Surface weed problem
 

Hi all,

I have a problem in my pond of surface weed. I believe it's called Canadian Duckweed, but I may be mistaken. Basically, it's lots of little green bits and 2-3mm across covering the pond. I keep pulling it out but it grows back very quickly. Last night I found that one of our goldfish had died, and the other was eating the weed then spitting it out, rather than finding the fishfood.

I would like to get rid of it but it would take days to get every last bit out. Has anyone got any ideas or experience of this?

I have a small-ish pond with 1 goldfish (soon to be 2 again) and some frogs.

Thanks in advance,

Neil

I seriously doubt the duck weed killed the fish, or lack of food, as
lots og GF are perfectly content to eat duckweed and nothing else
added by their keeprs.

Get a aquarium type net (typically greenincolor with a twisted wire
handle, and start scooping or if you have sufficient space a flat type
swimming pool skimmer net works fine at removing it.Its a chore for
sure as all it takes is one minute piece left and its going to start
growing and multiplying all over again so if your intent on getting
rid of it its going to take a lot of diligence and time....but its
doable.



On Tue, 5 Jul 2005 09:13:02 +0000, hornmeister2000
wrote:

===
===Hi all,
===
===I have a problem in my pond of surface weed. I believe it's called
===Canadian Duckweed, but I may be mistaken. Basically, it's lots of
===little green bits and 2-3mm across covering the pond. I keep pulling it
===out but it grows back very quickly. Last night I found that one of our
===goldfish had died, and the other was eating the weed then spitting it
===out, rather than finding the fishfood.
===
===I would like to get rid of it but it would take days to get every last
===bit out. Has anyone got any ideas or experience of this?
===
===I have a small-ish pond with 1 goldfish (soon to be 2 again) and some
===frogs.
===
===Thanks in advance,
===
===Neil


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
"The original frugal ponder"
~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o

I would like to get rid of it but it would take days to get every last
bit out. Has anyone got any ideas or experience of this?

Duckweed is the world's fastest growing plant. You can read about it he

http://www.mobot.org/jwcross/duckweed/

Some fish do like to eat it, so sometimes biological controls work.

But you might try lots of surface circulation. It needs still water.

C//

hornmeister2000 wrote:

I have a problem in my pond of surface weed. I believe it's called
Canadian Duckweed, but I may be mistaken.

"Canadian Pondweed" (I hate that name) is a rooted plant (elodea).

"Duckweed" is invasive but non-hazardous.

Basically, it's lots of
little green bits and 2-3mm across covering the pond. I keep pulling it
out but it grows back very quickly. Last night I found that one of our
goldfish had died, and the other was eating the weed then spitting it
out, rather than finding the fishfood.

Probably because he preferred it to the fish food. If the goldfish aren't
controlling the duckweed, cut back on the fish food. Goldfish (and many
kinds of fish) often spit out their food, it's just part of the browsing
process.
--
derek

"Canadian Duckweed"

Yeah blame it on us Canadians !!! :-)

hornmeister2000 wrote:
Hi all,

I have a problem in my pond of surface weed. I believe it's called
Canadian Duckweed, but I may be mistaken. Basically, it's lots of
little green bits and 2-3mm across covering the pond. I keep pulling it
out but it grows back very quickly. Last night I found that one of our
goldfish had died, and the other was eating the weed then spitting it
out, rather than finding the fishfood.

I would like to get rid of it but it would take days to get every last
bit out. Has anyone got any ideas or experience of this?

I have a small-ish pond with 1 goldfish (soon to be 2 again) and some
frogs.

Thanks in advance,

Neil

"hornmeister2000" wrote in
message ...

Hi all,

I have a problem in my pond of surface weed. I believe it's called
Canadian Duckweed, but I may be mistaken. Basically, it's lots of
little green bits and 2-3mm across covering the pond. I keep pulling it
out but it grows back very quickly. Last night I found that one of our
goldfish had died, and the other was eating the weed then spitting it
out, rather than finding the fishfood.

$$ A fine fish net scoops it out nicely. Dump it under your tomato plants.

I would like to get rid of it but it would take days to get every last
bit out. Has anyone got any ideas or experience of this?

$$ My koi and goldfish love it. It doesn't stand a chance in my ponds. I
harvest it with a net from the propagation tanks and toss it into the ponds.
It's gone in a few minutes.

--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
My Pond Page http://tinyurl.com/cuq5b
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

A fairly easy and effective way to remove most of the duck weed is to fill
the pond to overflowing, use the hose like a broom and sweep the duck weed
over the side. It might not get 100% but it will get rid of a large
quantity. Then the small net could be used to get the rest.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html

"hornmeister2000" wrote in
message ...

Hi all,

I have a problem in my pond of surface weed. I believe it's called
Canadian Duckweed, but I may be mistaken. Basically, it's lots of
little green bits and 2-3mm across covering the pond. I keep pulling it
out but it grows back very quickly. Last night I found that one of our
goldfish had died, and the other was eating the weed then spitting it
out, rather than finding the fishfood.

I would like to get rid of it but it would take days to get every last
bit out. Has anyone got any ideas or experience of this?

I have a small-ish pond with 1 goldfish (soon to be 2 again) and some
frogs.

Thanks in advance,

Neil


--
hornmeister2000

On Tue, 5 Jul 2005 14:56:31 -0400, "RichToyBox"
wrote:

===A fairly easy and effective way to remove most of the duck weed is to fill
===the pond to overflowing, use the hose like a broom and sweep the duck weed
===over the side. It might not get 100% but it will get rid of a large
===quantity. Then the small net could be used to get the rest.


I do a smiliar thing when it rains sufficiently to put my pond above
the oveflow stage, and thats when most of my general cleanup around
the pond is done. Once its at the full to the max limit, I close the
spillway and allow it to get up a few more inches. I can actually go
about 6 inches higher if I close the spillway gate, but usually always
leave gate open and hold a constant set height. Once the pond is
filled above overflow height with gate closed, I open the gate and the
volume of water in the pond trying to flow out a 12 inch poipe makes
quite a draw on the surface of the pond. 6 inches of water covering
over an acre is lots of water to play with. Pretty effective at
pulling lots of surface debri etc off and down the spillway. I often
hook a hose up to the ponds enclosure frame (also serves as manifold
as well as a frame to hold the mesh on) and use a hose wirth pond
water to wash junk and debri out of areas it collects, and then with
the surface current drawing off water it too goes down the spillway.

==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
"The original frugal ponder"
~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o

A bunch of years ago I read that stuff doubles it's mass every 3.6
days. You need to keep on top of the removal process. Nets work.
Syphoning off the surface, along with the duckweed works. Surface
agitation does work (was mentioned by other poster).

The key is persistance. I had it in my tropical tanks and it took about
3 or 4 weeks.

But it provides some shade, it's a great nutrient sink for the pond
helping to keep it clean, and it's great natural food for the goldfish.
Why get rid of all of it?

Lilly