My small (+/- 200 gallons) wildlife pond recently
acquired a bunch of babies, either minnow fry
(I have 7 rosy red minnows in the pond, and a
few trapdoor snails) or tadpoles, I'm not sure which.

The pond water is clear for the first time since being
set up (last fall) and a friend said the babies are eating
algae. While repotting one plant (a yellow water
fringe) I found some string algae, pulled it and tossed it.

Should I have left the string algae in for the baby
whatever-they-are?

Gail
San Antonio TX

Gail wrote Should I have left the string algae in for the baby
whatever-they-are?

The string algae maybe what was keeping the single cell algae (when the water
looks green) at
bay. It uses up the nutrients available.
When folks raise fish for a living they want green water. Single cell algae is
baby food for fish. Tadpoles tend to work on substrate algae (grows on
surfaces). Both will nibble on string algae when they get bigger.
Do you have a magnifying glass? You can scoop out the critters and look at
them. A frog or toad tadpole will have a distinctive head and tail. A rosie red
baby will be a single slender shape with larger eyes.


k30a

String algae will come on back if the conditions are right. You can remove
large amounts of it. We remove about a soccer ball per week. More comes.
The main pond is totally clear of it wherever the koi can reach. Where they
cannot, some grows. In the veggie filters, we get lots. Use it for
fertilizer. Nutrients out of your pond!

P



--
______________________________________________
See our pond at: home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley
Check out Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $140+ per child) at: jogathon.net
______________________________________________
"K30a" wrote in message
...
Gail wrote Should I have left the string algae in for the baby
whatever-they-are?

The string algae maybe what was keeping the single cell algae (when the
water
looks green) at
bay. It uses up the nutrients available.
When folks raise fish for a living they want green water. Single cell
algae is
baby food for fish. Tadpoles tend to work on substrate algae (grows on
surfaces). Both will nibble on string algae when they get bigger.
Do you have a magnifying glass? You can scoop out the critters and look at
them. A frog or toad tadpole will have a distinctive head and tail. A
rosie red
baby will be a single slender shape with larger eyes.


k30a

Is "string algae" that green carpet that clings onto my river bed? I
wondered why it wasn't in the pond... the fish eat it, eh? Should I be
concerned about the green carpet? My water is clear. A neighbor told me
take it out, which I did. Now a week later... it's back! The previous owner
of the house left me a box of pond care stuff, including a bottle of "algae
eliminator". The label sez to add one tsp for every 10 gallons and not to
use in ponds/fountains less than 1000 gallons that contain fish. I figure
that would take at least three whole bottles of the stuff. Seems a little
harsh on the ol' fishies. (No I didn't use it yet). We also have a large
fountain in the courtyard... I suspect she used the stuff in that. The label
also contains some large print to the effect "IT IS AGAINST FEDERAL
REGULATION TO USE THIS PRODUCT IN A MANNER FOR WHICH IT IS NOT INTENDED" or
something like that. This also gave me pause, thinking.... Will my fish get
high on this stuff? Can *I* get high on this stuff ?? (just kidding!!!!).

Jacky


"Phyllis and Jim Hurley" wrote in
message .. .
String algae will come on back if the conditions are right. You can
remove
large amounts of it. We remove about a soccer ball per week. More comes.
The main pond is totally clear of it wherever the koi can reach. Where
they
cannot, some grows. In the veggie filters, we get lots. Use it for
fertilizer. Nutrients out of your pond!

P



--
______________________________________________
See our pond at: home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley
Check out Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $140+ per child) at: jogathon.net
______________________________________________
"K30a" wrote in message
...
Gail wrote Should I have left the string algae in for the baby
whatever-they-are?

The string algae maybe what was keeping the single cell algae (when the
water
looks green) at
bay. It uses up the nutrients available.
When folks raise fish for a living they want green water. Single cell
algae is
baby food for fish. Tadpoles tend to work on substrate algae (grows on
surfaces). Both will nibble on string algae when they get bigger.
Do you have a magnifying glass? You can scoop out the critters and look
at
them. A frog or toad tadpole will have a distinctive head and tail. A
rosie red
baby will be a single slender shape with larger eyes.


k30a

Green carpet algae is substrate algae and don't worry about it.
All algae is good for the most part. It is an important part of your ecosystem.
It is only when it gets out of hand making green, gloppy, oxygen starved water
that is can harm the creatures who live in it.


k30a

String algae really looks like threads of green. Also called blanket weed
as it covers the top of the water in a yellow-green blanket as well as
having green threads below.

J

--
______________________________________________
See our pond at: home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley
Check out Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $140+ per child) at: jogathon.net
______________________________________________
"Jackytar" wrote in message
...
Is "string algae" that green carpet that clings onto my river bed? I
wondered why it wasn't in the pond... the fish eat it, eh? Should I be
concerned about the green carpet? My water is clear. A neighbor told me
take it out, which I did. Now a week later... it's back! The previous
owner
of the house left me a box of pond care stuff, including a bottle of
"algae
eliminator". The label sez to add one tsp for every 10 gallons and not to
use in ponds/fountains less than 1000 gallons that contain fish. I figure
that would take at least three whole bottles of the stuff. Seems a little
harsh on the ol' fishies. (No I didn't use it yet). We also have a large
fountain in the courtyard... I suspect she used the stuff in that. The
label
also contains some large print to the effect "IT IS AGAINST FEDERAL
REGULATION TO USE THIS PRODUCT IN A MANNER FOR WHICH IT IS NOT INTENDED"
or
something like that. This also gave me pause, thinking.... Will my fish
get
high on this stuff? Can *I* get high on this stuff ?? (just kidding!!!!).

Jacky


"Phyllis and Jim Hurley" wrote in
message .. .
String algae will come on back if the conditions are right. You can
remove
large amounts of it. We remove about a soccer ball per week. More
comes.
The main pond is totally clear of it wherever the koi can reach. Where
they
cannot, some grows. In the veggie filters, we get lots. Use it for
fertilizer. Nutrients out of your pond!

P



--
______________________________________________
See our pond at: home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley
Check out Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $140+ per child) at:
jogathon.net
______________________________________________
"K30a" wrote in message
...
Gail wrote Should I have left the string algae in for the baby
whatever-they-are?

The string algae maybe what was keeping the single cell algae (when
the
water
looks green) at
bay. It uses up the nutrients available.
When folks raise fish for a living they want green water. Single cell
algae is
baby food for fish. Tadpoles tend to work on substrate algae (grows on
surfaces). Both will nibble on string algae when they get bigger.
Do you have a magnifying glass? You can scoop out the critters and
look
at
them. A frog or toad tadpole will have a distinctive head and tail. A
rosie red
baby will be a single slender shape with larger eyes.


k30a

Jacky wrote
Is it actually called "green carpet algae"?

Nope, it is called substrate algae. Algae that grows along on a surface.
Another nickname for it on rec.ponds is fuzzy sweater algae.
Of course there are 26,900 species of algae identified!


k30a

My small (+/- 200 gallons) wildlife pond recently
acquired a bunch of babies, either minnow fry
(I have 7 rosy red minnows in the pond, and a
few trapdoor snails) or tadpoles, I'm not sure which.

The pond water is clear for the first time since being
set up (last fall) and a friend said the babies are eating
algae. While repotting one plant (a yellow water
fringe) I found some string algae, pulled it and tossed it.

Should I have left the string algae in for the baby
whatever-they-are?

Gail
San Antonio TX


One of my wildlife ponds was saturated with string algae. Tadpoles wiped
it out completely.

Zeuspaul

"K30a" wrote
Nope, it is called substrate algae. Algae that grows along on a surface.
Another nickname for it on rec.ponds is fuzzy sweater algae.
Of course there are 26,900 species of algae identified!

Wow. Thanks K30a

"K30a" wrote in message
...
Gail wrote Should I have left the string algae in for
the baby
whatever-they-are?

The string algae maybe what was keeping the single cell
algae (when the water
looks green) at
bay. It uses up the nutrients available.
When folks raise fish for a living they want green water.
Single cell algae is
baby food for fish. Tadpoles tend to work on substrate
algae (grows on
surfaces). Both will nibble on string algae when they get
bigger.

Ok, so I probably didn't have to take out the
little amount of string algae I found, but it also
sounds like I didn't do any damage extracting it.
There is still plenty of algae on the liner so I
think the babies have enough to eat.

Do you have a magnifying glass? You can scoop out the
critters and look at
them. A frog or toad tadpole will have a distinctive head
and tail. A rosie red
baby will be a single slender shape with larger eyes.

I lie on my stomach and study them at about 6"
away, which is good enough to see they resemble
your second case. I'm pretty sure they're minnows.
I didn't know my few minnows produced that
many babies! They're all sizes, from 1/4", mere
slivers, up to 3/4" at a guess.

Once they get big, do I offer the excess to my
LFS(s)? Please don't tell me to build another
pond! My clay-excavating days are finally in
the past.

Gail

Thanks to all who responded. At minimum
I'm not panicking over whatever-the-algae-is.
Fish seem happy, snails seem happy, water is
clear (with 0 mechanical filtration). I'll keep an
eye on string or carpet or substrate algae to
make sure it doesn't take over.

Gail

You are so in the wrong newsgroup to make such an unreasonable request.
Build another pond. Perhaps above ground? ;o) ~ jan

Once they get big, do I offer the excess to my
LFS(s)? Please don't tell me to build another
pond! My clay-excavating days are finally in
the past.

Gail



See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

"~ jan" wrote in message
...
You are so in the wrong newsgroup to make such an
unreasonable request.
Build another pond. Perhaps above ground? ;o) ~ jan

Once they get big, do I offer the excess to my
LFS(s)? Please don't tell me to build another
pond! My clay-excavating days are finally in
the past.

Gail

Hmm. My first outdoor "pond" was a metal
stock tank. Fish did ok in there but I switched
to a black plastic stock tank - about the same
gallons but with more surface area. The metal
stock tank is sitting on the end of my driveway,
all forlorn. Wonder if the baby minnows would
like a new home? And it would give me an
excuse to buy more plants.

Gail

On Mon, 19 May 2003 20:41:21 GMT, "Gail Futoran"
wrote:

"~ jan" wrote in message
.. .
You are so in the wrong newsgroup to make such an
unreasonable request.
Build another pond. Perhaps above ground? ;o) ~ jan

Once they get big, do I offer the excess to my
LFS(s)? Please don't tell me to build another
pond! My clay-excavating days are finally in
the past.

Gail

Hmm. My first outdoor "pond" was a metal
stock tank. Fish did ok in there but I switched
to a black plastic stock tank - about the same
gallons but with more surface area. The metal
stock tank is sitting on the end of my driveway,
all forlorn. Wonder if the baby minnows would
like a new home? And it would give me an
excuse to buy more plants.

Gail

See, that wasn't so hard. ;o) ~ jan

See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website