Oily white film on pond surface

[max384]

Hey guys, I just went out to clean leaves out of my pond, since it was a bit windy yesterday and noticed there is an oily white film over the surface of the pond. The water underneath is crystal clear, and when I use a net on the surface it gets some of it, but mostly just breaks it apart. It behaves like oil on top of water.

Here are a few pics, though the camera is not capturing it well (and this is after I tried getting some out with the net):

Here is a picture of what stuck to the net:

Recently a couple of small birds decided to build nests under my siding where it meets with the stone first floor walls. They happen to be right over the pond. I plan on sealing it up with caulking, but I figured I'd wait until fall once their young have moved on. There were also a few downy feathers in the pond with this white film. I'm wondering if maybe this is bird excrement? Or something coming from them.

Has anyone else had this happen to their ponds? Or recognize what it is?


My pond is about 400gal, it has a 30 gallon biofilter with waterfall (800gph pump). I do not have a skimmer installed. I cleaned out all the leaves last month and the water has been crystal clear up until this morning (and technically it is still crystal clear underneath the gunk).

 

[addy1]

I would guess pollen, it is really bad right now. Our cars are covered with a yellow, white powder. It is really fine and can look oily, it has in a bucket of water that it fell into.

 

[sissy]

Anyone spraying in the area when it is windy it could travel a long ways .Pump could be damaged but don't that .Fires nearby .Sap from pine trees flowing to fast because weather got hot to fast .Use quilt batting in your water flow to pick it up and if it is greenish yellow then pollen like addy said .Could fish be putting something for mating

 

[max384]

I would guess pollen, it is really bad right now. Our cars are covered with a yellow, white powder. It is really fine and can look oily, it has in a bucket of water that it fell into.

Hmm, I hadn't considered pollen. I know that those with allergies are really hurting right now because of it. However, this happened overnight. Yesterday everything was fine. I would think that if it was pollen, it would have been like this for quite some time, as I know the pollen has been pretty bad for a little while. This is just a thought though.

Anyone spraying in the area when it is windy it could travel a long ways .Pump could be damaged but don't that .Fires nearby .Sap from pine trees flowing to fast because weather got hot to fast .Use quilt batting in your water flow to pick it up and if it is greenish yellow then pollen like addy said .Could fish be putting something for mating

I don't know if anyone was spraying anything. There were not oil spots anywhere else, just in the water. The pump appears to be working fine. The water is flowing like normal. I can't use quilt batting in the waterfall because my pump pulls water from the bottom (well, not all the way at the bottom to avoid accidental pond draining) and this stuff is only floating on the surface. I collected some with a net and it's white. It has no other color tints to it. I hadn't considered it being from the fish themselves. That's an interesting thought.


Thanks for the advice so far!

 

[j.w]

You could lay paper towels or something that is sanitary and has no chemicals that would hurt the fish on top of the water to collect the oil like they do when there is an oil spill in the lakes, ocean etc.

 

[max384]

You could lay paper towels or something that is sanitary and has no chemicals that would hurt the fish on top of the water to collect the oil like they do when there is an oil spill in the lakes, ocean etc.

Thanks. That's a great idea... However, when I got home this evening, the water was crystal clear again with no white film on the surface... Weird!

 

[j.w]

Must have just been pollen or something fishy,lol and finally sunk down under. If it comes back at least you will know it won't last long or harm your fish.

 

[addy1]

Glad to hear, good chance it was pollen.

 

[Janice]

Hi, I have exactly the same problem that has occurred on my pond. And I mean *exactly* - complete with downy bird feathers. Did your problem with the film come back at all?Do you think it could be birds bathing in the pond? I know I have several big Wood Pigeons and loads of sparrow who use it as a bath. I wondered if a bird had been caught by a cat and had died in it, so I dredged it, but only managed to dislodge my mating frogs!
I've removed as many dead leaves as I can, checked the pH (which was good), cleaned my filters and now joined this forum!
I hope it resolves itself now.
Janice

 

[Big Lou]

I had the same problem this fall. The film was caused by pea size seed balls following from nearby cypress trees. These seed pods released natural oils once they soaked in the pond. Pollen could also be the source. Good luck.