Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Balance of plants in the environment Pond Plant Problem

My pond and the pond I'm about to build are directly in the wash zone of my neighbors cattle pasture. Because of this my pond has a huge nutrient overload causing copious amounts of FA. My idea (Actually one of the other guys on the forums) was to put a dent in this problem is to introduce some kind of aquatic plant that uses a lot of nutrients and preferably grows slowly, any ideas? If y'all know of any fish that will put a dent in the nutrient overload I'd appreciate that info too. I'm located in central Texas. Thanks so much guys!

P.S- Sorry I have been posting a lot in the forum lately, I've been putting much more time into my pond than usual.

Culummills123, follow the info here in PB about tilapia fish. There is a vast load of information about them. They absolutely love FA. You need to use enough of them and be willing to replace them each year since they die off when water temps get down to 55F.

The growth rate of any aquatic plant is normally in proportion to its ability to utilize nutrients. In other words, any plant that has a high nutrient conversion rate is likely to be a rapidly growing plant, maybe even invasive.
Tilapia will help eliminate the FA problem, but will have no perceptible effect on the nutrient load.
Have you considered somehow diverting the cattle pasture run-off? Seems like the only sure fire solution.

Shelby County- That's probably what I will end up doing, thanks for the insight.
Instar- I assumed as much, the issue with diverting the water from my neighbors place would be the best solution but it is the main source of water feeding the pond.

I was thinking maybe adding a shorter eel grass to replace the FA. The main issue is casting without getting FA on the line each time and my fish feed getting stuck in the FA around the bank. What kind of eel grass would y'all recommend? I don't mind it entirely occupying the bottom of my pond, I just don't want it growing too tall.

Just thinking off the top of my head. You have a water source but it's full of nutrients, and if you divert it you could have problems filling you pond with the increasing droughts we seem to be experiencing long term. Maybe this could be attacked in several ways. Perhaps the water drainage into your pond could be planted with good filtering plants. I always used KOI and Israeli carp for FA control but why not also add tilapia for a triple mix and Golden Shiners for your minnow base as some believe they may have some effect on FA. For plants corkscrew ell grass only grows about 6 inches tall but to get it wide spread you need to keep replanting the off springs all over the more shallow parts of your pond. Other types of eel grass that grow taller might be planted in the deeper parts of you pond. Still I don't see how other types of water plants won't get into a nutrient pond, and that might call for some grass carp. My grass carp for the most part seem to leave my ell grass alone. You could always use copper sulfate for FA control like some do in my area.

I might Google joe snow aquatic plants, and get in contact with him for suggestions. He's in Argyle TX.

Biggest issue I've had with bog or shallow water plants has been water fluctuations.

IIRC, I got Vallisneria americana after John Monroe's suggestions. They've had a rough go the last year, but I'll keep trying.

Do you have room upstream to install a wetland to "process" the water?

The water feeds onto my property probably like 50 yards from my pond so I don't think the wetland option would work. I think what I will do is either plant the eel grass or consult Joe Snow and use his advice for the plants but regardless add a good amount of carp every few years and some tilapia annually.

You could install winding shallow wetland and fill it with emergent plants. This may not solve the problem, but it would likely help.

I agree, any nutrient removal will help. If there is enough room, I'll bet you could turn that 50 yards into 150 - 200 yards.

Here is something there doing here in Iowa.I have not seen one but there are a couple dozen in the state, designed by the nrcs. They dig a trench 8 to10 feet wide and up to 8 feet deep line it with plastic, put drainage tile in and fill it with wood chips,they can be 100 to 500 feet long. they claim thus far to show 40-90% reductions in chemical and fertilizer runoff and expect them to have a 8-10 year life. although not real cost effective for the average guy, they can run from several thousand to over 20 k. It could be an alternative for someone with deep pockets.I do not think there is any cost sharing at this time.

Absolutely do a wetland! 50 yards will give you plenty of room to put together a nice wetland area especially if you can create a winding water course. A well planned wetland will eliminate a huge part of your problem. Forum moderator Catmandoo has experience with this in an area smaller than yours and he made a huge impact on his nutriment load coming out of an adjacent pasture.

Adding each little step for FA control will help. The only thing I have ever seen tadpoles eat is algae. I don't have large predators like LMB so I have lots of tadpoles. But you could have some and they would feed your predators with frogs and tadpoles as they in turn feed on algae.

Water fluctuations is also what hurt my Vallisnneria America after I had nice growth. So I replanted in deeper water where the drought doesn't effect the plants.