Algae on sides

[Dave 54]

I still dont undertand how all you guys are afflicted with string algae and our pond only has a short algae on sides and bottom of the pond, too much in the way of nutirients could be a cause for your algae problem
I agree with Charles as to bellow 1,000 gallons your problem however may be shifting the big fish in the first place .
Most dealerships will not buy back your bigger koi which means you need an outlet for your koi , you must question anyone as to the size of their pond should they take koi from you , the other way is some dealers maintain large lakes that they will put your koi into to pass away the rest of its days in peace and tranquility .
Dependant on the grade of your koi you may or may not sell them for lots......
Snails are ok but the can reach huge numbers and can invade everywhere , koi love to snck on them and they can be a vector for disease in your pond.


Dave

 

[Paulf615]

Thanks for the replies
The koi i know we're alittle risky getting but the look healthy and the water always stays clean. There is a local pond store called Ned's fish factory which owns big koi and im pretty sure will take the koi. The koi aren't growing to fast but are still small. I don't care about how much they sell for because i bought them at a local pet store for about 12 dollars. And for the snails wouldn't the fish eating them keep the population under control? If you look at my profile picture you can see all the fish including the koi. One more question. This year im trying to be successful with plants. Will the algae take away the nutrients in the pond that the plants could use therefore causing them not to do as well.

 

[Lisak1]

Your koi will grow so fast, if you watch carefully you will be able to see it happen. Like from fingerling to 8" koi in one full year. And then double again the next year.

And no, the algae won't take away the nutrients from the plants. They will all compete for the same nutrition, just like in nature. If there's not enough, you'll know it by the condition of your plants. A dose of appropriate plant fertilizer will go a long way to helping your plants grow and look lovely in your pond if they seem to be struggling.

Most people that I know use Japanese trapdoor snails in their pond. They are larger and reproduce slowly. If you get your snails from a reputable source they will not be a problem in your pond. Having said that, we have found snails in our pond that came from unknown sources - birds perhaps, or maybe they were on plants we purchased - but we aren't worried about it. Our pond is outdoors, after all. Creatures crawl in and out all the time! No one ever worries about frogs or toads in the pond - we feel the same about snails and whatever else finds it's way in. All are welcome! Our snails co-exist with our koi peacefully.

 

[Paulf615]

Could te size of my pond be slowing the kois growth? And for the snails i know a place that sell trapdoor snails but if I buy one i don't think it will change the pond much in cleaness and I know they will reproduce but if they reproduce to slowly won't the fish just eat all the offspring ? Then im back to one. But then again my biggest goldfish is a little under two inches and in the pet store he was kept with snails so i think they will get along.
For the plants they were growing fine but then I put water hyathinths in the pond and the rest of the plants seemed to die down and the hyathinths flourished. I think this was from the water hyathinths "winning the fight over the nutrients". This year i put in some plant tablets in the plant pots but i want to get rid of as many competitors in the "nutrient fight". Will removing the Alger help the plants obtain more nutrients?

 

[crsublette]

Fish only care about water quality and being feed. I have never heard of a fish's growth being held back due to the pond's size.

You may likely have better luck with the snails since everyone have different experiences with them.

Sure, removing algae, as described how in the above posts, will help the plants. There is always a nutrient competition between algae and plants along with other factors. Algae can impact the plant's growth and some algae actually excrete toxins to further reduce the growth of particular plants and then some algae have a symbiotic relationship with the plant to give them a boost. Also, algae can help the fish by providing additional chemical filtration and can give the fish additional nutrition. However, algae can also become an eye sore and cause significant diurnal pH swings in water that have low alkalinity and algae's massive decay can significantly reduce a pond's oxygen level if the pond is not aerated except algae is an awesome oxygenator when it is not in its "massive decaying" phase.

 

[Paulf615]

I have one last quick question. Im heading over to the pond store to get some new plants. What is the best plant you can get (most beneficial towards water quality?) im thinking either water hyathinths or water lettuce is one better than the other?

 

[dieselplower]

Corkscrew Rush and floating Water Hyacinth have grown some massive roots for me. Huge. If you can protect the Hyacinth roots from the fish! My water lettuce does OK as long as it is also protected but the Hyacinth get much bigger.

 

[Paulf615]

I've had water hyathinths but I don't like how they look and how big they get but i was wondering If the lettuce was more benifitial to the water quality.

 

[dieselplower]

Not that I have seen. I have seen lettuce roots get about 1' long but my hyacinth about 2' long. As you noted, the hyacinth get BIG. Bigger person..... eats more food. Bigger plant.... eats more ammonia, nitrate etc. But hey if you like lettuce, get lettuce!

 

[Waterbug]

I would not recommend a pleco unless you have a proper indoor setup. I'm new to ponds but plecos can be a nightmare in aquariums. They grow very big and make a ton of waste, and unless you have a setup that can handle them indoors in the winter, you'll have quite a mess.

So true. The algae doesn't disappear...it's just converted.

 

[Waterbug]

Im wondering if snails would help because they seem the easiest to maintain. Would they help?

I did an experiment once where I had a small pond (300 gal??) that had string algae and I moved snails form other ponds into this one pond to see if they would have any effect. They didn't, at least that I could see. The pond filled completely with string algae.

Now these were the best snails probably, just small things I had. But it was the first time I really measured growth rate of string algae (at least this one species). When I finally removed the algae the total weight was 97 lbs. What kind of army of snails would I need to eat all that. Now I realize that's not really true. In theory the snails would eat the algae as it started to grow so it would never grow much. But still, seeing how fast algae grows I think you'd have to start with a lot of healthy snails. Coming out of winter, cool water, I assume the snails what be a little slow (er than normal). Their numbers down from winter too. My money would be on the algae winning that race.