Help with farm pond

Phillyfisher

Phillyfisher

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Sep 17, 2006
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My brother has a very small spring fed farm pond (sorry not cold enough for trout) that has been over-run with a surface algae of very small leaves that cover the entire pond and make it look like pea soup. He had a fish kill over the summer that killed several large grass carp, catfish and bass. Is there a state agency or somewhere he can contact for some advice on controlling the algae? The pond is very small, less than a 1/2 acre. ANy help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
 
How it hurts to say this, but probably PFBC. Another unit might be the Soil Conservation folks.
What I know about farm ponds and I've read a lot of studies about them because of restoation work being done by Perkiomen Valley TU, if there is no use of the pond for watering purposes get rid of it. Ponds completly alter bio-diversity of the spring/receiving stream, because they not only warm the water beyond what would support the native species but they change the chemistry too. That's the shoert of it, probably not what you want to hear.
A good alternative is to limit the amount of runoff into the pond which causes neutrient loading and is probably the reason for your algae bloom.
A good aglicide will kill the unwanted algae, and won't harm fish. You may have duck weed, though you didn't say whether if the leaves were round. Duck does atract ducks, but it will chock a small pond. Something else that may help is aerating the pond, though this tends to warm the water even more. Shading the pond will also help.
 
Chaz,

Thanks for the help. The leaves are round, so it sounds like it is duckweed, my brother wasn't sure what it was. This is a very small pond, basically right in front of a springhouse, there is a small outlet creek, but most of the time it is dry, not even sure where it is a feeder to. Too picturesque when not choked with weeds to fill in. It is actually quite shady. I too suspect that nutrient runoff has also contributed to the problem
 
Chaz gave you some good advice. The PFBC would be able to help you. Also, ODNR (Ohio) used to have a section on their website for pond management, but the site changed, so I can’t give you a direct link.

If you are experiencing a fish kill, that means you have more fish than the pond can handle during it’s worst days. Of course the algae die-off is probably causing most of the problems.

The right kind of aeration doesn't raise the temperature significantly. The best aeration is with a bubbler, not a fountain. Fountains only oxygenate the surface, and do tend to heat the water. They help, but aren’t really that effective. They just look nice. But an air pump with a diffuser aerates the whole pond and doesn't heat the water. Aeration can cure a lot of problems, and can at least reduce the amount of fish kill.

Careful with the algaecide or herbicide. They typically don't directly harm the fish, but do harm the hatching fish as well as some invertebrates. This is true with ones that have lost of copper, like copper sulfate. Also, don't treat the whole pond all at once, unless you want most of the fish to die. The decay of this stuff eats up all the O2. and don’t treat duing the heat of summer when the water holds less O2.

Duck weed is a tough one. I have a little bit, but not enough to be much of a problem. Grass Carp really don’t help all that much. They will eat it, but only if there is nothing else. My pond is very fertile, yet I don’t have a significant duck weed problem. I think most of it comes from my neighbor's pond which occasionally overflows and runs across the road into my pond during heavy rains. They have a big duck weed problem, I don't.

I used to have a big problem with filamentous algae. I used copper sulfate sparingly the first year, and it helped, but I don't like using it. I also threw in a couple grass carp, but haven't seen them since. They could still be there, but I would think I would have seen them. The second year I bought some stuff that I thing is called Cutrine Plus. It works, and doesn't seem to hurt anything. Just make sure you don't treat the whole pond all at once. It costs about 35 bucks a gallon, and you dilute it in water in your pump sprayer and spray it right on the mats of algae.

I haven't had to use any chemicals the past couple years now which tells me I lucked out and now have a good balance. What I did was add channel catfish. When I pulled some of the algae and looked at it, I could see it was loaded with fresh water shrimp and bugs. I think the catfish are eating it to get the protein. In any case, I still have a little bit of this algae, but not enough to warrant any chemicals. I also surface feed the fish, and I think they end up eating some of the duckweed and algae. That is just a guess though.

Another thing you might consider is using some kind of dye in the water. A friend uses it with some success. The filamentous algae that he does get, he rakes it out. If you have water flowing out of your pond, this is probably not a good option since it will not last as long. The idea is to add shade which doesn’t allow the algae to grow (filamentous algae actually grows on the bottom and breaks lose.) I’ve also added some lily pads. This will probably end up being a mistake because it is spreading fast. Another thing to control.

Right now my biggest problem is cattails. They aren’t really a problem, they just look ugly, and are hard to keep under control. Also, there is an exotic species of cattail called narrow leaved cattail, and I am pretty sure I have some of that (which I highly desire to get rid of).

Trees provide shade, unfortunately, they also provide dead leaves. I have a couple willow trees starting, and I am going to let them go for awhile and see of they help with the cattails.
 
I've seen pamphlets in librarys about that subject that are published by government sources. Sorry, dont remember what they said, but there has to be some internet answer
 
I guess I blew right past the duckweed problem.

I mentioned I have some duck weed, but not enough to be concerned. Duckweed is actually good for controlling algae because it shades the pond, but if your pond is overrun with the stuff, that’s a problem. The best was to remove it is biological of mechanical. Fish farms will try to sell you grass carp for duckweed control, but I personally believe they eat the duckweed last. However, this is more opinion than fact. If yu remove all the weeds (like some like to do) then you have other problems. If you have virtually no weeds, you need an aerator if you want a decent number of fish. I’m telling you, aeration is good for the health of a pond no matter what if it is feasible, and if you can afford it. I don’t’ use it at this time. Some use windmill driven aeration. This is good, but when you need it the most (at night) is when you have the least amount of wind. Electric compressors do the best job for the pond, but using more electric from the grid just to aerate a pond is bad for the environment. Solar with battery might be the answer if your pond is small enough or you pocket is deep enough.

One type of mechanical is skimming. You might find help on the internet, or use your imagination. If you have an outflow that runs most of the time, keep it clear of debris, and the pond will skim itself somewhat. I have this benefit for much of the year, and every time it rains, I notice an improvement. This is partially from more outflow, and partially from the weed sinking and from the wind that comes with rain storms. The stuff gets stacked up on the downwind side. A fair amount of runoff goes into my pond. Normally, that is not good (as Chaz suggested), but if all you have is warm water species, it isn’t necessarily bad. However, if it is a farm pond with livestock, runoff from pasture is definitely bad and severely compounds any problems that you have with weeds and algae. The same is true if fertilizers are used upstream. I currently do not have livestock or fertilize upstream, and probably won’t upstream of this pond. Another benefit I have is the wind blows it around (I mentioned that). Most of the ponds that I have seen with a significant duckweed problem are ponds that are sheltered from the wind (like my neighbor’s pond). If that is the case, clear out around the pond to allow the wind to do it’s thing. Keep it mowed, because I think this stuff originates in a grass. The wind also helps aerate the pond. In my pond, the duckweed gets blown around and hung up in the cattails. Most of what I see is in the cattails or hung up in the weeds around the pond. I think the shade from the cattails might be keeping it in check, but that is just a slightly educated guess. Cattails are actually good for a pond as long as they don’t get out of control. Unfortunately, that is what they do. Cattails are nature’s septic systems. They remove a lot of pollutants phosphorous, and nitrogen. But they are ugly. In the major spots where runoff enters, I leave cattails to filter the water.

Like I said, I am not a fan of using chemicals, but a quick google search on duck weed control comes up with some useful info.

Cutrine Plus is an algaecide and herbicide. I haven’t used it on duckweed, but a friend does (I gave him a gallon). From what I read, it is pretty safe. However, there might be better choices for duckweed. One of them is called Solar. But I don’t know if it is better or as safe.
 
FarmerDave- Thanks for the wealth of info. I am sure it will help my brother out. This year the duck weed is really bad, and choked off the pond. In the past, the grass carp he had have done a good job in controlling the algae. Luckily there is not any livestock nearby, so they are not contributing to the run-off.
 
No problem.

I walked down to my pond last night, and my duck weed is that worst that I've seen since i moved there, too. Also, the filamentous algae is worst than I've seen in a few years. It's that time of year. But it is still not to the point I feel that I need to break out the chemicals. It has been calm and dry now for about a week. Next storm should clear it out, and that should be tomorrow.

What seems to be happening now is it is getting hung up in the water lilies (as well as the cattails), which are trying to spread all the way around the pond. I think I am going to regret adding those.

Last night I tossed some fish feed in where there was a fair amount of duckweed and muck and the catfish vacuumed up a bunch of it along with the feed. :-D
 
Try this link for additional information and places to contact:

http://water.cas.psu.edu/ponds.htm

Best of luck.
 
fishinfoolnj- Thanks for the link! Just what he is looking for!
 
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