Our pond - question about black scum on spillway

[mmerry]

Here are some pictures of our pond (hope I post this right...)  After having huge algae blooms last year, killing all our fish and finally being able to enjoy it...  in the last few days we have this massive amount of black growth on the spillway and some of the other waterfall rocks.  What is it??  Water is not as clear as I'd like it... but we are trying barley pellets this year (algae was a problem last year but we put this in hoping to prevent a problem) so I assumed the lack of clarity was from the pellets.

We did just have about 2" of rain, so I'm wondering if that could have caused the discoloration and the black scum on the spillway.  We have a rubber lining covered with 1" gravel and we have a rock based wall (with rock caverns for the fish).  Estimated to be 800-1000 gallons.  We have an EasyPro mini skimmer, EasyPro pump that is plenty big for that size, and EasyPro biofalls.  Just this year we have added some filter material - the installers only used this plastic mesh thing that stopped larger things passing through the pump.  I think we need to add considerable filtration materials, but am still researching.  We have 2 koi (of unknown kind), 2 comets and 1 shobunkin.  We also have a resident frog named Fred.  I haven't named this fish again since my fiasco last year :/

Not sure how to make the photos paste in... so here is a link    http://picasaweb.google.com/mmerry19/Pond2010#

[PondJoy]

Very lovely.....similar to mine....I know you enjoy it.

The black stuff is on mine also.  Every year, same time....must be the heat/sun, etc.  Sometimes I srub it off, sometimes I just leave it.  Once everything has cycled through the spring, it all calms down...for me anyway.  I don't use chemicals so can't comment on that.  I just let it be unless something needs to be done.  A little algae and a little scum is just normal sometimes.

Keep posting and asking questions....you will get a good feel for what is right for you.

Good luck...keep posting pictures!

[Kat]

Love your waterfall.  Don't have any suggestions on the scum other than giving it time to clear up on it's own.

[miguynmkoi]

Pretty pond and waterfall!  The black scum is probably dead algae or something like that.  Could be from the cold weather putting the good bacteria to sleep during the rainy days.  that's just a guess as I've been having a fight , I won!, with my pond water that is over loaded with koi.

[mmerry]

Thanks everyone.  I will try really hard to be patient and let it cycle on it's own!!

[Kittyzee]

I agree with the others, just let it cycle--it's early yet.  Whereabouts in Ohio are you?  I'm NE of Dayton about 40 minutes and W of Columbus about the same.  Nice to have another Ohio ponder.     

[mmerry]

Hi Kittyzee - thanks for the welcome   We are in Powell which is north of Columbus downtown by 30 to 40 minutes.  Not too far away!  Glad to have another Ohioan here - I sure hope to learn a lot!

[Pa Nancy]

Looks like either dead algae or another form of algae. Hard to say.

Fred looks to be a Bullfrog. They love to eat fish.

One suggestion, the rocks on the bottom are not really good for a pond. All the crap gets down into them and just rots away polluting your water.

[KatFish]

I was going to say the same - just try to leave it be, it'll take care of itself.  Kittyzee beat me to the 'where in Ohio' question    I already got lucky to find one local!!  Just FYI, I'm in Toledo.   Oh.... are we getting close to an Ohio meetup??!! 

[Julles]

what a great pond you have!  The waterfall is really cool.

The black stuff is just normal growth of ... I don't know exactly what, but it's normal.  Probably a form of algae.  I have the same exact stuff growing on all three outlets of my waterfall.  When it builds up, I take a knife and scrape it off.  What falls into the pond the fish eat.  If I don't scrape it off, it eventually builds up and becomes long enough to reach from the falls to the water. 

I don't think it has to do with time of year; I have it all the time.  Of course, I'm in South Texas, where it's never really very cold.

[Esther]

I may have had that too. Thought it was dead algae. Anyway, I began rubbing away at it and it slipped right loose. Then I noticed the big Koi were eating it like crazy. So I cleaned it all off and caught most of it in the net. Didn't know if it would hurt the fish or not. Guess it didn't as they lived through it.