Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants controlling algae with tadpoles?

For the last couple of weeks or so all of the algae in my pond has been floating to the top and making a real mess of things and I hate having all of that scum blocking the view of my hard work so is there any way I can control it naturally possibly with tadpoles or even koi? If so how many tadpoles or koi? BTW tilapia aren't an option. thanks in advance.

Hey small pond far as I know neither of them will eat algae to the point where you want them to? If tat all? I am not sure but I have never heard of it.

RC

You may want to cut back on your feed as that is the main nutrient source for the FA in your pond. The "floating" mats are what pulled loose from the bottom from builup of gasses in the filaments....Raking is really your only option outside of Tilapia (not legal in PA) or chemicals (which only recycle nutrient)

If ya decide to go un-natural, this
stuff is working great for me this year.
Granular is sooooo easy to use.

I always thought that stuff was toxic to trout but then again what do I know you guys are the experts not me.

Small pond, you are correct, toxic to trout. I know it's a PITA, but I think raking is your best bet. Phycomycin can be used in trout ponds without worrying about it killing the trout. Just remember when the algae decomposes, it will need oxygen, so if you kill a lot at once it might cause an O2 crash.

You need a HECK of a lot of tadpoles to keep up with algae. Then the questions would arise "How do I walk outside without stepping on any amphibians?" They do eat algae, but not enough to make any real impact.

Scott, have you tried or had any luck with cornmeal for algae?

I have tried the phycomycin as Scott has mentioned. A link to a discussion about it is HERE.

I have trout too and that is why I went with that route. I will say that it isn't a cheap way to go compared to other remedies. But with trout, your limited. I will not have the trout for long, so trying it once is an experiment. I would at least start doing a search for it in your area so you could be prepared. There is a lot of different prices on it from different places. I cut the price down by almost half from a local seller, but it was special order with a wait time. They shipped it with other stuff they buy and that's were the savings came into play.

And yes, the bad part is you are just recycling and not solving the real problem. A proper fix will most likely not yield immediate results, which you probably need.

Small Pond, I bought a Landscape Rake at Menards for about $25 and zip-tied swim noodles to the top so it floats. And for a long reach you can put a hook in the end of it with a rope tied to it.

http://www.menards.com/main/outdoors/gar...513-c-13241.htm

Then just toss it out and rake in the FA.

Works great!

BTW, the FA dries to a powder and works great as a fertilizer. Just lay it out flat on the ground and let it dry out. Just an FYI from more that I learned on PB

Never tried it. What's it supposed to do?

I figure that once the cornmeal decomposes, it adds to the nutrient load. But, I could be completely off base.

I'd always heard mixed opinions on it working on algae. I put out 400 pounds week before last, and all the algae disappeared. Didn't want to recommend a home brew method without some other experiences.

FireIsHot (is that an I or a L in your name), how does the cornmeal work on algae (different kinds) and how big is your pond? I'm just curious as to the cornmeal method.

Small pond....last year we had a lot of tadpoles and they really cleaned up on the FA. Granted it hadn't matted yet but there was a bunch. The downside was that after the tadpoles changed to frogs/toads there was no more control and the FA came back.

Hang_loose, no clue. We've used it for mildew in St. Augustine grass, and it works. I've been using the corn meal for algae for 4-5 years now and had mixed results based on the application rate. This year, I had 2 areas of algae and applied the corn meal to those areas, and the algae was gone in a week. It didn't sink the algae, it was just gone.

I use it every year until the Tilapia take over (waiting on water temp to rise), and it always works. At $5 for 50 pounds, it's cheap and it works for me. I've found no definitive research or proof that it is a viable solution, but there have been no issues for me by using it.

11 acres.

SP,

Your pond is so small I highly recommend just raking out the algae and organic debris. It's a nutrient issue and there's really only one definitive cure if you can't lock up the extra nutrients in fish (i.e. tilapia).

I rake two shores of my pond for ease of fishing, and it's really not as much work as it sounds.

I have been running the tadpole experiment for two years now along with many plants and I have no algae. I don't know why but I have loads of tadpoles all year round. They are thick and all over the plants, the bottom and anything that has algae trying to grow. I have lots of bull frogs and my dog Dolly took out 4 yesterday but they seemed to always be replaced. It was mentioned here a few years ago that Golden Shiner Minnows also eat algae so I have them too. Filling out the pond are Fathead Minnows and Bluegills. No predators like bass etc. that would reduce the tadpole population.

The other thing that really worked for me over many years were KOI plus Israeli Carp. For one acre I had 20 KOI and 6 Israeli. The pond had practically no plants to help in the algae control because I used 18 Grass Carp for that. A guy on Pond Boss a while back mentioned a place in Ohio where you could still get Israeli Carp. I had it save but can't find it. It was in Southern Ohio as I remembered.

John, how easy is it to fish in your pond?

SP,
Raking is good way to go because it will remove some of those nutrients. I wonder if you could find a large net for cheap price and place over your pond in the fall when leaves are coming down. Keep some of those nutrients out.

John, that was me. I probably could find it again.

Esshup the kind of pond I have now with a super abundants of plants wouldn't be easy to fish if I were casting. If I were pole fishing for bluegill it would be ok. The bluegills I put in the pond are thick through the body and eating well it seems, probably from eating all the small minnows and tadpoles they want. Besides eliminating algae I thought a pond with the combinations of FH, GSH, tadpoles plus BG might be a great pan fishing pond if fished hard to keep the BG size up.

Now, back when the pond was stocked with KOI, Israeli Carp, Grass Carp, Channel Catfish, Large Mouth Bass, and Bluegill it had only a small amount of plants because of the large number of GC. Then the casting for bass was unobstructed. I filed the barbs off my lures so the bass could free themselves after a struggle. This was a great pond, alga free that took care of itself. I did have lots of artificial structures in the pond for the minnows to hide and 4 barrels for the CC to get their young started safely for later bass feed.

This is going to be a fun day. Shortly my Son, Grandson, a friend and I are going kayak/canoeing in the scenic Stillwater River near Covington, OH. This is a underwater viewer I just made from a small Walmart waist basket and if it isn't muddy I'll try to get some underwater pictures.

John, in your pond with all the plants, the lack of algae could be from the plants utilizing the nutrients that the algae would use to grow, not the tadpoles.

If it was the tadpoles, once they matured in mid summer, then you'd see a FA explosion. Do you?

Esshup I know the plants were part of the algae control. The first year after my winter fish kill I took this picture showing the spatterdock stopping the algae about 20 foot out from the pond, when I had only a small tadpole population and had just put in the GSH. Then last year with the 105 degree heat and the bad drought I only had traces of algae with a large population of tadpoles and GSH. I’m rigging my boat to spray some of the plants so it will be up to the tadpoles to do even more algae control. Well see what happens this summer.

John:

Kelly Duffie has some pretty neat spray rigs for small boats.

Our pond was covered with 90% spatterdock before renovating. It did the same thing as yours John. Algae was only in the open areas, and never really grew around the spatterdock. Now there is no spatterdock, but algae everywhere. My guess would be the spatterdock competes with it (nutrients, or giving off a chemical?), or the water movement from the stems is prohibitive ?

Fish n chips, thanks for sharing that. I'm still deciding just how much I want to take out. I want to keep all of my white and colored lilies and I have as abundance of Curly Leaf Pond weed that no doubt helps a lot. I was speculating on the board a couple of years ago that the large stirring movement of the stems might be stirring and oxygenating the water also. I noticed at that time that the stems didn't seem to have any algae on them.

Essuhp I just finished my mounting rig for the sprayer yesterday and if it doesn't rain today I will see if the sprayer hooks on like I think it should and maybe take a picture. I got by without drilling any holes into the boat and utilizing one U-bolt that was already on the boat.