green goop from parrot feather

I have a container water garden that I started last summer. It had just a water lily, some parrot feather, and iris. It did very nicely in part shade. I let it overwinter in place and put a screen over it to keep out leaves and pine straw. When we had the few freezes we did get, I covered it lightly. All the plants survived. The parrot feather is especially robust, the others just beginning to put out growth (lily very tiny beneath the surface).

Here's my question: Now that it's begun to warm up, there's so much green goop around the parrot feather roots that it's looking nasty. I looked at the garden center for stuff to clear up "goop" but it was for algae and said "not for use with live plants". Is the parrot feather goop harmful to the other plants? Will it clear up as the other plants start to come back? Any solution other than to pull every thing out, clear off the goop and put 'em back in? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Deb
PS/Here's how it looked a few weeks ago. Now that nice clear water is full of goop.

That goop looks like string algae. You have different alternatives you could put some barley straw in and it will clear over night. I've never done this myself but some peroxide mixed with water than added to pond water or get the water moving some how.

Jeri11: Thanks for the quick response. String algae sounds right because when I try to pull it out it is very stringy.
This may be a dumb question, but where does a person get barley straw? And,,,any idea how much peroxide to mix in?
Thanks!
Deb

We were having this discussion on another thread and Loretta(Shawdowgirl) was saying for a large pond mix 1 bottle with water but I don't know the breakdown for the different size ponds.

Here is one link to barley straw but any aquatic store should have it.

http://stillpondfarmstore.com/bastpr1.html

Hope this helps.

Jeri

Thanks Jeri!
Deb

Just a thought, we often just use a twig, stick, what-have-you; stuck it down in the pond in the middle of some of the string algae and just kinda twirled it like you would see people do when making cotton candy. You can remove quite a bit that way. It wraps around the stick nicely. You may have to keep from twirling your parrot's feather in it, but try that. We always put the barley straw things in the pond when spring arrives (we have a small goldfish, hand dug pond) but still sometimes have the string algae. Once you have more cover from the growing plants, the string algae won't be so prolific because the other plants will shade the water. Good luck.
ShirleyC

And string algae composts beautifully!

Oh - the magic word: compost! :) Thanks ShirleyC and Imapigeon. I haven't gotten the barley straw yet so I think I'll try the "twirling" method first; two birds with one stone. The string algae hasn't completely taken over yet, so I bet that'll work. I'll probably just have to pull out the parrot feather and remove the algae from each sprig.
Good simple suggestion. Thanks again!
Deb

So, peroxide will get rid of the string algae once it's growing, but won't harm plants? We have TERRIBLE string algae right now because I didn't get our barley straw out in time this spring. Is grocery store 3% peroxide okay, or is a higher percentage needed? Our pond is 135 gallons.

My friend Loretta uses the perioxide and says it works very good. I'll see if she will come over and explain it to you.

Jeri

I do use peroxide to control string algae but the one plant that seems to dislike it is parrot's feather. But then I always add the peroxide at the waterfall and that is where my parrot's feather cascades down. My advice is to start by cleaning your water feature out. Change the water, scrub your container / rocks, and repot the plants. Then start fresh and add at the most a few drops per gallon of 3% peroxide. That is about how much I put in my 10 gallon aquarium I use to start tropical water lilies in. A little goes a long way. I repot most of my lotus and waterlilies every year so it can't hurt your plants. At the same time insert a few pond tabs in for fertilizer and you should be set. It seems to me you could regularly change the water and don't forget a skeeter preventer. Hope this helps you out.

My pond is pretty big, somewhere between 12,000 to 14,000 gallons, and I don't use more than 15 pints a year, so go easy you can always add more. With my new filter I've used less this year. When I did add it I pour it in at my waterfall so it would clean the rocks. Always dilute it in a bucket with water before adding. Once tthe lady where I buy 28% peroxide told a fellow that came in he could use peroxide to control algae but only sparingly. The fellow bought a gallon of 28%, went home and poured most of it in his 500 gallon pond. It was not a pretty scene I imagine. All of his fish went belly up instantly.


Loretta

Thanks Loretta I knew you could explain it better than me. I hope all that helped you.

Jeri

So, with a 19,000 gallon pond, how many pints of the 3% would you add? Are you putting 15 pints in all at once in your pond? I use peroxide to deactivate potasium permanganate (sp?) when I'm treating new fish, but I just drip it in until the water is clear. There would be no visual clue here, except for belly up fish, which is not a good clue.

Thanks for the details. I cleaned out a mess of algae last night and cleaned our pond filter and box out in a big tub of dechlorinated water. I put about 1/5 of a 16oz bottle of peroxide in right over the pump's intake so it would pull it up through the waterfall and circulate it. Our pump started shutting off - we're not sure what's up with that, but it's unrelated. I had a spare pump that I put spouting out at the top of the water to break the surface and oxygenate things in the meantime.

Gardenwife-You should try cleaning the impeller(?). My pump worked great until I cleaned the pond this Spring and installed a new filter, then it went kaput. The guy at the pond supply place said that is a common occurance....or maybe he just wanted to sell me a new pump lol.

With 19,000 gallons you could add 15 pints at once with no problem. I've used 6 quarts of 3% at one time with no problems. We need the definative answer but I have never seen it written down like a recipe so I need to do some research.


These calculations are for 3% hydrogen peroxide like you buy at the drugstore.
For HYDROPONICS they use 5ml per gallon. 1 milileter = one cc, so one pint (16 oz) bottle contains 470 ml. and could treat aprox. 100 gallons of water. Because of our fish and other factors like aeration, water movement, etc using one pint for every 500 gallons of water would be safe but it would be safe to increase it if needed. IMO it is always best to start out with the smallest amount and add more if needed.

Loretta

I noticed there's still string algae today. If I'd put in enough HP, would it have killed it?

Boy, the goldfish sure like the spot where the spouted water comes back into the pond. They like it better than they ever liked the trickling waterfall.

About the pump....It was going great until I dismantled it and cleaned it out. Then it would run for less than a minute and turn off. There was no vibration in the power cord, so it wasn't even powered on. It would run a little again, then stop. We troubleshooted by trying different extension cords and a different three-prong adapter, but the erratic behavior continued. The only thing I did not try was disconnecting it from the waterfall tubing and seeing if it shut off if the outflow was unimpeded. It has an inch tubing narrowing down to smaller black tubing where the waterfall tubing begins. Is it maybe too much of a bottleneck?

I'll take it apart and clean the impeller tomorrow, at any rate.

Thanks for your help, everyone!

We thought our pump may be OK. But decided since it was water and electricity we would not take a chance and bought a new one. I have never noticed the time frame in the big pond but in my aquarium it takes a few days to clear up, so wait a while and see what happens.

Loretta

We thought our pump may be OK. But decided since it was water and electricity we would not take a chance and bought a new one. I have never noticed the time frame in the big pond but in my aquarium it takes a few days to clear up, so wait a while and see what happens. If your pond is really algaeized (?, is that a word) it is better to do it in a series of treatments.

Loretta

Thanks, Loretta. :)

Such great information! Thank you all so much for sharing what you know. I lurk so much, and just sop up all this wonderful info.

Does anyone know if this will work with regular algae also? We have it growing all over the sides of the pond. We are thinking of buying some barley extract, but if peroxide does the trick, we will do that.

Shelly, It works best with the type of algae, you are describing. However surprisingly the suspended (pea soup) algae cleared up after 2 days in the water liliy aquarium. So for your type the peroxide is ideal.

Loretta

This makes me so very happy Loretta! Thank you so much. It definately is pea soup LOL. Your information is invaluable.

My water was so clear this morning, I could see the rocks on the bottom of the pond. Yay!

Congratulations!! Isn't that neat when you do something and it works. I always have to pat myself on the back before I move to the next project that doesn't work. LOL

Jeri