The Blob is invading my pond!

[deany70]

Last year I noticed that one of the leaves on my Water Lily had been wrapped up with dark green substance and was like a cocoon. I didnt do anything as I wondered if it was done by a Newt, but this year I now notice that this dark green ooze is starting to wrap up my Hornwort as well and its worrying me. The Lily leaf is still wrapped too btw.

Its deffo not blanket weed, before anyone says.

I have taken some photos and will try and link to them tomorrow, but wondered if anyone had any thoughts in the meantime?

Points to note:

No fish live in my pond - the cats would have them.

There is a fountain, but it doesnt get put on during the winter.

The water is pretty clear, but with a brown tinge. (I have barley straw in the pond, maybe that is why?)

The frogs have spawned this year but most seemed to be null and void.

I have leeches, pond louse, water snails, water skaters, water boatmen, frogs and I have seen a newt in the pond in the past.

Any help really appreciated.

Many thanks in advance

 

[addy1]

Welcome,

post in your information where you are from! It helps to figure out blob information.

Pictures help.

They love it when you post in introductions thread first

If you are in a warm area, it might be algae, cold area a lot of us don't have algae yet

 

[deany70]

Sorry Addy - thought it would say where Im from on the left side thingy.

Photos - I did say in my post I would add later

And intro - am sure I introduced myself when I first signed up, but if it helps:

Im Deany - based in London, UK. (not a warm place as its still early spring here!)

Have an ornamental pond which is built of brick with a water feature in the middle. It was there when we bought the house five years ago and Ive since made it into a wildlife pond with plants and now the frogs love it and keep coming back each year.

Hope that gives a better idea and hope to hear from someone soon

 

[addy1]

Laughing yes it does help to know where you are. There are some england people on this forum, they may be having blob issues also. We are too cold here in maryland still, to have any algae growing.

It sounds like algae type stuff to me, but I am not sure. My pond is also going to be a minimal fish, wildlife pond.

Yours sounds really neat! look forward to pictures and yes you said you would post some lol.

I a) either missed your intro thread forgot you did lol welcome again laughing

 

[stroppy]

im from England too ...but no blob problems addy welcome deany

 

[j.w]

Deany
I had slimey stuff wrap itself around some plants but mine I think was algae. It did look kinda blobby :regular_waving_emot

 

[mogsie]

yeah ime in cumbria, the string algae is starting to grow well here, and at the edge against the stone the algae gets full of oxygen bubbles and looks a bit gooey/blobby, not sure if it is what you have tho, pics are essential here pal,

 

[j.w]

Mogsie that is what mine looks like too w/ all the little bubbles. Looks like alien green slime from the black lagoon all wrapped around the plants :regular_waving_emot

 

[deany70]

Ok I promised piccies so here we have it, its deffo not blanket weed bubbles as I have seen that and have that in the summer.

Hope someone can advise - I dont like it!


(hope the pics work!)

 

[addy1]

That for sure is a green blob, no clue what it is except some type of algae maybe.
"The plain English explanation for the green blobs sometimes found in our lake is that they are colonies of microscopic animals that are, in the words of some children, "Slimy and yucky". One of the names for them is Bryozoa and they are commonly smaller than a tennis ball but can be larger.

Bryozoans are not dangerous or harmful. Neither are they rare but they can appear in smaller or larger numbers in different years depending on a variety of environmental factors. They may even be beneficial to the lake because they eat algae and protozoa.

A more scientific explanation is that the majority of Bryozoans are marine (several thousand species), but one class, the Phyloctolaemata, is found exclusively in fresh water. Pectinatella magnifica, one species belonging to this class, is commonly found in freshwater lakes and rivers in North America. Most people call them jelly blobs or just plain “blobs” given their appearance. Each colony is a collection of genetically identical organisms (zooids) that exude a protective matrix, a gelatin-like substance made mostly of water, firm but slimy to touch. Zooids are microscopic cylindrical animals with a mouth, digestive tract, muscles and nerve centers. The zooids are covered by a protective matrix that may be delicate, hard, or gelatinous depending on the species. They feed by filtering tiny algae and protozoa through a crown of tentacles (lophophore).
"

maybe

 

[mogsie]

yeah i remember reading about those in my uni course, but Pectinatella magnifica is mostly shades of brown, i think this looks like some form of algal growth,

 

[shakaho]

Good suggestion, Addy!

I looked at a number of pictures of bryozoa. The one that looks most like Deany's is Cristatella mucedo. Deany's looks to be dark green, which might happen if the "moss animals" are feeding on lots of algae.

 

[sissy]

interesting blob I had that it was rather soft and fuzzy and and was easy to pull off ,just had to go slow and be very carefull .It was and looked like a form of algae and mine strangly was on my waterlilly too .I just thought it was some sort of algae .It was somewhat easy to pull off and was smothering the plant leaves

 

[lovinglife]

Maybe string algae? I know it does not look real stringie, mine sometimes looks like that. I just pull it out when it get too big, it gets on my lilies also, have never seen any harm from it.

 

[sissy]

Not real harm from it just keeps lilly leaves from getting light and growing good after I got it off my lilly grew big and it was also at the base of the plant .