That’s what I hear from people all day long… these are people who cannot stand to see any algae in their backyard pond… any algae.  Granted, one or two really have a bad case of algae that needs to be treated with an algaecide.  The rest may just have nothing left to clean in the house, so they are now trying to get the pond in order.  At the first sign of “GREEN” in the pond, how do you react?

I call it Algae-phobia.  It might even be a bona fide psychological disease, if we can get the insurance companies to pay for treatment.  Even better, if the insurance company would treat the pond, all would be well, right?  (Can we bill Algae-Fix to the Insurance Company?) Not necessarily.

This is the height of the summer season, no matter where you live.  When facing a heat wave algae attack, it is important to realize that by killing a LOT of algae AT ONE TIME, you can render the pond oxygen deprived.  First, you are removing an integral (even if GREEN) part of your system by killing the algae.  It has been producing oxygen during sunny days and consuming carbon dioxide, both of which are beneficial to the fish.  Then, at night, like any other plant, they take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide.  But the pond is “used to” this routine by now.  Then, after using the algaecide, the breakdown of these dead “plants” will consume a considerable amount of oxygen.  You are not just losing a source of oxygen production (when the sun is shining) but you are now using more in the process.  So, when you use an algaecide and the label says to add more aeration, it doesn’t pre-suppose that the waterfall or fountain is going to be sufficient.  You need to actually increase the amount of oxygen going into the pond.

A couple of other hints at fighting algae: do water changes.  Whenever people have been doing the recommended 25% weekly water changes, they tell me how much of an improvement it’s made in managing the unwanted growth.  Next, if you’ll hand-pull as much of the string algae before using an algaecide it makes the dead-algae removal much easier.  If the dead algae is allowed to lay in the bottom of the pond until it decomposes naturally, it will surely become a food source for the next algae bloom.  And lastly, adding beneficial bacteria after killing the algae is important in removing the rest and balancing the nutrients (organic waste load).