GREEN FISH POND

westward1, Oct 23, 5:49pm
Help, my fishpond, that has a fountain, is going green, what can I do to stop this. I don't want to put the lilies and fish at jeopardy.
maccachic1, Oct 23, 5:54pm
Snails help
pleco, Oct 23, 5:55pm
It is algae caused by sunlight and it won't hurt the fish or plants. You can use barley straw bales or I believe you can get a liquid extract or you can get a UV sterilizer.
oh_hunnihunni, Oct 23, 7:07pm
Oak leaves also help - but the water will go dark because of the tannins that will kill off the algae. The algae comes because of good light and excess food, especially phosphates from fertilisers and fish food. Increase your plantings, filter your pond, shade it, or treat it with a fish friendly algicide - a combination works best. Fun stuff to balance a pond, the smaller it is the harder to get right.
samanya, Oct 24, 12:33am
Is the green just the water or is the algae sort of filamentous?
If it's just green water. it's likely suspended algae & a lot easier to clear up with a proprietary algaecide than the other (blanket weed).
UV filters don't get rid of blanket weed but are excellent for green water & most of them guarantee clear water but buying the correct size for your pond is crucial as most of the size recommendations are for the northern hemisphere & our UV is much stronger.
What hunni said is pretty much right, but it's mostly due to warmer water which reduces oxygen levels so oxygenating plants (plants that are happy being completely submerged) & marginals (feet in & heads out of the water)all take up the undesirable nutrients through their roots, as well as shading the pond. It's common for new ponds until they get established . in fact it's often called 'new pond syndrome' & it can be a pita!
malcovy, Oct 24, 1:04am
How big is your pump? There is a method I use but my pump is a small one that sits in the water. If its a small one I can give you my method which is wonderful but time consuming to start with but so worth it.
oh_hunnihunni, Oct 24, 4:17am
Sometimes leaving it alone works, if you have the strength of mind.

I haven't, lol.
samanya, Oct 24, 4:46am
Leaving it alone doesn't work for blanket weed. Bloody stuff!
coop19, Oct 24, 5:14am
Get yourself a starter culture of Daphnia. They keep my pond and water troughs clear.
samanya, Oct 24, 5:35am
How does Daphnia go with low winter temperatures & good aeration & water movement?
nitpnz, Oct 24, 10:09pm
I agree with this:
V
"algae caused by sunlight won't hurt the fish or plants. You can use barley straw bales or I believe you can get a liquid extract" . or shade the pond . lily pads help do that.

Barley straw will encourage the development of infusoria, which will eat the algae that makes the water green, and free-swimming fry (new hatched fish eggs) will eat the infusoria.

Depending on the size of the pool a couple/or a handful of wilted lettuce leaves will do it too.
I used to wilt the lettuce by pouring boiling water over it, and waiting till it cools before introducing them.

Magic happens :-)
samanya, Oct 24, 11:21pm
Fish love little pieces of lettuce & green peas with the outer casing removed, does wonders for clearing out their gut!
coop19, Oct 26, 4:50am
Daphnia do not like a lot of aeration as they are poor swimmers. They tend to die off in winter but leave resting eggs in the mulm at the bottom of the pond which hatch as weather warms in spring. Have several 'pulses' of growth mainly spring and autumn which can be enhanced or triggered by feeding green water or a weak liquid animal manure 'tea' to the pond.
nitpnz, Oct 26, 7:43pm
Imo the daphnia species has a wonderful survival scheme: it's habitat can dry up and it's resting (love that word!) eggs survive until the rains return; I once took a handful of dusty crust from the edge of a dried-up pond to see what would happen in a cold water aquarium indoors. It's amazing how many different pond critters share the same survival tactics.

I was able to use new rainwater for my aquariums, educational fun for kids or adults
maclad, Oct 26, 7:54pm
A pond requires somewhere between 40 to 60% cover with water plants and this will help keep out much of the sun and reduce algae growth. At work our large pond was cleaned out and much of the plant life removed, since then it has been full of algae and it is hard to get rid of. Started on extract of barley last week so be interesting to see if it works.
nitpnz, Oct 26, 8:49pm
Re message 15,

I am sorry if it seems that I am hijacking the topic; I am assuming that the OP is referring to the "green water algae " wondering if that is what mclad is dealing with too, there is one that seems to grow red. Others grow on aquatic plants. It will be interesting to see how the barley extract works.
pamellie, Aug 15, 9:10pm
With the lettuce leaves did you just let them float around or put them in something? How big was your pond?