Tried to clean up "algae" on fall stones, discovered it is not string type. This material is dark green in clumps that are very soft and not much bound together. Look rather like a moss but that doesn't seem right. Cleaned some up, some washed away--no pictures yet.

Having cut water flow and added plants and fish, I expect to be looking at a whole new ecology that is unfamiliar yet.
Thanks - Mike

Mike. that build up of the green,slimy algae on the waterfall rocks is something that a lot of us have to deal with.
I use a small stiff bristled brush, to clean it off, ever so often. Then I blast the rocks with a sharp stream of water from the hose.

It comes back, just like paying your property taxes, you just have to grin and bear it!

What I have found is, that the algae, is loaded with bloodworms [midge fly larvae] and as I clean it off the fish devour it.
"Horton"

Hi Mike,

At my last house, a snake was eating all my fish. One night when I could not sleep, I went out to the pond to find the snake trying to digest a fish.

I immediately got a shovel and flipped him out of the pond onto the grass and took care of him. I am glad I did as he was a copperhead.

My hooping and hollering scared the death out of the neighbors though! Could you imagine a woman in a bathrobe at 2 a.m running around the yard hitting the ground with a shovel! LOL

As far as string algae, I take a strong water nozzle and hit the rocks and falls. I take a long stick to dislodge what the water nozzle did not get.
At this point, the fish are really interested in what just hit the water so I wait about 10 minutes and use a long-handled net to scoop out whatever algae fell into the pond. Toilet brushes also make good string algae removers.

Mike, I, too, have had algae in my stream for quite a while, no matter the time of year.

When I recently cleaned out my pond (as well as the roots terrorizing my poor Pondmaster pump), and subsequently returned the pump to its former, water-shooting frenzy, I noticed the algae in my stream has lessened greatly. I'm seeing a lot of air bubbles coursing down to the pond, and life is good.

One of the first things I learned on this forum a few years ago was the great triad of an algae-free pond - filtration, plants, and....aeration! I really think it might help if you somehow get more of the latter by whatever means possible - even if you don't want to re-open the flood gates. :)

Brenda

You all know what happened. I built this single-purpose pond, water quality no big deal, end of story. Then one afternoon, out of the blue, DW shows up with lilies and two wonderful fish. With all the info available on the forum, I started to pay attention to water quality, filters, algae, everything I had hoped to avoid.

The whole filter thing eludes me for some reason. One suction line goes through the skimmer. The other two (only one right now) I fashioned a 1/4" black plastic mesh screen into generously-sized "lobster traps" that fit quite loosely over the pipe. Wrapped with layers of quilt batting and do they get dirty. Poor man's pre-filter or folly? Add bags of batting now and again in front of water flow.

Is this bio, mechanical, desperation? I'm thinking of a submersible pump going a short distance , through a skippy, back into a stream???

Brenda, the aeration issue has bothered me. I believe there is still plenty of water flowing, but when I turned it up last night the fish got livelier.

Thing is, when my DW brought home those fish I became responsible for the well-being of two living creatures and I don't take that lightly and of course I begin to worry about every little change, my emotional side overriding my rational side causing me to ask for help rather than think and act first. The curse of my dotage (one of).

lsst, there is a picture indeed, effective action but a little dangerous with just a shovel and the dark? You posted recently that you have copperheads on your property (previous or present?) and you co-exist. I wondered if they were something you must always be wary of--water, rocks, food a perfect snake habitat, surprise when you open the skimmer?

It seems I just need a little encouragement sometimes; I can find the answers once I realize what I see is OK with some positive action. Or finding out the action is OK/not OK/dangerous.

Horton, your good-natured patience really matters, not to ignore your knowledge. Many thanks as you well deserve for seeming to get into my head and turn me the right way.

Thank you all for the input. I will appreciate any thoughts on my filtration half-baked current system and anything for next year.
Mike

Mike,

Every time I open the skimmer lid or the fake rock lid to one of the 4" ball valves I have buried, I leave room behind me in case I need to run out of the way! LOL

We have more copperheads and snakes where I live now as we are on acreage and our neighbors have left some pastures uncut for a long time. We noticed a decline in snakes when my husband bush hogged the back pasture more often.

At our last house, I had a tiny 300 gallon pond right next to the deck steps so I did not like any snake that close to the house.We had a creek right down from the pond and the snakes would come up from there.

If I know the snake is not poisonous, I try to make lots of noise to make it go away but copperheads really bother me.
I almost stepped on one barefooted a while back. It was right at the base of a door leading out to a back patio. The doors are glass so I saw it right before I opened the door.

We have been teaching our daughter how to tell what snakes are poisonous, etc. She loves all nature and will try to pick up anything that interests her.

Since I don't have a stream, I would pass on that slime problem, Mike, except it happens other places in the pond. I just had to clean a bunch of it off of the splash stone at the little pond at the Ext. gardens. I keep a toilet bowl brush handy in the shed for that and such things as string algae.
As for the snakes, I once lost my temper at a bunch of raccoon delinquents who ripped apart a clutch of baby Black Racers I was trying to keep around for pest control. They left the decapitated snakes in a big puddle on the roof waterproofing. How did I know it was the raccoons? Their muddy paw prints were everywhere, as were the heads.
If the snakes are a new addition to the area it might be the draw of your pond. In especially dry weather they will seek out whatever moisture there is available. Sandy

lsst - now, this is a snake pond story with copperheads. We are an infinitely adaptable species and lots of people live with poisonous snakes around and somehow adapt. I can adapt to a teenie garter snake just fine, but otherwise...too old to have instinctive awareness.

Pushing back cover and food habitat will dislocate the snakes some. I'm sure people here know what their hunting range is. I think they are night hunters. sooo. Are they in your pond very often, feasting?

YOur daughter surely needs some education, and finding that fine line between fear and respect is important. Wow, quite a story. Are you a seasoned snake person, accustomed to their presence for a lot of your life?

Sandy, your relationship with raccoons has both charm and frustration. Right now I am holding on to a neighbor's frisky cat as the culprit. And after reading lsst's post, recall that everything is relative.

Finally bought a proper pond water test kit and expect to get all in order soon.

BTW, duh, do I fill my aquarium with pond water initially?

Mike

Mike,
I have not yet seen a snake at my current pond. I hope I haven't jinxed myself. LOL.

I am a city girl and growing up we only had little garter snakes so I am not a seasoned snake person.

I believe in live and let live unless they are hurting something or someone or about to.

I do like the kind of non-poisonous snakes that take care of rodents though. As long the snake and I can keep enough distance between us I am fine. LOL

My daughter's favorite channel is Animal planet. She is almost 7 and I am amazed at how animals respond to her.

lsst - people do adapt, co-exist in the environment. Plenty of people have the live-let live approach and that is admirable.

I grew up in one of those odd pockets where there are no poisonous snakes and I dealt with garter and water snakes. As things go, I chose a career that often put me in poisonous snake habitat, and lack of knowledge is often the partner of fear.

I was fine for years, then one fine spring day I got out of my vehicle in the weeds and absolutely froze for no rational reason, no visible "threat." Dr. Freud was needed I guess. Never shook it to this day although to this day I still do a little part-time work and hate it.

What, me worry!!

Your daughter sounds quite interesting. Knowledge is key to respect, to wise and prudent behavior; sounds like she is on a good track.

This subject comes up regularly and the range of responses is interesting, especially among those without poisonous snakes.

My feelings anyway from a very long period of possible exposure but only one incident. Classic ignorance about the facts.

Mike

lsst, I understand about your daughter and animals. So many children have it at that age in particular. I remember my son standing as still as possible one frozen day while baby squirrels climbed in and out of his jacket and pants legs. He was afraid if he moved he would squash them. :) What a shame so few manage to keep that rapport.
Mike, what you did was probably the right thing, although I would have checked the ground around the car before I got out. Life does hand us surprises. I prefer to avoid the nasty ones like snakes and cow pies. By any chance was the grass tall and dry? The sound of the grass rattling sounds a lot like a snake's warning. Sandy

Oh no Sandy, the cow pie phobia!

Actually I did look around getting out of the truck, good high vantage point and that is what makes my response so irrational

However, I am very hard of hearing and with hearing aids even I never had a chance to either hear or identify the location of lots of sounds. Not that copperheads ring a bell. The one encounter I had with a rattler, it rattled and I could see but not hear it.

Then there was the lovely afternoon in the field when my partner said, "Thats a big animal I hear in the brush." Out pops a very large male black bear 40 feet away. Never heard any of it.

Maybe that was part of my descent into fear?

Mike

Wow, Mike! I could ask a zillion questions about that episode. What in the world did the two of you do? You can't just leave me up in the air like that. Where were you, what time of year, what were you doing, what did you do, what did the bear do? You must have a lot of stories about incidents like that. I saw several up in Wisconsin from a distance and a couple of times we had paw prints in the garden but I never have seen them up close.
The hearing thing is just awful. How frustrating it must be for you. We get so many clues and cues from our ears, even if they are subliminal. Re:snakes, one trick I was taught when I was a child and didn't know how to look or listen was to carry a stick and keep it sweeping through the grass and rapping on wood to scare any snakes into leaving the area. They don't exactly hunt us and I was told most encounters are accidents and I should give the snake(or other critter) a chance to get away. Story, please? Sandy

Well Sandy, I'm reluctant to add more off-topic like this. Since you opened the door I'll finish this one.

This happened in NW NJ a few years ago. Region is overrun by black bears, fat and happy feasting on unsecured garbage.

It was a Sunday afternoon in mid-December when it had been uncharacteristically warm and hibernation of most things had been delayed. I had a fifty-acre property that had Native American rock shelter sites reported 80 years previously.

When the bear appeared from the brush, he froze, we froze and there we were. My partner started backing off slowly (not a bad strategy) but I stayed put, fascinated for the encounter, and she came back next to me. There was no plan B; I could see my truck 1/4 mile away, I can't run faster or climb quicker than any bear. I just avoided staring into his eyes and stood still.

Got boring after a while so I banged some steel tools on a rock in front of me. I also reviewed the jumping, screaming, clanging you should do if they charge (won't actually attack, in theory). With the clanging, the bear made a sound remarkably like a raspberry at me, lifted a hind leg and let out a stream. This confirmed the bear was male and confirmed his disdain for me. This was a case where I had knowledge that mitigated any fear, the creature was sure no snake in the grass.

For the next several hours as we surveyed the site I thought my partner's neck would break as she swiveled her head constantly and vigorously. But she hung in.

Right at the end I discovered the old rock shelter area, down a steep slope covered with bear tracks. Since a rock shelter consists of overhangs and caves, the light went on and I realized the site likely was full of bears and it was time to truck on out without a visit. Good luck once a day is enough for me.

There was a pond at the other end of the ravine which no doubt provided water and which presence makes this dubiously on-topic?

The rattlesnake story involves the same end of season, logy creature. Also with a pond!

Depending on what type of project I have, I always carry a big steel soil auger or shovels. I do use these tools to sweep and clang and bang when I can't see the ground, as you suggest.

Knowledge is power in the "wild"; ignorance makes poor judgment and my irrational fear. I still think fondly of the chance to encounter such a grand animal, 3/4 tame as they are there anyway.

Indeed many stories, people sometimes the worst, a couple of armed Deliverance folks, wild urban gangs, pond-side stories.

Mike