I have a 4.5 have pond located in Georgia. 24 hours ago it was perfectly normal. This afternoon when I went to feed the fish (coopernose bream) there was this green film covering about 1/2 of pond. Have no idea what it is?
TedJ

tree pollen? Any thin coverings on windshields?

TedJ - You probably have an algae bloom that can form surface films such as a species in the genus Euglena. But note that other forms of algae can also form surface films. Some bluegreen algae will form green films in the warm water of mid summer and fall. Pollen films on water are more common in the spring rather than fall.

I have another pond about 1000 ft away from it with a clean surface. If its a algae bloom will it hurt anything and about how long does it last?
TedJ

i have a 6 acre pond in sout louisiana and i just got the same thing.it happened in about 2-3 days,i sprayed it with cultrine plus this evening hoping it will help.it sure is ugly stuff,i've never seen anything like it before.kind of looks like a oil spill the way it floats on the surface.what can we do to clean it up?

TedJ - Thin "mild" surface algae films are usually harmless; more visually offensive than harmful to fish and other aquatic life. Thick surface films can be bluegreen algae their affects are debatable. The type of species causing the bloom will determine its impact on the overall pond. It is often a case by case basis.

Cutrine Plus (liquid) based spray will kill most of the algae in the surface film especially when it is pushed to one end or side by a gentle breeze.

pat - about cleaning it up. When it dies, either naturally or due to treatment, it will sink to the bottom and decompose. Nuisance algae blooms give one a small idea of how productive a nutrient enriched pond can be.

Bill, what normally causes the bluegreen type to affect a pond.Could you please explain the last parag.in your post.Not sure i undersatnd what you are trying to tell us,that our pond is in good shape are bad.Thanks

Thick bluegreen algae films or layers can be bad in several ways, taste and odor in fish flesh, cause of low DO in deeper waters, unsightly, overall poor water quality, some types can be toxic to animals drinking the water.

Most of the nuisance blue green algae can get their nitrogen source from the atmosphere and not the water. Most of the nuisance bluegreen film, surface, algae types grow best in the heat of the summer and are indicative of too many dissolved nutrients in the water, especially phosphorus. Thus fertile fish ponds often have bluegreen algae blooms in the warmest summer months.

The production of all that plant mass on the surface is just a small protion or fraction of what a pond is capable of producing.
Did I answer your questions or do you have more? Try to be specific with questions.

Bill,I sprayed some Cultrine Plus yesterday and it seemed to help,At what water temperature will it die off??? Thanks

There is not an exact water temperature where the bluegreens will crash. Temperature thresholds tend to be species, variety or even strain specific. It even gets more compicated and sometimes other things besides temperature cause densities to decrease or even crash. Some species have narrow tolerances whereas others have wide ranges of tolerance. Nothing is usually real simple in natural systems.

Generally cooler waters than approx 78F-82F, will start slowing their metabolism and then other species are better able to compete. Nutrient balances or ratios and other environmental factors also play a big part in growth cycles.

This foam was along the shoreline of my dam.From a distance it looks like styrofoam Can temp drops cause the foam to form? 32 deg this morning. - Thanks

Mr willy - I commonly see foam similar to this on other waters; streams and ponds. I think it is due to abundant dissolved and or suspended proteins in the water combined with agitation of the water. The foam forms from wind action or surface agitation that causes the proteins to collect as foamy material. Cool temperatures may cause the foam to form more easily. Protein skimmers are often used in the intensive aquaculture (indoor) industry and by aquarium hobbists to produce this type of foam in their fish tanks. A search of protein skimmers may tell you more about dissolved proteins in the water. Sometimes I look at it microscopically to make sure that it is not something other than what I described above.

I need to revisit this thread with a question pertaining to my BG pond. Up until the last week or two, my BG pond, aside from tea brown water, was looking good. Secchi disc readings were dropping from 3.5 feet to about 20" now. Surface temp 80 degrees, water pH around 8. Summer temps have moved in with 80+ degrees being the norm mixed with a few days in the low/mid 90s last week.

The intermittent stream that feeds this pond is now dry. Current water levels are 2-3" below my stone dam which was built across the outlet of this small 0.12 acre puddle. We had a brief rainstorm this past weekend, which was the transistion front from the 90s last week to the more seasonal temps now.

In addition to the main topic of this thread, a green film that covers the pond, there is also a film of goo that I can only describe as looking like liquid driveway sealer. This stuff only resides on the surface and is easily dispersed when the aerator kicks on. A sample jar of water, taken from arms length below the surface 4 days ago, is clear. The watershed on the east side of this pond consists of tall grass with trees (nature's piece) while the west side is lawn. No chemicals used, I just mow it on a weekly basis.

My question pertains to this black goo and what is it? Cody above mentions algae films. Could this be the result once the green algae dies off? Other than being a visual nuisance, I don't think the fish are being affected. I'm sure it would be no problem to skim this stuff off using BZ's prickly rope.

Thanks in advance for all replies.

Russ a pic would help. I have seen the thick algae of different colors mix and die and be dark brown and a thick goo around the down wind side of the pond.

Eric,

Thank you for the reply. We've had rain for most of today so I'll have to wait till tomorrow to see what the pond surface looks like.

Ah, the prickly rope time of year has come again. I have to say since improving this idea last year I'm using it about once every two weeks now and my pond has never been cleaner and nicer looking. I use it mostly for removing duck weed but it cleans out everything else that floats too. I get some of the black floating goo once in a while. Comes right out with the duck weed. The prickly rope is my best ever pond cleanup tool for mid summer floating stuff blues. I've got a system down in my pond where it only takes me 1 to 2 hours to do a complete cleanup.

The combination of yesterdays rain and showers throughout the night has resulted in no more black goo in the pond. This morning, only the green film is visible.

BZ, any idea what the black goo was??

Can you be more specific on how you do this? I get you are using a floating rope to corral the stuff but what do you do to the rope to make it "prickly?"

Cecil,

Here is a link with pictures.

http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=000275#000000


BZ, did you ever add more zip ties to the rope?

Thanks for finding the post Russ. I'm not very good at finding this old stuff. I did add more zip ties. I randomly added about 150 more to the 100 foot rope so they are a lot thicker. It really works well now. I have no idea what the black goo is. I'm guessing its bottom sediment that is full of anaerobic bacteria cause when I scoop it out it stinks like hydrogen sulfide. Even though it's floating it's very heavy like mud so I think it must by decaying stuff mixed with bottom dirt.

Cecil, I hope you find what you're looking for. If you need a source for the float I probably have the company name around here somewhere. The key to making this work is enough zip ties and enough small floats to keep it on the surface so it won't slip down under the duck weed. I shopped around a lot to find the right size floats for a cheap price.

The black goo returned again this past weekend. Another shower dumped some precip on us last night and this morning, the black goo was gone. Interesting stuff. Today the pond looked good with a small amount of the green film floating on the surface.

Russ, I've noticed the black goo and the FA will get entrapped air in it and float. When you get a good rain it will beat the air bubbles out and it will sink. That's why it disappears. It will come up again later. I suspect the black goo gets trapped gases from decomposition and the FA gets trapped gases that it produces as part of photosynthesis. That's my theory and obeservation.

I have the same thing happening in my pond, but the film is not green, it's a reddish brown. Would this also be an algea bloom?

Does it look like this ?



A red euglena (algae) bloom

Eric, it's hard to tell from your picture, but it's close to a rust color. It's on the surface just like a green algea bloom. It's just about taken over the whole pond surface except where my aerator is located.

Kent is it floating in/suspended in the water or just on top?

Eric, it's floating on top. It doesn't seem to be affecting anything. When the wind blows it away from the pond edges the water is still clear to about 12" underneath. I hope if it's an algea bloom it dies off soon, it's ugly!

Can you post a pic ? Heavy plankton blooms can gather on the surface but that generally is accompanied by a water col. with lots of suspended plankton and limited visibility. Looks tiny little green specks suspended in the water.

Eric, I'll send you a pic by e-mail, I still can't post a pic on the forum.

Ok I will add it in your post above.

Here are 2 pics of Kent's pond noted above. What do you think this is and is it a problem ? Kent give us a few pond details like age , muddy or not , soil info (alkalinity etc), fertilizing or not.

Possibly, just possibly Euglena.

Eric,the pond is 1/2 acre and 1 year old. The muddy water is just starting to clear, I have approx. 12" visibility. The only fertilization would be runoff from the 13-13-13 fertilizer that I use on the grass.I am feeding the fish twice daily. I have an aeration system with 2 - 9.5" diffusers and a fountain. When I stocked the pond this past spring, I had a water sample tested. The alkalinity was 95, and the PH was 7.5. Earlier in the summer, I had a similiar situation, the only difference was it was green. It lasted a couple of weeks and it went away. This has been going on for a month now and doesn't seem to be getting any better. I purchased a gallon of algecide this weekend and I'm not sure whether or not to use it. My fish are really growing well and I don't want to mess anything up using the algecide.

If the fish are doing well I would not use the algaecide. It could have the effect of killing off so much plankton that you may have DO problems. I would watch it and with cooler weather it should dissipate. If you decide to use the algaecide I would dilute it way down and spray only about 5-10% 0f the surface area with a light dose. The yard fert. is most likely adding to the problem.

I am new hope it's ok to add a question to this post as it seems to be closest to a problem I am facing now. I have a powder like algae floating on the surface of my water. It will spread out to cover the entire water surface and it clings to anything it touches that leaves the water. If I try to mix it in to water column I can not as soon as I stop water agitation within seconds to maybe 3 minutes its resurfaces. What I do know is it is not any "normal" type of algae type that turns water green as if it was the Daphnia would consume it faster then it can reproduce. Is there any way to rid myself of this problem cannot involve chemical pesticides as they are starting food for my Ambystoma mexicanum and when they are just starting out they are hyper sensitive to everything.

Can you post a pic? Plankton etc.form a interrelated community which changes over time. It is not easy to affect one type with out having consequences on the food web. One type grows and another (plankton or fish or insect) preys on it which leads to changes.