Aquacide Blog — Pond Muck

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...

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...

Question five in the Q+A Series deals with the recommended timing and annual schedule of aquatic weed control products for killing weeds, algae control, and a lake muck removal application.  Keep in mind each individual case is different.  Many situations will only call for one or possibly two of these applications, or possibly something all together separate from these three. Question #5- What would be my application schedule for this?  When do we begin?  How often? When do we stop?  In other words, what could I put on my yearly calendar to remind me to do this each year?  (Feel free to refer back to...