pond introduction?

Both. Hotter water holds less dissolved oxygen. If they are transported in cool water, how will you warm up that cool water? If it takes a while then how will they get oxygen? Fish that go through drastic water temp changes are stressed, and stressed fish are more likely to "catch" something.

Thanks for all of your advise. I was in a desperate situation and needed to act. I pulled out loads of vegetation by hand. Then I purchased and transported the fish two days ago. They survived the transport and introduction to the pond. They seem to be doing well. I see them swimming whenever I go out to the pond. The company I dealt with is in Mississippi where it's just as hot there as it is here in Louisiana. They told me that they sell GC all year long and as long as I got them home within a few hours and acclimated them to the water properly, I shouldn't have any losses. Well, so far so good. They been in there for two days and seem to be pretty active. Thanks to all who gave input

Cardell,

Glad to hear you got them home safely. You may lot see a lot of progress between now and next spring.

They are also great fun to watch at feeding time. (They are feed hogs.) By this time next year they will look like small torpedoes going through the water. They are great when you have guests.

Ken