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Thread: Black algae

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    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    Black algae

    Good evening,
    I have a blue pond thermometer, a cheap floaty one, you cannot see the blue very well as its nearly black, I have noticed that the pond sides and bottom is green mottled with black patches, I read a thread earlier from freddy saying that he had the dreaded black algae ?? I have not heard of this before is it something to worry about ?? is this not part of the maturing process ? do I need to do anything ? thanks Steve..



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    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion Ajm's Avatar
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    Trace is the one to help out I think try and PM her but I have the Same thermometer with the same problem and I dont have the black algae so could be normal I dont know enough really mate

    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
    Freddyboy the legend

    "we are water keepers first"

    Johnathan

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    Banned Rank = Mature Champion Trace's Avatar
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    Here is info ... https://www.koiforum.uk/koi-health-d...ck-slimey.html

    Seemed to work fine for me and Freddie .. any questions just ask ...

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    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smartin View Post
    Good evening,
    I have a blue pond thermometer, a cheap floaty one, you cannot see the blue very well as its nearly black, I have noticed that the pond sides and bottom is green mottled with black patches, I read a thread earlier from freddy saying that he had the dreaded black algae ?? I have not heard of this before is it something to worry about ?? is this not part of the maturing process ? do I need to do anything ? thanks Steve..
    Hi mate. Yes I had the dreaded black algi.
    Horrible stuff.
    Also at the same time. NPS. The stuff killed part of someone's lawn overnight.
    I think that was traces. Not sure.
    That's how bad it is. And my fish where getting ulcers. And I lost a few. Be careful and make sure it is black algi.
    I had black slime a few months ago. I thought I had it back.
    It was caused from using CBA. To keep my algi under control. It was nt black algi.
    So make sure your correct in getting it right
    In what it is. Diagnosis of it.
    Here is how I did it.

    I emptied the pond and put all my fish in a holding vat.
    Then I washed all the pond in PP.
    Then I went over it with pressure washer.
    Top pond and lower pond. Flushed it all away.
    Altered the plants in top pond to reverse the shade and get more air in there.
    And put more sun light in the top pond.
    Also cleaned the filters out with PP.
    Did nt want to do that but had to.
    In case it was in the pipe work and filters.
    Washed all my plants down in PP
    Filled back up and put my fish back in the pond.
    After all that it only took my filters a couple of weeks to catch back up.
    Fingers crossed it worked. And has not come back
    Thanks to trace. And if I remember right Bowsaw.
    48 hours it took. All day to clean. And 24 hours to fill pond back up.
    Hope you ain't got black algi mate.
    As it is a nightmare. After that I decided to build a QT. So a positive came out the whole situation.
    Fred




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    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    As I've only had the Koi pond for 18 Months I found it interesting to see the different stages of maturity.

    Always struggled to cultivate green water in the past when I've needed it, but in a large volume of water with greedy Koi I have seen the following in the last 18 Months, and I've never treated any of it as it seems to go away or get replaced by something else within a few weeks.

    Green water appearing in the first few Months which the UV took care of.

    Then loads of green "dust" algae settling on the bottom - looked almost like green sand and you could scoop it out.

    Green slimy algae down the sides and bottom of the pond which lasted about a Month and then got replaced with brown algae (with black patches) towards end of summer and into winter.

    Then early this year my water went brown and the filter or UV didn't seem to have any effect.

    After that a different type of filamentous green algae on the sides which caused an oil slick on the surface of the anoxic/wildlife/goldfish section where there's little surface movement.

    Then came another green algae which would just disintegrate into small bits if you touched it.

    Then a new type of black coloured algae which started disintegrating on hot days and floating to the surface in hundreds of small chunks. This made a right mess of the pond to the extend I was about to buy a skimmer and then suddenly that stopped. I don't think it was "black algae" though. I suspect it was green algae that produced so much oxygen it floated to the top and turned black.

    And now I have hairy type algae growing on the sides of the pond the strands are only 2-3mm, not sure whether its baby blanket weed but its not causing any problems and the Koi keep picking at it.

    But also my water now has a slight green tinge to it and the UV isn't clearing it.

    The pond seems to be constantly evolving.

    And throughout all of this the pond parameters have hardly changed. PH is always a solid 8.2 morning and night.
    Last edited by RS2OOO; 07-07-2019 at 12:24 PM.

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    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    Thanks Trace,Freddy and AJM, I will be monitoring my walls and bottom of the pond to see if this develops, hopefully its not what I read about (thanks Trace for your investigation and information supplied on this) it sounds a horrible algae to get rid of...…..

    RS - hi mate interesting read, I am only nearly 4 weeks in now and I suppose slightly paranoid when ever I see something strange happening, hopefully it is as you say just a new thing evolving and nothing to worry about....I will be monitoring the black patches that are appearing amongst the green. cheers Steve.

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    Banned Rank = Mature Champion Trace's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smartin View Post
    Thanks Trace,Freddy and AJM, I will be monitoring my walls and bottom of the pond to see if this develops, hopefully its not what I read about (thanks Trace for your investigation and information supplied on this) it sounds a horrible algae to get rid of...…..

    RS - hi mate interesting read, I am only nearly 4 weeks in now and I suppose slightly paranoid when ever I see something strange happening, hopefully it is as you say just a new thing evolving and nothing to worry about....I will be monitoring the black patches that are appearing amongst the green. cheers Steve.
    You'll know Phormidium if you get it ...(looks like your walls/floor have been spray painted in thick black plastic with air bubbles trapped underneath) and it peels away in sheets like old wallpaper ...

    ...it is horrible but it wasn't difficult for me to get rid of ... I just addressed and changed all the fundamental elements that it thrives on and cured it ...

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    Moderator Rank = Supreme Champion Feline's Avatar
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    It's perfectly normal for a new pond to gain a coating over all surfaces (and indeed you want it to do this since it's part of the biofilm that makes a mature system. work so much better than a new one).

    This will take on various different shades of green, brown and black over time. You may read horror stories in the press about blue-green algae poisoning people's dogs in lakes etc. but in a well filtered well aerated koi pond that will simply not occur. If you are getting any stangent areas with poor flow then that definitely needs addressing though.

    When blanket weed dies off it leaves a slightly messy sticky black stuff that can be a nuisance with some types of filter because it gunges it up frequently. If I ever salt my pond then it causes this to happen as salt is a brilliant blanket weed treatment!

    If your fish are doing well, feeding, active and your pH ammonia and nitrite are all doing what they should be doing then don't worry about the colour of the pond walls

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    Banned Rank = Mature Champion Trace's Avatar
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    We're not talking about normal algae growth or biofilm that can be various colours ... phormidium is a completely different growth altogether ... it becomes a complete coating almost like thin shiny pond liner and peels off the walls and floor in big chunks like peeling wallpaper.

    It can occur in well filtered, well aerated ponds with only the slightest change in elements e.g. amount of light (as happened in my case) with the addition of a small shade sail to the roofed pergola that was already there.

    It's nothing like blanket weed at all.

    Here's the closest pic I can find of what it looks like: https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/ne...bury-waterways

    In just a few days it dominated and covered all the normal algae growth in the entire pond in one big sheet and is so solid it traps air bubbles under it all over the place.

    I have no idea of the toxicity of the type we get here but I did definitely get an itchy rash on the hand I was scooping it into a bucket with and on my face too where I had wiped or scratched my cheek .... the fish loved eating it though peeling it off in big chunks and swimming about munching on them ... but I would never touch it again without gloves on.

    Like I said above you'll know if you have phormidium ... there will be no doubt ... and you will want to get rid of it ... I managed no problem and so did Freddy using the same method.

    That's actually the only two complete cures I know about ... when I researched this the other people I found with it just seemed to accept that they had to keep clearing it out regularly ...

    Anyway if you do have phormidium all the info that I could find about it is above ... feel free to take or leave it as you please ...

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  19. #10
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    Thanks Feline and Trace for your replies, much appreciated, i think all is good at the moment, the black algae that I have is still showing amongst the green weed but it is not looking like phormidium fingers crossed......

 

 

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