Copper colored "algae"

[JK77]

Anyone that can provide information on what this might be, would be VERY beneficial!!! This "red slime" type of algae has appeared over 2 weeks now, at first glance you would think it was stain or paint, it only is on half of the pond. We have 3 amur, many bluegill, bass and babies.

My Golden also swims in here, and I don't want him in there until I can figure out what this is. Also, I'm concerned for my fish. We have a pump that aerates the water, pulls the water from the bottom and expels it out back into the water.

We typically have the regular 'green algae' and that's what our amur's will eat, but this is upsetting.

Thanks!

 

[Nepen]

Hi,
I have no idea that that might be. You can try to have a basket full of quilt batting at the end of your pump output to try to catch and filter the algae out of the water. But since we dont know what it is I dont know if it'll come back or not.
Good luck.

 

[JK77]

Thanks for the reply - the pump actually draws the water from the bottom of the pond and then redirects out into the pond. Since this algae stuff is on the top of the water, that won't work. I was thinking of skimming it all off, but that could take days!

 

[Aaron S]

Looks like the toxic sludge that is produced by a water fountain at my job.
From what I have been able to read, a lot of algae can grow in many different colors. There is a type of Red Algae called Rhodophyta I don't know if that is what you have or not. It should be treated like most forms of algae. You need to add some sort of filtration. Just circulating water is not enough since it just stirs up the stuff in the water. A filter like the quilt batting as mentioned by Nepen will help out a lot. A filter will not only help remove solids but will help break the solids down. For now start skimming and removing as much of it as you can.