Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Spraying during the spawn???

Does cutrine granular or liquid pose a threat to spawning fish when sprayrd this time of year? Fish are often in the shallow flats nesting right where we are spraying or broadcasting cutrine. Thanks in advance.

Not an expert on this but I will comment.

In my area we have lake property owners on our public lakes that spray for weeds every year about the time the bluegills go on the beds. Once they spray you might as well hang up the pole, as the fish scatter and don't seem to come back. I don't know what they are spraying, but the funny thing is the weeds come back about a month later.

What a stupid waste of money.

In response to the question and Cecil's reply: I know of no reason why a chelated copper would directly repel fish from a treated area, except if very low water-hardness levels allowed the copper to create an uncomfortable (and potentially harmful) environment for the fish. On the other hand, if the copper (or Cecil's reference "spray treatment") decimated the algae (or weeds) that the fish used as cover, they would likely relocate themselves to other areas where nearby cover was available.
Cecil: if (by chance) Hydrothol 191 was used in your observed treatments, fish would definitely depart the area for some amount of time - and the treated weeds would most likely reappear at some point. Wasteful? Maybe. Then again, I wash my truck to improve its looks. But, it doesn't take very long to get it dirty again. Just a synical thought.

I spray chelated copper into my fish culture ponds to control filamentous algae quite often around harvest time without adverse affects. I don't consider it a waste of money in my ponds or my customers ponds because some bodies of water would be unusable if not treated for algae. I think that people should take steps to prevent algae (e.g. stabilize shorelines, establish native vegetation, aerate if applicable) but I don't see anything wrong with periodic chelated copper applications to kill filamentous algae that is choking out all other native aquatic life.

Guys,

I don't know what they are spraying but they spray it right on top of the beds and the fish leave permanently. They also post signs that indicate not to harvest of eat any fish for several days. Any clue on what that would be?

Cecil,

If they are posting signs then it could be public information and you could probably get that info from them or the state...not sure on Indiana regs. If the fish are leaving the area it is a good possibility that they are spraying Hydrothol 191...but that's just a guess.

Cecil- sounds like they're using HYDROTHOL 191 (it has a 3-day fish consumption restriction). Same restriction applies to AQUATHOL K/SupK, but it doesn't tend to cause fish-departures like HYDROTHOL. Not many other products have a fish-consumption restriction, so I'd say it is a good bet they're using it to control shoreline algal growths. KD