Posts Tagged ‘Algaecides’

How to Prevent Fish Kills

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

For a pond or lake owner, there is nothing more terrible than having a sudden mass extinction of aquatic life—otherwise known as a Fish Kill.

Fish kills come in many shapes and forms—sometimes big fish die, sometimes small fish die, other times all fish meet the same demise. Some fish kills are limited to a particularly sensitive species of fish, others do not discriminate and affect all fish (including the big game fish you keep fishing for).

A fish kill can be as small as 10-20 fish or as large as 10-20,000—and once fish begin to die, it’s generally too late to remedy the situation. The only way to thwart the fish kill phenomenon is prevention.

Before we can prevent fish kills, we must understand the six possible causes behind them:

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5 Reasons to Avoid Algaecides

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Here’s a situation that pond owners run into time and time again—we’ll use Dan as our example.

Dan loves the pond on his property; he loves to look out over the fish swimming around, frogs leaping into the water from the edge, and birds fly in to rest.

With the best interests of his pond in mind, and hoping to get rid of a little excess algae, he contracts a ‘pond company’ manage his pond.

When the company arrives for their first ‘treatment, ’ Dan walks out to observe and is surprised by what he sees—two men wearing protective suits, gloves, and a mask are navigating a boat around his pond, spraying an unnaturally deep blue liquid all across the surface.

When Dan inquires about what they’re spraying, they respond with “copper sulfate, it’s a chemical algaecide.” Concerned about his pond and the wildlife living in it, Dan then asks if it’s safe, prompting the pond company to respond, “uhh sure, it’s perfectly safe…”

Dan then asks the next logical question, “then why are you both wearing hazmat suits?”

Encounters like this are leading pond owners nationwide to give up use of harsh chemicals like algaecides to manage their pond. Just like Dan, they are gaining the awareness that chemical treatments are not really ‘treating’ at all—they are actually devastating your pond’s natural ecosystem.

This is only one of many reasons why pond owners are avoiding algaecides:

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