# Brown/Green “Mats”



## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

I have brownish green mats forming on the west(shallowest) side of my .65 ac. pond. I treated the pond 3 summers ago with “Sonar” for a severe duckweed issue. The “carry-over” is still keeping the dw away, but got to be loosing strength. Now I am having serious(thinking fibrous algae) issues and they are nearly halfway across the pond. Dragging them out is too much work for this old man and likely would not stop it from quickly returning. I have some crystalline Copper Sulfate and some Cutrine(enough of either to do the pond) available. I’m reluctant to treat with either(with residual Sonar still in the water), and concerned abt the Sonar application apparently wiping out a huge population of snails(3 summers ago). They were all around the edges and thick. I’m a bit “gunshy” to treat with chemicals again at this time.(Just for info, I have a 24/7/360 areator going constantly.)
Any suggestions, recommendations!?


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

Treat it now with your copper sulfate or cutrine plus. The thicker it gets before spraying, the more decaying matter that you will have left over. If you are gun shy treat 1/2 the pond now and wait 2 weeks to do the other half. I treat one of my ponds fairly often to keep the water clear for swimming. I’ve never had a fish kill. Too many snails in a pond can be bad-it can increase parasites in your fish and cause swimmers itch for people.


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## Ol' Whiskers (Aug 11, 2004)

check the cutrine label. I remember a recommendation to limit application to 1/4 of the surface area max every six weeks or you risk severely raising BOD (biological oxygen demand) and killing off fish. I just used cutrine for first time on my 1/2acre pond for filamentous algae and it worked overnight.


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