Is this string algae all over the plant? If not what is it and what do I do about it?
String Algae?
That's frog eggs, you might want to get them back in the water :~) You'll have tadpoles soon!
Lana
Thank you for responding, Lana. I've had them out of water for a while, but it has been raining off and on. I hope I didn't kill them because I've been looking for tadpoles. As you can see, I am inexperienced at ponding and gardening, plus I have experienced a lot of failure, so I just concluded that it had to be something detrimental to the pond.
Nancy
There are eggs entangling the other plants, too, so I should get a lot of toads. Do you know whether or not goldfish will eat them? This morning I found about a dozen toads or frogs mating. I haven't seen any in the area in several weeks. With all the algae in the pond, I've been hoping for some tadpoles to help clean it up a bit.
I've never noticed a perceptible lessening in the algae of my pond due to tadpoles but I'll take all the bug eating toads in my garden I can get :~) Goldfish may eat some but I'm sure you'll have PLENTY left.
Lana
I thought tadpoles would help reduce the algae, but I also will take the bug eating capabilites. The water lily is also encased with even more threads of eggs.
They might eat algae but my pond always produces it faster than the tadpoles can eat it.
That sounds like my pond. It is in full sun with only three plants and two goldfish. I've tried several pond products and have emptied and refilled it a few times, but the algae always returns. I recently decided to see if I could let it develop its own ecosystem. I added Chinese algae eaters, but they were so small, I think my goldfish may have eaten them. I was hoping tadpoles would help. Do you just let the alae go?
The tadpoles will eat the algae that is the actual "plant type" of algae....the single cell algae, which is what makes the water green but you can't get a finger on it, so to say, they can't help too much with. Tadpoles are a very healthy additive to any pond. I now have quite a few eggs since our rain (finally!) If you had the eggs this morning, they will be "comma" looking by tomorrow morning, small wigglers by the next day, and full blown baby tadpoles by the day after. Especially in the morning, they will be at the surface of your pond. The rest of the day they will go a little lower in the water around leaves and things, picking them clean. I'm happy your frog/toad life is starting up! The fish will pick at a few, but leave most of the rest of them alone.
I hope you put that strand of eggs back in the water! The long strands like that are usually toads (at least in this area). Cluster strands will be tree frogs or Cuban tree frogs.
String algae looks like mermaid hair. You can use normal drugstore peroxide on some of the algae, just poor it in. The extra oxygen from the peroxide, helps eliminate aglae.
Hello, MerryMary, I was hoping you would spot this thread to see the eggs. I finally will have tadpoles! I did put the pot back, but the water lily pot has even more strands of eggs covering it. I can't believe how many eggs there are! I haven't seen any toads in weeks. Then last night the rains came and so did the toads. I heard the toads last night and through this morning. When I checked the pond, there were over a dozen in it and mating.
I don't know how Ocoee has been affected, but we've had so little rain in the past few weeks. There have been clouds, but they pass over and go to Orlando. It's nice to have a through drenching continuous downpour. I hope the rain continues in it's normal patterns for the rest of summer.
Except for the little fountain pump / filter, I am letting the pond go on its own. I still need some shade for it, but that will have to wait until next summer.
MarryMary Re: string algae. Currently I am using Aquascapes S.A.B. for algae. My pond is full sun. The S.A.B. is doing a fabulous job,. There is no algae of any kind at this time, however it is painfully expensive. I read in another thread that the dosing for H2O2 is one pt per 1000 gals. Is this correct and how often do you use it?
Snapple, I very rarely get string algae in my normal pond ( I have too many fish and tadpoles munching on things all day) but I do occasionally get it in my smaller tub water gardens. To be honest, I just open the cap, and pour a half a cup over the algae, which sticks to the edges. It seems to work, although I'm sure there are some out there cringing, who use far more scientific measurements than I do.
The normal green soup algae, the kind you can't really touch, but makes your pond cloudy, is the trickier one to get rid of. Less food for the fish helps a great deal, as does some aquatic vegetation. When my tadpoles are big, or gone (before the next batch of eggs takes place) I usually flood my pond, and replace about 25% of the water. Although it is usually recommended not quite going with THAT much water exchange at one time, I just get a bottle of dechlorinator from the pet store and dump it in after I finish flooding the pond. So far, in the several years I've had the pond, it's never seemed to bother it much doing it that way. I do it about once a month during the summer. I have some smaller tubs in the shade, and they always have crystal clear water, all the way to the bottom. No pumps, no anything, just shade, tadpoles, a fish or 2, and some water plants.
Fireant....I'm afraid we're just as parched as you, so the Tropical storm rains were a very welcome event. And as usual, with any rain storm, out come the toads and frogs you never knew you had! I too have many toad eggs now. I looked at them this morning, and they look much more like commas, so by tomorrow will be mini-tadpoles wiggling around. Yay, finally the summer rains are back(?)
:) PS-I broke my foot getting out of the pool (what a clutz) so didn't get your water lettuce packed up. I'm now up and about, so it will be on it's way this week.
Hi, folks - I know what you mean - I kept reading that the pond would develop it's balance, BUT mine never did. This year I went with a skimmer/filter with UV filters. It was expensive to begin with, but considering how much I spent last year on algae destroyer, it won't be long before it pays for itself. Haven't seen an electricity bill yet, so don't know if I'll have a heart attack then - BUT the pond is completely clear and I can see all the plants and the 47 fish and hundreds (I think) of tadpoles - it's wonderful, I can sit and stare for hours with no work other than cleaning out the skimmer bucket and the filter. The string algae in the streams really responds (dies, that is) by pouring in hydrogen peroxide (is that H2O2?). Then I just wade in and scoop it out. I end up doing that about every 2 - 3 weeks to keep the streams sparkling. - Dax
Dax, what size is your pond? Mines only 2 feet deep, and about 9x10.
Mine is even smaller. I found a lot of water missing from my pond today, so I had to refill with hose water. I hope it doesn't damage the eggs. I think there's something in the bottom of it. The fish are still swimming around. I guess it could hav evaporated, but it was down quite three or four inches. The electric bill with just a little pump / filter that came with it is high enough.
Hi MerryMary - My bottom pond is 18' in diameter and 3 1/2' deep in the trench. I don't get much string algae in it, but the other kind was terrible. One good thing, we have well water here so I don't have any of the chlorination stuff to do. I got the mag drive pump which was very efficient last year, but I don't know how much electricity the UV filter will use. Here's a pic of the clear water this year at the end of May - Dax
Wow, it looks great, dax. I've been wanting a larger pond, maybe not this year, but next. When we lived in Sumter County, we had well water, but it had a lot of iron in it and had to have a water softner. It also had a lot of sulfer, but we actually adapted to it and hardly noticed the smell. I guess the water quality is better up there.
Mary, sorry about your foot! I responded to your post and neglected to acknowledge it. I, too, am a klutz.
This is part of a water feature at Valley View Nursery near Ashland, Oregon.
In my opinion, some of the string algae looked so fitting to this feature, that I'd only clean 1/2 of the string algae out if it were mine. The way it moved in the current, just looked right.
Md, are you serious? That stuff replicates so fast you can't keep up with it! I fished a huge quantity out some of my waterfalls today. If I knew how to get rid of it altogether I'd do it in a heartbeat. The problem I face is the fact that my main pond it about 85'x45'x8' deep! I recirculate it through a 4-fall waterfall (3 pumps). But boy oh boy, that string algae gets into the main area of falls quite quickly, and if I allow any of it to hang on, it simply keeps replicating. Any ideas for those of us who have larger ponds?
It can be a bit more vigourous than weeds in a lawn. I started my trade on country clubs, but I'm past my phase of weed-free lawns now. In fact, I prefer a few dandylions, clover and small daisies in our grass. It adds color and character than a plain-jane green lawn doesn't have.
But, It's easy to control the population. I can spot spray if numbers get too high.
Algae, on the other hand, doesn't control in the same way.
It's certain that the depth of your pond doesn't make it easier. In a 3' deep pond, you could hip-wade once a month for an hour and scrounge-out a lot of it.