# Early season algaecide?



## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

The label on Cutrine plus says to apply when the water is at least 60 Deg. F.

Any recommendations for treating filamentous algae when the water is 40-50 deg.?


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

I don't know but when the ice came off last week on my pond there was (is) a lot of algae.

I did not have that last year at ice off


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

Last year wasn't as bad for me either. I could see on my Aquavu while ice fishing that it was going to be a bad spring. I already have some floating. Still managed to catch a couple of nice fat bass last night...cleaning off my spinnerbait every other cast.


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## beemoth (Aug 3, 2008)

took a walk around the pond to see if there were any dead fish (none) or whatever from ice off and I've got some green slime starting too. Not bad (spotty) but it needs attention before April gets here.

Good to hear the bass are "fat" and active PondFin


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## [email protected] (Feb 29, 2008)

We are seeing a ton of early season filamentous algae this year across the whole region. Cutrine is still the preferred algaicide; it just does not work as fast (or as well) as with warmer water. We are also seeing a lot of winter kill, much more than normal, even in ponds with diffused aeration that stayed open through the winter.


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

I'm going to put a gallon of Cutrine Plus in to see how it works. It's a low dose for my 1/2 acre pond.

Lucas, do you know of anyone doing early season (like January) dye treatments? I'm not a big fan of blue water but if it would greatly reduce filamentous algae in the early season I might try it since a lot of it will be flushed out by Spring rains by the time water temps are better suited for algaecides. I haven't tried it for fear of lowering DO during a period when DO is already a concern. I would like to delay using Cutrine until after the spring spawn is over so as not to cause any harm to eggs or fry. My water is pretty hard and I try to use as low of a dose as effective in early season so it may not be hurting anything anyway.

I turn off my bottom diffuser aerator in winter so I can ice fish. I will turn it on long enough to open a hole and wet the surface so light can pass if I have a large percentage blanket of snow that lasts for more than a day. I do this limiting run times following typical startup procedures.

I've read that it's extremely unlikely that bottom diffuser aeration could drop the temp of the entire water column (supercooling) enough to kill my fish but it is likely it could drop it enough to stress them, inviting disease to take hold.

It seems strange that with all the snow cover that fil. algae would be thriving...Was it the snow cover and thriving algae combination that caused the die offs? Any theories on why algae thrived this year?


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

I did not run my aerators at all since late October and so far I have seen no signs of fish die off.

Last night the bluegill got some food for the first time and they were there in big numbers and aggressively feeding.

The cold weather last night put all of the algae down, can't see a speck off it today but I know it will be back strong


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

I sprayed a gallon of cutrine. I thought it was working but maybe it's just the weather. If it is working, it's working slower for sure.

I'll probably start feeding once every other day until the water warms up a bit.


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## [email protected] (Feb 29, 2008)

[email protected] the only reason we do not dye the water in Jan is because of the spring rains and snowmelt. Basically it flushes right out. Also, the EPA states that if your effluent water changes the turbidity (clarity) of the water downstream you are in violation. This will greatly depend on your particular pond setup as to where the overflow is going. Have you seen ponds dyed with a blue/black color? This tends to give a more natural look. 

In Jan. your pond should be saturated with dissolved oxygen 11-14 mg/l depending on the temperature. Colder water is capable of holding much more oxygen than hot water.


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