Kate Lovegrove asked 17 years ago
Do you have any suggestion, please, for the removal of blanket weed in a pond? There are fish in it. I have been doing it manually but with very limited success. Many thanks
1 Answers
Gerry Daly Staff answered 7 years ago
Blanket weed is a filamentous alga, which accounts for the long trails of green. The principle is that if want water to stay clear, it must be low in nutrients so that algae cannot grow. But if you feed fish, and they pass out nuntrients in their waste, the nutrients levels do not fall as they normally do naturally.
If you want have fish and clear water, you probably need to install a UV-filter to kill the algae and a biological filter to use up the nutrients. You can also plant lots of water plants, any kind, because they compete for the nutrients, and they also shade the water, reducing algal growth.
Jabbing the trails of blanket weed with a long cane, split at the end and twirling it can get rid of large amounts quite quickly, but will have to be repeated until the problem with excessive nutrients is solved.
