Algae in ponds?

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ferco

ferco

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 11, 2006
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hi all, following my pics of my ponds, Which everyone seems to be enjoying... :D i was wondering if anyone could tell exactely what this stuff is? it's been cropping up in the ponds over the last week, is it algae, or just weeds... also how to get rid of it? are there any types of big NOrth American catfish that might eat it (hoping) lol, coz i dont want to just start putting chemicals in with the fish, thats wat the guy at dobbies said, coz i prefer not to put my fish through that... any ideas? thanks very much.

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it looks a bit like sludge...

in one of my tanks(planted) I had a heap of that stuff show up when I went away for a week.. When you pick it up is it all slimy or is it like a moss.. I think it's due to excessive sun. I don't know what you have to move the water, but you could try a powerhead or pond pump to move/circulate the water more?

Just an idea it's a tad hard to see the stuff from that pic, close up?


scoop it out :P
 
Are you talking about the filamentous green algae? American cats aremainly carnivores and won't eat much of it.
Here are 2 types of USA fish that eat it reliably and live in cool-cold waters, both pics are from the Native Fish Conservatory. They are the flannelmouth sucker (Catostomus latipinnis) 22", and the highfin carpsucker (Carpiodes velifer) 20", I don't know where you would find them there.
Another possibility, especially if you can find older ones, might be easier to find. That is the Chinese high-finned banded shark (Myxocyprinus asiaticus) 40". People buy them when they are small, not realizing how big they get, or that they change shape and color as they grow, so you can often find them cheaper atthe larger sizes than when small. They do eat pellets and worms but they mainly eat algae, a lot of algae. Here are two pictures, the young fish pic is by Johnny Jensen, the adults are in a pic from the Science Academy of Chongging City.

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algae will always be a part of an outdoor pond.. there is nothing much you can do about it unless you put a roof so as not to expose it to direct sunlight (tho this will only slow algae growth).. i have several ponds & despite of changing water weekly & having filtration, algae continues to thrive... oh forget abt those water treatment stuff, they costly & algae will grow back in less than a week after application. UV works but flow must be really slow to make it effective plus it kills beneficial micro organisms... just try adding those floating lillies & plecos to control the growth... visit the site below for more info about algae.. hope was able to help..:)

http://www.fishpondinfo.com/plants/algae4.htm#quick
 
Juanch has a good point with the pond lilies, plants like that, elodea canadensis, milfoil, longleaf pond weed, etc all compete with algea for nutrients as will emergents like flag iris. The more of them the less algae you get.
 
Ferco, I was reading about using H2O2 as algae control, it might be something you should google.
The recipe is 1 pint of 3% hydrogen peroxide solution (that is the solution sold for medicine cabints) added for each 1,000 gallons, do it at dusk and repeat every 3 days until the problem is solved. Add more of the higher plants to deal with released nutrients.
 
Juanch said:
UV works but flow must be really slow to make it effective plus it kills beneficial micro organisms...
Click to expand...

almost

the flow need to be slow if you want to kill parasites.

algae jsut needs brief contact with uv light, the ultraviolet rays alter the gentic material of the algae cells thus it just falls apart and dies.

assuming that the benificial micro organism are the nitrifying bacteria, they reside in the fitler and any other surface they can attach too. so in other words they arent free floating and you can throw that worry ou the window :thumbsup:
 
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