The foam is probably due to an excess of organic compounds. At this time of the year I would look at decaying plant material. A mechanical filter may catch the compounds. Removal of any dead plant material would also help.

My pond is still asleep and half covered with ice and snow.

Where do you live in PA? My pond has not had ice for weeks now. I just have too many koi and it's not been a problem till now. I add fresh well water daily in the summer. Too much algae is killing the fish and I hope it clears soon with the filter going now.

If your string algae is that bad you need to remove it as best as possible using a stick or something to pull it out. String algae thrives in this cooler weather because your pond plants have not come up yet. Just running your filter will not stop the algae from growing or contain it, the plants are the only thing that will do that unfortunatly its still to cold for plants.

If you are worry about somthing else is in your water use a carbon filter pad in your filter. The carbon will nuetralize anything in the water. You can pick one up at your local pet store.

greg

Lily, I live near the Pocono Mountains. My pond is still about half covered with snow and ice but the iris is starting to sprout from the snow.

I have some string algae in my pond and I allow it to grow until the other plants can catch up. Algae is a plant and it does absorb nitrates like the other plants. All part of a balancing process. String algae can also help prevent suspended (pea soup) algae by competing for nutrients.

If you have to remove some of the string algae try duck taping a toilet brush to a broom handle or plastic pipe. It always worked for me.

I just added Tetra Pond Algae Control to my pond 3 hours ago and now I have foam on top. It wasnt there before. The water was only slightly green but was tested to be fine. The algae was thick though on the walls and bottom of the pond insert so I added the Algae Control. We have small fish, plants and a frog in the pond. What can I do or should I do something about the foam. The fish have come closer to the surface since this morning.

MaryJo, I'm wondering if you added the prescribed amount or just over did it and added a jar of the TP AC...

If it is the latter then I would guess it's some sort of chemical reaction going wild.

Like the earlier posts suggests in spring when pumps are sometimes first started and weather a little chilly, the amount of organics in the water can cause excessive foam.

This usually subsides with filtering to where you only have mostly lite little rings of small white bubbles popping up around floating leaves, like water lilly pads.

I think this last situation is indicative of the organics being slowly removed with filtration but there's also surface tension happening at the top water.

If the foam is big buffy stuff then get a fine net and skim the surface a few times a day.

If the foam is widespread and shallow you may want to try Foam-B-Gone, a product that I use in the spring and fall on ocassion. It's one of my "must haves" in my box of aquatic goodies.

Re: Algae. If it is thick string algae on the walls, bottom and perhaps waterfall, a net or your hand just scooping it out - my hand in the water has always worked best for me. Take it a little at a time.

At this time of year, if Algae is a problem then I would venture to guess you don't have enough submerged aquatics in the water to out-compete the algae.

Good luck.

I have a 3000 gallon. What pond with 11 koi a bog system, skimmer system a foot cascading pot. I have added spring microlift and 2 cups of algaecide once a week but have still had to go in the pond once a week to scrape off thick algae buildup and now notice white foam and white globs growing over the thick algae on my pot platform
What is going on should I be concerned about it hurting the fish and is there anything any thing else I can do to slow the out of control algae since the water seems clear and a uv light doesn't control this type of algae?

I don't know what kind of algaecide you're using, I assume you're dosing correctly. Most algaecides are tricky. Too much and the fish die, not enough and the algae doesn't die.

When you say white foam and white globs it makes me think it is killing some algae. That doesn't mean it disappears. Like when you mow the lawn the grass clippings are "dead" but they still look like grass for days. Algae can stay looking like algae for weeks.

Algaecide only kills some species. Mat algae and non-green algae seem to do OK. Algaecide isn't like chlorine in a pool. You can buy other chemicals like oxidizers to "burn up" organic matter. But again they're not magic. It's kind of a lot of work to get good results.

To me in a 3000 gal pond vacuuming/scooping out algae and waste is way easier. My web page on vacuums.

I consider Microlift type products to be a scam. The idea that bacteria have to be introduced into a pond is not something I can imagine. In this case you also have a bog where waste collects and extremely low (like zero) O2 so very slow to decompose. A bog can hold a lot of waste too so that's just a lot to handle even if you believe in such products. It's just way more effective to remove the waste from the pond than trying to somehow break it all down into nothing in the pond. Kind of a losing battle. But I know there are lots of people who swear by these products. And even if you do you dissolved organic compounds shoot way up which gives you other problems.

The only thing I can think of is it must be expectations. Another person could have the same results as you and say the bacteria in a bottle worked great. Don't know what the deal is.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bacteria in a bottle myth