Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Dark green clumps?

Does anyone know of a chemical that would leave dark green clumps floating in a pond? This stuff looks like paint, but when you pick it up, it falls apart and leaves a green residue on my hands. It's not plant matter to the best I can tell, I'm just wondering if someone put something in my pond that would cause this. Anyone ever seen this?????

I get it all the time, from what I can see in my pond it is a form of algae that grows on the bottom but if stirred up like when my daughter and I walked out to the fountain to replace the spray head it is broken loose from the bottom and floats to the surface. I am sure my catfish stir it up also cause I get some of it all the time but it is alot worse after this weekend than normal.

Bob

Thanks Bob, sounds like you know exactly what I'm talking about! Thats just what I needed to hear.

This is a blue-green algae. Very common and usually not a problem. They can become a problem if oxygen levels in the pond become low because most of them are anaerobic, meaning they require low or no oxygen to thrive. Hope this helps.

Had something that sounds like the same thing , but the splotches were bright green and all different sizes . would disintegrate when touched also. I thought it was caused by over fertilizing , so i stopped the fert. and it eventually went away . same problem ? Harvey

Sound's like the same thing to me Harvey. I wonder if this is asociated with older lakes, or does it have something to do with water quality? My lake is a 50 yr. old coal strip mine, about 5 acres.It's also spring fed and about 26' deep at it's deepest point.

Brad , older may be part of the problem . I think my 2 to 2.5 acre pond is 30 to 40 years old. my water chemistry was ok at the time i had this problem. i was told it was 4 acres and fertilized acordingly , then boom i had all these blue green splotches that did eventually go away . Harvey