Mustard Algae?

[perplexed ponder]

Anyone heard of this stuff?

It looks wierd! It sits on top of the water and looks like greenish yellowish cottage sheese or something.
Our township hall has a large pond in the front and it's plagued with it. It looks just awful.
Any idea how to get rid of it? I don't think they have a clue as to what to do with it.

[emm]

Is scooping it out an option?  If it's just floating on top it may not be too difficult.  emm

[perplexed ponder]

The Public works guys were at the pond trying to scoop it while I was going by so I stopped to talk to them.
they really dont' know anything about the pond. A company is supposed to come and spray early in the season and this year they came to late. I was looking at the HUGE piles of algae (not even a dent in it) and it's string algae!

I recommended they register here and ask about it, maybe some of you havelarge farm ponds and can suggest something?

I think the spray killed/or is killing it off and now it's floating to the surface.

I suggested trying black dye to shade the pond (there are no plants in it) and putting in hardy lillies for shade.

A river feeds the pond, it's kind of like a retention pond with those huge aerators in it. Of course there is grass around it that the city insists on fertilizing, so it runs down the banks and feeds the algae. The DPW man knew that was a problem, but it must be a different detpartment.

I've never seen algae this bad, it looks like toxic waste!

[Julles]

If it's a natural farm-type pond, seems to me you ought to just let nature take its course.  That's who put it there, after all.

I don't ahve any other suggestions.  I now it's unsightly and prevents you from seeing the fish, as well as clogging everything up.  But I'll bet that by winter, it will have run its course. 

[thepitclub]

Too bad such a public pond can't be a showcase.    Maybe you could rustle up a few volunteers from your town to help get the pond into shape. The city might even buy the plants and such, if someone put a plan together and approached them. Sounds like it needs some good bacteria and alot of plant cover.

[perplexed ponder]

I'd say leave it alone too, but it looks like a lawn not a pond. it's that bad!
I'm not sure if it was dug there or if it's natural. It is fed from run off from a nearby stream. I wasn't sure if that would be a problem as far as adding chemicals/plants etc. Dont' want to introduce anything that may be harmful to the stream/lakes.