What’s the best way to get rid of lily pads without killing the fish. I have a quarter acre pond on my place that’s getting thick with lily pads. I’ve seen lily rippers online but not many reviews of them. What have y’all had luck with?

Spray a small area with Roundup at a time. Will kill them.

the only way to effectively kill them is to drain the water and dry the ground for about 2 yrs.

you have to kill the tubers to kill the pads and the tubers are underground.

the other way,

https://www.thepondguy.com/product/airmax-wipeout/

I use the pond guy for a lot of water weed control stuff, good company.

I have 10 duck lakes that I maintain, pads and cattails are a pain.

if you use roundup on aquatic stuff you need to use the aquatic type with some surfactant. it will just roll off the pads otherwise.

one of my lakes, it is clear now. previous owner had me drain all lakes and they stayed dry for 2 yrs plus. we also had a tracked tank looking hydraulic brush hog come mow cattails/pads before we refilled.

a few still came back. this lake is about 35 acres when full full.

Winter.

rake
is what we did
it was hard
&
we were young

Here is a good review of the subject. https://aquaplant.tamu.edu/management-options/water-lily/

There are herbicides that are promoted that are not authorized for aquatic use. The most common that you will read about is Karmex. The active ingredient is Diuron. Karmex is an extremely efficient herbicide and has been used on corn for many years. However, The EPA was trying to ban it and other herbicides based on possible cancer issues.

Although herbicides can be effective, they can cause fish kills, especially in hot weather. This occurs when dead decaying plant material removes oxygen from the water.

I always used Copper Suilfate crystals mixed in water and treated small portions of my ponds over a few months. If you kill to much vegetatoin to quickly the dying plants will deplete the oxygen in the water and the fish will die. Most pond fish kills are caused by to many dying plants, not the chemicals used;.

This is the right answer.

This worked for me.

I don’t think I’d feed any fish to my family out of that tank if you dump roundup in it, yikes.

I agree but unless you are buying organic, you're likely eating food where Round Up was used in the fields. Not ideal, but it's the only way to feed a planet that has become reliant on others for food. Not sure if spraying it on food is different but Round Up is used everywhere.

Who said "dump' the Roundup in the water? You spray it on the leaves.

I agree round up ready corn, soybeans, and even turf grass! Though there are very impressive sprayers being used for that task.

Organic also has its faults, various bacteria can be present in usda certified organic cultivated produce.