I've got to shorten this post, or it will get out of hand and I won't be
able to follow it any more.

"GD" wrote in message

"Dissolved oxygen and pH shifts are the real danger.": I've got that
covered. Plenty of air (although it cost me fish the first time I had a
bloom, which is WHY I now have plenty of air!) and I keep my pH stable at
8.3 with baking soda (KH 200)

"This means that those most commonly found in backyard ponds are not going
to cause this problem: your koi and goldfish are exceptionally unlikely to
die from such toxins. " I already figured that part out: they're not dead!
This stuff is not poisonous to my fish, it just looks ugly, Ugly, UGLY!

"(it was one of the first organisms to appear on earth, when the planet was
still inhospitable to most life)" I don't *care* that it evolved from the
Priomordial Soup! I want it OUT of my pond!

"The best way to proceed after removing excess decaying material from the
bottom of the pond is to combine physical removal of the Cyanobacteria while
encouraging the growth of higher plants.

"pulls out soapbox. It's the nutrients. Manage the nutrients (this
includes the above mentioned methods in combination with others) and the
algae will not be a problem." Therein lies a problem: I have NO plants in
the actual pond area. I am trying something different this year, going for
the actual KOI POND instead of the watergarden/fish pond. There are plants
in the waterfall/stream area, but not the actual pond itself.

Here's another problem: my water source (water utility) changed to
chloramine a year ago. It's been giving me fits with my water changes.
Although they're only supposed to be adding 3 ppm, they've added as much as
*9* ppm, which puts my ammonia and nitrItes off the chart. When I get them
in control, my nitrAtes are completely skewed. I don't know HOW high they
are right now, as my chart only goes to 160 ppm, but it's higher than that.
Also, they've started adding phosphate for some unknown reason. And now I
have the bloom.

I filter-filter-filter the algae from the skimmer box. I clean it twice a
day. I collect all I can. The bottom is squeaky clean: the only thing the
fish raise off the bottom when they graze is the damn algae! UV has no
affect on it. Additional water changes will not help, due to the blasted
phosphates being added to the water.

If Chelated Copper will do the trick, where can I get it and how much do I
need to put in a 1200 gal. pond?

Lee



Cyanobacteria is uni-cellular (though it often grows in
colonies) so it is difficult to mechanically separate it from the
water, fortunately those cells are fairly large so a fine filter
like quilt batting will work (Though if you put the quilt batting
in your bio filter you need to change it regularly and be aware
that this may damage the "good bacteria" that are colonizing your
filter.)
You should also gently skim clumps off the surface with
something like an old nylon stocking (the finer the better).

A note: green algae are also unicellular, and exist that way (pea
soup), as colonies (pea soup and clumps), or as filaments (string
algae), dependent on species. Bluegreen algae, dependent upon
species, exists in the same forms. Not all species are filterable.

Encourage your existing plants to grow and if necessary add more
plants, over time the higher plants will out compete the
cyanobacteria for the nutrients in the water... (which is pretty
much what has happened over the entire planet and is a good
solution to most algae problems).

You should also make water changes, but be aware that some water
sources contain phosphates (Some sources I've read suggest that
Cyanobacteria blooms in high phosphate conditions, primarily
because it can store nitrogen compounds)

Yeah.

I've also heard of people controlling it with small doses of
copper sulphate, though this is dangerous as even a small
overdose can kill your biofilter, invertebrates, plants and fish.


Yeah. Chelated copper compounds are more effective, but the same
problem exists: it doesn't take much of a dose change to harm other
aquatic denizens.

In a small pond or an aquarium it can be effectively controlled
with doses of Erythromycin (called Myacin as aquarium medication)
double the duration of the treatment from that listed on the
package. (This can get Very expensive Very quickly)...

Use of antiobiotics in aquaculture is common. However, using such
products in a backyard pond can destroy the balance many have
attempted to achieve, especially those employing biofilters.

Anyway if that was not already too much info you can check out
these links


http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanointro.html

http://www-cyanosite.bio.purdue.edu/

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ehp/ehd/catal.../iyh/algea.htm