Hello...my name is Nathan and I live in Southeast Tx. I bought this property 5yrs ago to build my house on and it had a small pond on it already. We needed more dirt for house pad and decided to dig a second pond next to the existing one and connect them after we had enough dirt to build on. Last year we started getting some nasty algae and a few weeds on the western edges of of the pond. I didn't want to throw any chemicals in the pond due to 2 horses and 5 goats drinking out of it and we also use it as summertime swimming hole for the family. I removed a huge majority of it with a grass rake and drug it out of the pond and the goats loved it!! I did dye it blue for the last 3 years during the summer months only for eye appeal and have dyed it already this year but had some really torrential down pours a month or so ago and lost my coloring but plan on dying it again this afternoon. This year is double the amount of nastiness that it was last year, and the years prior to that it seemed to dissipate once the dye went in it during early spring and maybe again at the beginning of the summer.I have not stocked it yet but there are a few LMB and BG or little perch that I can watch jump in the evenings and sometimes see as I walk around the bank. Lots of minnows and bullfrogs as well. After looking online for a month or so and reading on here I want to make sure I do the right thing to rid my pond of this junk. Can somebody please please PLEASE help me ID this stuff and point me in the right direction of how to get rid of it?? I know there are chemicals I can use now to help me out but if I use the wrong thing and end up with a sick or dead horse then the wife and daughter (the actual horse people in the family) would definitely make me sleep in the back pasture..lol..just kidding, but i definitely don't want to hurt any animals or us when we swim this year. Any and all the help I can get would be much appreciated. ..thanks in advance
Cutrine Plus Granules works pretty well when thrown on to the filamentous algae which is part of your problem. Try it on one side of pond, see how it works, after about ten days then treat the other side. Never treat an entire pond on same day because it could cause a fish-kill.
Thx Zep for the quick response...I might just try that...also if anyone know how to prevent or just to reduce the amount of the algae and weeds please chime in as well...I want to aerate but not sure what I'll need for my set up? I know I don't want (or cant afford) some wild outlandish display fountain or bubble system but would definitely like something on the cheaper side...do-it-yourself type stuff I love doing. .thanks again Zep
Never knew about getting fish to help me out...this sounds pretty cool..how does someone get tilapia and carp?? I know bass perch and catfish could be bought but not thesee kinds..I'll have to do some digging into this...thanks Brian
Tex you got a lot of mess there.... Sorry dude.. Don't think that by adding a air station it will help you with your current weed/Algae issue. Most times it won't.
I have used Cutrine in the past and it does work fairly well. I also have about 4 grass carp which help some if you can have them that is? You would need a bit more then 4 though.... Not sure what that one weed is??? I see FA for sure, maybe someone else will chime in and help that has a bit more XP on the subject....
RC
The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
Those weeds that are rooted in the bottom you can just put on some waders and go pull em up on the banks. I had the same stuff and they come out easy in big clumps. Then go back once or twice over the summer and get the stragglers. They just dry up on the bank.
Thanks RC...not the response I was hoping for...lol..I am hoping to get this under control as soon as possible so I can put some bubbles in the pond...I will definitely be contacting you about your DIY system you did
Those weeds that are rooted in the bottom you can just put on some waders and go pull em up on the banks. I had the same stuff and they come out easy in big clumps. Then go back once or twice over the summer and get the stragglers. They just dry up on the bank.
Yes sir JC that's how I've been maintaining them but do you know of an easier way to manage it by chance? Does yours come back every year the same amount or has it diminished some?
Water with nutrients in it will grow "weeds". Excess nutrients will also grow FA along with the "weeds".
Consider doing an alum/hydrated lime treatment to lock up some of the excess nutrients.
Or, rake out a lot of the plants/algae and get it away from the pond so that when it breaks down it doesn't revert back to nutrients.
BUT, with the goats and horses having access to the pond, they will contribute to the nutrient load.
The choices are: 1) Limit and manage the nutrient loading of the pond. or 2) Manually remove plants and algae if they become obnoxious or 3) Introduce Tilapia to consume the algae, and get a stocking permit from TP&W to introduce Triploid Grass Carp, although they aren't knows to be very fond of Primrose. or 4) Control it with chemicals.
An aeration system will help, but it isn't a magic bullet that will take care of the problem by itself.
You can also treat FA with Greenclean, until your Tilapia are established. Agree on limiting nutrients is key. Primerose can be treated without chemicals but will take sometime and effort-other than raking or cutting it out. Using high % vinegar, salt, and blue dawn.
Good land management is an extended learning experience-Aldo Leopold
Thank you all soooooo very much...me and the son are about to start raking today... next week I'll see how much of the FA is gone and might get some of the granules if necessary...tilapia are soon to be in the picture as well as I know I won't be able to get all the FA out put I will keep every one posted on the progress...
I have heard great things on here with the lime/alum treatment too but don't know how expensive that would be or who to call...I would love to do it because I heard that improves visibility and nutrient overload in the pond...if anyone knows who does it close it me please let me know....thanks
You can also treat FA with Greenclean, until your Tilapia are established. Agree on limiting nutrients is key. Primerose can be treated without chemicals but will take sometime and effort-other than raking or cutting it out. Using high % vinegar, salt, and blue dawn.
Vinegar also works on water hyacinths. However, you have to wait until the water is warm enough for the hyacinths to become active, otherwise it is a waste. And doing sections at a time, rather than the whole pond, is advisable. You don't want pH shock to the fish, nor too much decaying vegetation in the water.
Depending on your pond's water-clarity, the water primrose is possibly providing the filamentous algae with a substrate upon which to grow, since filamentous algae will grow on any submerged object (or the bottom) to which sunlight adequately penetrates. Physically removing the primrose (fast solution), or treating it with a suitable herbicide (longer-term solution), may help reduce the severity of filamentous algae - especially if limited water-clarity will otherwise limit sunlight penetration. Secondly, filamentous algae may be treated with a variety of copper algaecides, which (by the way) are very similar to the products commonly used to control/manage algae in livestock water-troughs. Which leads me to yet another suggestion. It might be a consideration to provide your animals with a separate above-ground watering-trough, which should help discourage their use of the pond. Livestock's "use" of a pond isn't limited to drinking, and if family-swims are part of your pond-ownership equation, consider exactly what you will be swimming in - without the protection of pool-chlorine.
