Brown furry Algae on the bottom of my pond

We moved in to a new house about a year ago and I have been trying to
rehab the koi pond after years of neglect.

So far so good. We have a nice assortment of plants that are thriving
and after trying out some tester fish I have some Koi that are getting
bigger. I have a small stringy algae problem but I am taking care of
that.

I have been using Laguna Phosphate Control, Algaefix and some other
stuff that adds 'bio-mass' (I can't remember the name but it is a dry
flake that looks like bran and you mix it with pond water before
pouring it in)

The pond only has a pump and no filter. The water is clear but the
bottom liner and pump is starting to get covered with a brown furry
algae. The fish don't mind and seem to like to eat it. I don't mind
as long as it stays at it's current level. Any idea if I can control
this with chemicals or something. Is this from the bio-mass stuff?

Sorry to be so vague but I am new to all this pond care. I really
enjoy having the pond around and the kid love it ( and the frogs and
the snakes). I don't want to spend the money on a filter right now so
I hope there is some other way to take care of this. Maybe it is OK
to leave it but I don't know.

Thanks for any info,

A.S.

"Me" <> wrote in message
news: ps.com...
> We moved in to a new house about a year ago and I have been trying to
> rehab the koi pond after years of neglect.
>
> So far so good. We have a nice assortment of plants that are thriving
> and after trying out some tester fish I have some Koi that are getting
> bigger. I have a small stringy algae problem but I am taking care of
> that.
>
> I have been using Laguna Phosphate Control, Algaefix and some other
> stuff that adds 'bio-mass' (I can't remember the name but it is a dry
> flake that looks like bran and you mix it with pond water before
> pouring it in)
>
> The pond only has a pump and no filter. The water is clear but the
> bottom liner and pump is starting to get covered with a brown furry
> algae. The fish don't mind and seem to like to eat it. I don't mind
> as long as it stays at it's current level. Any idea if I can control
> this with chemicals or something. Is this from the bio-mass stuff?
>
> Sorry to be so vague but I am new to all this pond care. I really
> enjoy having the pond around and the kid love it ( and the frogs and
> the snakes). I don't want to spend the money on a filter right now so
> I hope there is some other way to take care of this. Maybe it is OK
> to leave it but I don't know.
>
> Thanks for any info,
>
> A.S.
>

In a healthy pond there should be a coating of, as you call it, fuzzy algae
on things. Sounds to me like you have what would be a normal algae growth on
the contents of your pond and it would likely be green rather than brown if
you'd refrain from using the algae fix. <grin>.

It is both unrealistic and unwise to attempt to keep the contents of the
pond (liner surface etc.) shiny clean and algae free.

I'm sure the fine people of this group can and will advise you on creating
and maintaining a balance in your pond that will allow you to minimize
suspended algae (the kind that makes the water so green you can't see the
fish) and the beneficial algae that will and should grow on other surfaces.

joe

On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:07:50 CST, Me <> wrote:

>We moved in to a new house about a year ago and I have been trying to
>rehab the koi pond after years of neglect.
>
>So far so good. We have a nice assortment of plants that are thriving
>and after trying out some tester fish I have some Koi that are getting
>bigger. I have a small stringy algae problem but I am taking care of
>that.
>
>I have been using Laguna Phosphate Control, Algaefix and some other
>stuff that adds 'bio-mass' (I can't remember the name but it is a dry
>flake that looks like bran and you mix it with pond water before
>pouring it in)
>
>The pond only has a pump and no filter. The water is clear but the
>bottom liner and pump is starting to get covered with a brown furry
>algae. The fish don't mind and seem to like to eat it. I don't mind
>as long as it stays at it's current level. Any idea if I can control
>this with chemicals or something. Is this from the bio-mass stuff?
>A.S.

Hi AS, :-)

If you keep your fish load VERY low, and your # of plants very HIGH, you
can manage w/o a filter.

The way to know if your pond is healthy is with test kits. Ammonia,
Nitrite, pH, KH and a thermometer. If you have a problem you'll need the
results of these tests for people to diagnosis what the problem may be.

How many koi, how many gallons?

I don't use chemicals, other then Koi Zyme (to keep the bacteria that can
infect the fish down) and salt when needed to increase slime coat. As far
as water treatments though, I do use a similar product to your 'bio-mass'
called BZT once in a great while. Most WQ issues can be controlled with
small frequent water changes. Are you doing those?

One of the best info sites on water quality, imho, is this one:
http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/H2Oquality.html by Norm Meck
~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us