Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Fish Feeding and Algae Bloom

I have a quick question about my pond.

I have had a pretty considerable algae bloom this year and my water is green and cloudy average visibility is between 12-16".

I have been feeding for a good while and right before the algae bloom the fish were eating like crazy. In the last few days we have had a little cool snap and the fish have slowed down eating to about half what they were. Do you think there are so many nutrients in the water that they are getting plenty of food or do you think I have a problem. I am running my aerator fountain about 18 hours a day. Pond is 1/2 acre with depths up to 7 feet. average depth around 4 ft. I have a good population of Bluegill, Catfish, Redear, and LB Bass. Listed in order of population. I added 150 4-6" BG this spring for forage that Greg Grimes delivered. Up till the water changed fish were visibally active in shallow water with minnows present around aquatic cover.

Before last nights rain I had a pretty good skim of pollen on top of the water but it went away after the rain. I do have a mild case of filament algae but it is associated with the bloom. Also added small dose of trophey grower 30 days ago. Pond is locatated by creek with heavy hardwood concentration on 2 sides nut gets considerable sunlight.

Just wanted to run it by the forum to see what you thought.

I could be that the fish are feeding on the food chain created by the plankton bloom, and less on the pellets.

Burgermeister that is what I hope is happening but I wanted to ask the experts here. Thanks so much for your response.

more than likely they just slowed down b/c of the cold snap. It was 44 here on Saturday morning. I know clients here have asked the same question. Hope the bg are still growing.

Greg, The BG seem to be doing fine. I bet the Bass are getting their share of nourishment. When I fed tonight things seemed to be getting back to normal. My observation is my fish are schedule oriented and like to eat right at dusk much better than any other time of the day. I fed tonight around 7:30-8:00 after my wife tried to feed them around 5:00PM. She did not have any takers at 5:00PM but they were ready at 7:30.

Another observation is the BG eat first and when they slow down the Catfish get started.

I am curious that when you do get a good algae bloom, do you slow down on pellets and let nature feed them or should I go ahead and toss them feed?

I normally feed around 1 to 1.5 20oz. drinking cups when they are really active. I try to be careful not to overfeed to damage the water quality with wasted pellets. Just thought I would ask, thanks for all the help from all.

By the way Dave Davidson is SUPER he has helped me so much this year answering questions personally.

If you seem to have more natural food the bluegill will slow as you mention, so adjust feeding accordingly. I still like to fed, this is why it is called supplemental feeding. It is not necessary but will grow more lbs of fish if done along with fertilization and not to excess.

I hope you will make Condello jealous with the bluegill size you will have by next year.

I've seen the same thing here over the past 3-4 days. 1.25" rain over Sat & Sun and fish hardly fed at all either night. Monday, some eating, but last night the piranhas were back...and hungry.

Fed about 1.5 lbs over 20 mins and they were still smacking the surface hard on the last run...I like to leave 'em a bit on the hungry side. Ain't wasting feed that way, but there's never any left for the cats...not that I've ever seen any when feeding, anyway.