Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Brand new pond with Algae

Hey guys, so i have a brand new 2 acre pond about 18 feet deep at the dam. It’s about half full now. I put bluegill and red was in on Monday. Tuesday night i spread out just 2 bags of pellet lime over the water. Yesterday i go there and i have a fairly thick algae starting on one end of the pond. What can i do? Is this a concern or what? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

You will deal that that algae or a similar type as long as you have that pond and even longer after you are gone. Ponds are nutrient traps and collect more nutrient each year. Nutrients grow algae and weeds which tend to be more prevalent as the pond ages it's Mother Nature's rule for aging ponds, even new ponds. The best trick is find a way to manage nutrients. Beneficial plants use nutrients and compete with FA for those nutrients. Notice submerged weedy ponds & lakes usually have very little FA due to the competition factor. Read through information in this link for dealing with algae mostly filamentous algae (FA).
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92633#Post92633
Learn to use all the helpful information in the heading Common Pond Q & A Archives Section

I had the same thing happen. New pond was dug in October and just became full this spring. Then I started noticing some algae . I sprayed copper sulfate on all of it now it’s gone.

Last year I had the most FA I’ve ever had in my pond. This year I have a lot less (although that may change next week). This year I have the clearest water I’ve had in five plus years. I think I have the most bullfrog tadpoles I’ve ever had, although our pond always seems to have a lot.
Think there’s any relationship to increased tadpoles, clearer water, and less FA?
Last year I ended up rowing around the pond about 10’ out, with a burlap bag hanging behind the rowboat with copper sulfate (if I remember right) in it. It took care of most of the FA.

What does the copper sulfate do? I’ve heard of people putting in aluminum sulfate but not copper?

Copper sulfate crystals. I bought them at Tractor Supply. I believe it’s a pretty common way to treat FA. I would also imagine that there are many potential side effects. Hopefully a pond expert will chime in here. I am not a pond expert.
The copper sulfate worked very well for my pond. Really knocked the FA down.
I also used a rake to get a lot out near where the grandkids fish the most. They couldn’t reel anything in without a huge mess of FA.

Less FA probably ... can't venture a guess about the clearer water. But if the water is clearer, one would think the FA would have the potential to be worse than in the past. It's plausible that the tadpoles are making a difference.

Setterguy, I recently read where SMB eat tadpoles. Do you happen to find them in the stomachs of any SMB? If so that is some great double duty.

Buck and Thoits in the paper on monocultures mentioned an inverse relationship between chara abundance and crayfish abundance. I took it to mean that crayfish control chara when they are abundant. I do not know to what extent crayfish will control FA but I do know that some fish consume FA. My son discovered today that the FA at the ditch was home to a great number of amphipods. In area waters, BH and CC are full of FA when it is abundant. Perhaps the nutrition they are getting comes from organisms like that amphipod and earthworms we found in association with the FA?

Jpsdad, I don’t think my SMB are touching my BF tadpoles. They are bobbing to the surface all over the pond, and there are thousands along the edges. Now the toad tadpoles have hatched, much smaller, and not as many, but it appears nothing will touch them either. I think once they turn into frogs, they disappear very quickly.
I have very few crayfish. I stocked them a few years ago, but I’m not finding very many (just a few in the last couple of years).
I’ve only cleaned a few of the SMB, they were full of golden shiners. I had glass shrimp also for a few years, but they appear to have gone away also, like my FHM. I used to find them when I raked up some leaves that piled up in shallow water along the bank. Just not finding any anymore.
So far my FA has stayed minimal, but with clearer water, I’m expecting an explosion. Last year it was thick when the ice melted off. This year with a warmer winter, not much around.

I concur that my SMB do not touch my BF tadpoles, nor the toadpoles and I have plenty of both that they would be consuming if they were interested in them.