Pond Scum

[DaddyO]

I have noticed that several of the neighborhood community ponds in my area are loaded with Pond Scum/Algae. It would be nice to be able to catch fish without have to drag them through all of that stuff. At times, I've thought about taking a leaf rake to the ponds and pulling all of that off of the top of the water. However, I don't know if this would be a help or a hinderance to the ecosystem of the Pond.

Do you guys have any insight into this issue?

Thanks.

[Outside Bend]

It sounds like you're describing filamentous algae- that's usually caused by too many nutrients going into the pond, often from folks fertilizing lawns and golf courses. Manually removing it helps, especially if you move the algae you collect out of the pond's watershed. Reducing the application of fertilizers and letting the grass grow up around the pond helps quite a bit too, although that may not be feasible. Copper sulfate will kill the algae in the short-term, but it'll come back year after year.

[jdmidwest]

I would not "move" anything out of a watershed into another. Look at all the hoopla about crawdads and rock snot in the last year.

But, like OB said, it is usually the result of fertile stagnant water. It could have been fertilzed by the management of the lake also, or from septic tanks. Many MDC lakes are fertilized by dumping bags of fertilize into them to make an algae bloom for young fish.

[Nick Williams]

I say remove it!!! I would like to fish those ponds without the algae as well! Ha I'll even come help!

[Outside Bend]

I'm not talking about moving it from one creek or river to another, just keep it from washing back into the pond. Throw it on the back side of the dam. The algae locks up nutrients- throwing it on the bank so those nutrients can just wash back into the pond is an exercise in futility.

[DaddyO]

These ponds are receiving runoff from the surrounding businesses and neighborhoods. I believe it is, as you mentioned, not being filtered very much before it hits the ponds. So, is it better for the Pond Ecosystem to remove all of that scum/algae?

[Outside Bend]

Removing it won't hurt the pond ecosystem, and could help substantially. When that algae dies and sinks to the bottom, its decomposition can reduce the dissolved oxygen of the pond pretty substantially, and can ultimately lead to stressed or dead fish.

[David Unnerstall]

Apparently I am in the wrong topic....I thought this would be about the Milwaukee Brewers of last year.

[Quillback]

Here in Bella Vista it's an ongoing battle with algae, here's a text of an email that our lakes biologist sends out periodically on the algae problem and treatment. They use 2 methodes to treat the algae, a copper based herbicide, and the application of nutrients to encourage plankto growth which is beneficial to fish and reduce water clarity - clear water allows sunlight penetration and encourages algae growth.

Just wanted to note that your lake is now in good shape for the holiday weekend. A few weeks ago the lake erupted in a significant growth of substrate algae (filamentous algae) which is the slimy green stuff that grows on the lake bottom and floats on the surface. This occurred a soon as the water cleared to about 3 meters. We treated the lake shoreline areas a few weeks ago with a copper-based, unrestricted algaecide to kill off the substrate algae (the water is safe for all uses immediately following the algaecide application). We followed that with a nutrient application to the water to stimulate plankton growth which will outcompete the undesired substrate algae. That worked well in that the water bloomed in plankton which will help prevent re-growth of the undesired substrate algae. But the plankton bloom was a little too much last week and water clarity got to just less than one meter (3 feet) which was less then desired as stated in our state approved lake nutrient. Left alone the plankton bloom has dissipated and now the lake clarity is within the desired range of 1 to 2 meters (3 to 6 feet) based on the amount of plankton in the water. So the water is in good shape for the holiday weekend for fishing, swimming, etc. I hope you enjoy the holiday weekend.

[Wayne SW/MO]

The best natural solution seems to be grass carp.