Hmmmm...no expert...but, they look burnt to me...Never used the green bottle of osmocote but, I've never had any problems with osmocote burning....You know I bought regular topsoil a few years back...and I had alot of die offs that year-the water got extremely green and it stunk to high heaven...so I've gone back to just plain ol' yard soil(of course I'm always putting in new ponds so I always have soil)...
Lawanna