Its Algea, its not harmful but most people dont like it so they put all kinds of wierd chymicals in there pond. if it doesnt bother you I say keep it. its safer then chemicals.

rosegarden3,

You are under attack by blanket weed (aka hair algae, string algae, the green menace). It is the bane of summer ponding. Stop the feedings and let those fish mow at it. Take a toilet brush to it and throw the floating stuff in the compost.

This too will pass; only to return next summer. The darn stuff clogs my leaf basket every two days and stops my water feature from running. It worst than the boug. tree that drops flowers into my pond in the fall (that only clogs the system once every 10 days..)

LP

Here is a link that might be useful: Pulling the Strings from Algae

No, the green "fur" is not string algae. It is normal to a healthy pond. We have had it in our pond for four years. It is about a half inch to an inch long and never more.

I agree with curb1, it is natural to have an algae coating on the liner, rocks, hoses and pots. I think you would have to sterilize the pond to get rid of it (really bad for fish and wildlife).

Pam

Short furry algae is the good stuff.

I would not add any more fish and have about 70% surface coverage with plants.

The "fur" is now about 3 to 4 in. long and growing fast!

Algae grows fast in a pond that doesn't have much surface covered with plants. You have a lot of iris--don't buy anymore as they multiply like crazy! Don't know how long your season is but you could probably have at least two hardy lilies in your pond depending on the variety. I have 6 in my pond which is 18ft long by about 7 ft wide and overwintered them in the pond and the sc last year. Deepest point on my pond is about 4 ft and it gets very cold for a very long time here in the winter. They all survived. Have never had much luck with hyacinth or water lettuce and I don't like how the hyacinth goes brown. I would think if you are going to overwinter it you'd need grow lights of some sort. I've had alot of string algae this year too but I just go along the edges and pull it out and about every two weeks put on the hip waders to get the stuff that's wrapped around the lilies. Have had to clean the leaf trap before my pump several times this year due to the increased algae from the hot weather we had last month. Some people use an UV light for algae but I never have but don't have the green soup algae. I look at it as a sign of a healthy pond--algae doesn't grow if there isn't nutrients for it so...If it's driving you crazy use the toilet brush, feed your fish less and get some plants for surface coverage. Good luck. Patti

Green fur is the good stuff. It will get long, then balance out and shorten itself. In really hot weather it goes wild, so don't be alarmed. If it's too long, you can pull it out in bunches like snatching hair off a scalp, but where its roots are attached to the liner will stay furry and green. This is a good thing. It's kind of pretty, I think.

I bet your fishies love to nibble on the green fur. It will provide food for them during the cold part of the year when you're not feeding them, and it gives them something to do!
There is an British product called PondBalance, we have used it in the past when the string algae got really long - it does a good job controlling blanketweed. It doesn't harm other plants or fish, and it leaves the short fur on the liner and pots. But usually we prefer to leave the green for the fish.

:) Mary

Carpet algae covering the liner is good!

Since one one else answered this question , I will . Your pond is too small to add much more plants to it . If I were you all I would buy would be one water lily as these get 6 - 8 feet across after 2 years . You dont need to overwinter any of the plants you have now inside your house. They are all hardy .Believe me as I raise pond plants for resale . As for the water hyacinths and lettuce , dont even waste your time trying to over winter them , they are cheap enough and you only need 3 of each for the season . You'll have so many soon you'll be filling your garbage can with them . Rick

It is true that you don't need to overwinter the iris in your basement and also true that water hyacinths and lettuce are very difficult to overwinter and not worth the electricity it would take to heat and light them.

People in southern states will send them for postage next year on any of the various pond plant exchanges on the web.

You have a lot of iris and they will overtake your pond so be prepared to give them away. Almost all pond plants are very vigorous growers.

You could certainly add several small growing hardy waterlilies to a pond that size. I highly recommend Perry's Baby Red.

You don't need to drive three hours, just visit the trade section on this or other pond forums.

if you have indoor fish pull it of and dry it my fish love to eat it! also if you buy a common pleco wich can be tropical or a coldwatert fish it would eat the algea

Stop!! I don't know where Asj9494boo is from but the pleco is from the tropics! You will just be putting it in the pond to kill it when the temps drop. I put some of my tropical fishies in the pond in the summer but they come out when the water starts it's autumn cool down. The pleco, from what some southern ponders(Z9) say can grow to be very large in just one season and can no longer be kept in an aquarium indoors. Sandy

yes plecos can be coldwater fish!i have them in my pond and i even leave them for the winter!if you have a problem with what i say then email me at ash9494boo@yahoo.com

The "fur" is harmless to the pond itself. However, it increases the evaporation surface area, leading to a significant water loss. For my 5'x10' pond in Southern California, it caused at least 1" of water loss per day. After thoroughly removing it with a brush, the evaporation rate returned to the normal 1/4" per day.