Weed

[Bedskoi]

Hi all..

Just wanted to ask about the dreaded weed

My pond is new built in Oct04 3,500 gals

I have six fish in there at the mo biggest 12"

i am not feeding them much at all at mo once a week

I have taken pics of some weed in my pond

most is growing along ther walls but i have been told that is not a problem and to not Hoover it off
some though is floating on the surface

the pond is not heated and water is very clear

so what type of treatment should i start IF any at all

cheers
bedskoi

[ranskye]

it is not harmful as long as you have aeration, it reduces nutrient that has built up in the water.
you can harvest some of it thereby removing some of the nutrient from the system.

[MikeM]

Personally, I would physically remove as much as I could. It seems from those pics to be getting quite thick. I suspect you are just getting a long break-in period over the winter months, and that it will begin clearing on its own as the pond matures and temperatures rise. Since you are concerned about it, I'd suggest visiting a pond of a fellow koikeeper who uses the same water source and does not have an algae problem. Take a reading on the water parameters to compare to your water. Maybe something will stand out.

[Arthur]

String algae (blanket weed) is often an indication of organic nutrient in the water (DOCs - Dissolved Organic Compounds).

This algea can become very invasive. As Mike said, remove as much as you can.

You say you are feeding a little. What temperature is your pond water? If too low for effective digestion by the koi, you may just be feeding the string algae.

[bekko]

Also read the thread called "blanketweed treatments" which ended on 12/29/04.

With a title like this, I am surprised that Doug Ward, the Wakin King, has not reappeared.

-steve

[marco]

I agree with Mike, the only solution is to remove what you can and first to make some water alnalysis to find what is wrong.
My experience is very short, but I had the same problem when my pond was not deep enough. The temperature in summer was to hight, the algae develop fast and my koi did not eat a lot because the eat the algae... the only thing I was abble to do,before diging deeper, was to clean it and to cover the pond from the direct sunlight (less light for the algae and lower temperature of the water). Four days after my Koi were eating again.
End of summer I dig my pond deeper, took a better filtration system and the next year I had no algae problem.
Anyway, if the koi have enough oxygen, algae are very good for the colours.
Good luck.

[GazKoi]

Is it true that when you remove this from the pond the spores that come off can all actualy make the problem worse???

I have used Pond Ballance and this has worked well for me before.

Gazza

[koifishgirl]

Hi I keep my string algie down by putting barley bales in my waterfall. It works. Take a tolit bowl brush and stick it in the water and twiril it around and the string algie will cling to the brush and take a small bowl and put under the brush when you get ready to take it out of the water, if you dont it will just fall back into the pond.

[dick benbow]

Arthur's right! You need to remove as much as possible because when the water warms it will take off, suffocating your surface skimmer, pipes, filters etc.

To me , to suggest barley straw will help the immediate problem ( thanks KFG)but it is not
addressing the cause. The way to fight organics is to set up a 24/7 trickle. Also have the water tested for phospates. Take a good look at your filter, clean it
and re introduce the right bugs with starter. Your bioload is not overwhelming but the number of times you put your pond thru the filter is in question as well as the efficiency of the filters. I used to run across this problem alot with over crowded ponds and with keepers who were so tight with a ha-penny that they only did water changes when they absolutely had to! That's why if your system does not have heavy phospates the trickle will clean it up.

[bekko]

There are endless solutions for string algae, none of which work all the time in all situations. I am going to contradict Dick, and someone else will contradict me. What works for some, does not work for others. One thing is for sure, if conditions are right, it will appear. It can not be excluded from the pond. You can only manage the pond in such a way as to prevent it from taking over. Here is my approach....



If left long enough, string algae will disappear on its own. When there is a build-up of the right type of lignin and other humic substances from decay processes the string algae growth is inhibited. The decaying barley straw is releasing lignin. Hence, the barky straw will sometimes (but not always) help. Personally, I would not use the straw and would rely on derivatives of compounds being released from the string algae itself. If you are trying to let the humic compounds build up, water exchange is actually counter-productive. I have had string algae flourish in a pond which received several hundred percent water exchange per week.



Having string algae is not as nice as having a clear pond with good water quality. However, it is better than green water and it is better than a clear pond with a lot dissolved nutrients which could stress the fish. If other components of your system cannot keep up, then string algae can actually be a benefit. String algae is something you can physically remove and when you throw out a big nasty green glob of string algae, you also throw out all the nutrients it has assimilated. What you are throwing out is essentially reprocessed fish food.



I will graciously accept the rebuttal.



-steve hopkins

Oh, and do try the cordless drill trick. Its very gratifying.