Aquacide Blog — beneficial bacteria

Ponds can be essential for watering animals, irrigating lawns and gardens, and for water recreation. Some aquatic vegetation can be beneficial to a pond, as fish and wildlife habitat or structural support to avoid erosion. When left unattended aquatic vegetation can get out of hand, limiting fish movement, reducing recreational activity and limiting the ability to irrigate. A of 2-3 feet will reduce sunlight penetration to the bottom. Without sunlight, weeds struggle to grow. To maintain shoreline, avoid allowing livestock access to the pond. This will prevent banks from being trampled and animal waste from entering the pond. Animal waste...

Hot weather prompted the DNR to warn lake goers about the potential dangers of blue-green algae. While it is not uncommon to see algae blooms in the lake area in late summer, recent hot weather has prompted a warning.  Blue-green algae tends to show up in small, shallow, mucky ponds.  It looks exactly like its name; “blue-green” scum that resembles pea soup or spilled paint on the water surface.  It also has a strong, unpleasant, swampy odor.  It can erupt suddenly and be deadly. Ninety-nine percent of green algae are harmless; a nuisance and ugly, but harmless and not ALL...

While many people jump in the lake to keep cool, living life underwater isn’t always enough to protect fish from the heat. Many people throughout the US have noticed fish struggling at the water surface and washing up onto their shore.  This is due to the heat wave that has hovered over the Midwest over the past few weeks. Fish kills are actually common and do happen every summer, its part of the natural cycle.  Oxygen levels have reached an all time low.  Low oxygen levels combined with high water temperatures cause fish kills that sometimes have people convinced their...

What could squeaky clean dishes and shockingly green lakes have in common? Phosphorus!  Phosphorus has noteworthy connections to both dishwasher detergents and excessive algae growth.  In detergents, it binds with minerals, allowing for more effective washing.  Headlines in the 1960’s suggesting that Lake Erie was “dying” from choking on algae lead to studies that linked excess use of phosphorus by humans to greening lakes.  Many states banned phosphate laundry detergent.  Manufacturers voluntarily stopped adding phosphates to washer suds by the mid-1990’s.  But then, there’s dishwasher detergent.  Echoing the history of phosphate-free laundry detergent, states and communities are now starting to limit...

Fertilization is done to improve the quality of fish growth.  In the United States, fertilization has been used extensively since 1925 as a means for increasing pond productivity. Applying proper pond fertilizer to a lake has the same effect as fertilizing your garden, it increases production.  Research has proven that pounds of fish produced may be increased 300 percent or more by proper fertilization.  How does this happen?   Pond fertilizer increases the small green algae called phytoplankton.  Phytoplankton is eaten by tiny insects called zooplankton. These little insects are eaten by your fish. The more food you produce from fertilization the...