string algae

[Jerry In Maine]

i've had my pond working just fine since i first started last spring. plants are thriving, fish seem happy, water clear...if there are ponds in heaven they must look a lot like mine. :luxlove:

but - just started getting string algae. started in the shallow section but is spreading throughout.

how do i get on top of this without harming the plants or fish?

my pond is small at 600 gallons. using a skippy-style filter and a UV clarifier.

 

[sissy]

The best way is hand removal and the faster and more you do it the better .If it gets ahead of you it gets harder .I use a toilet bowl brush or a baby bottle brush

 

[leet13]

I was using a water bottle brush on the end of a pole for mine... worked pretty nicely but I could not keep up with the amount that I had... I was pulling out so much of it and trying to untangle it to get it off the brush was not too fun either. I have water hyacinth providing shade to the problem area of my pond (first part to get sun and its a sloped area)... I did use an algaecide though about a month and a half ago (after much debating in my head because I have read horror stories). it has not returned either. Have you also looked at getting trapdoor snails? I have been meaning to get some myself so they can help clean up what the fish do not.

 

[sissy]

They don't clean like you think the would I have them and seems also the fish like snails and suck them right out there shells .They stay on the bottom of the pond and seem to never go up the sides of it .

 

[addy1]

They don't clean like you think the would I have them and seems also the fish like snails and suck them right out there shells .They stay on the bottom of the pond and seem to never go up the sides of it .

My trapdoors are everywhere, sides, plants, bottom, top they love to travel. Anytime I move anything I have to look for them to save them.

 

[Jerry In Maine]

do the snails make it through winter OK? i'd like to get a few just to watch them. so far i'm getting a few frogs, some who found the pond on their own and a couple others who i tossed in after catching them. I'll catch one in the flower bed on a hot dry day while he's sitting under the shade of a hosta leaf. I'll then carry him over and toss him in the cool water. he'll dive down then come up and holler "whoopee!" with a refreshed look on his face.

 

[sissy]

snails like trapdoors are fine in cold weather as for seeing them forget that .They grow algae on there shells and get covered in muck and you never see one until you net the bottom as for cleaning the pond you would need a couple of thousand of them .I do have natural snails that just showed up on there own and I see them all the time as they come out of the water .Someone said here they were cornicopia snails and they have gotten pretty big .I will take a pic of one later and show it .