I like the moss underwater, but I want to get rid of this moss!! Anyone know what works best without hurting my big bass, little bass and catfish?? Thanks for any info,,,,,

Nice looking pond. Very clear water.

You have several options including chemical and "natural".

I like the natural approach and stock Tilapia for algae control and forage production. If you go this route, be patient because it will take awhile, depending on how many Tilapia you stock, how much excess nutrients are in the pond. If you are artificial feeding your fish, and you decide to use Tilapia, you might want to consider reducing your feeding rates until the Tilapia can get on top of the algae. Artificial feeding promotes algae and further, artificial feeding will distract the Tilapia somewhat from the algae eating.

Other natural approaches include barley straw, corn meal, and hay. Probably others as well. The best might be to try to find out what is adding the excess nutrients to your pond and eliminate or minimize them. The algae is promoted by those excess nutrients.

Chemicals...the only one I've used is Cutrin plus. It comes in both granular(easy to apply) and liquid. It is effective, not sure how safe it is, but it is only a band-aid...i.e. the algae will come back in a matter of weeks and require subsequent treatments. Do not use straight copper sulfate, very risky to your fish. Sometimes the guy at your local feed store will tell you, "just throw some of those sewer line chemicals in there and it will get the algae". Yes, it will probably get the algae but no telling what else it does and may very well kill your fish.

Good luck.

p.s. the stuff you see on the surface is just the algae that has released from the bottom...same stuff, just part of the lifecycle.

That clear water just may be an indicator that the moss(Filamentous algae) is sucking up all of the ponds nutrients and retarding the growth of phytoplankton. I wouldn't worry about it this year. Once a real infestation starts, it's tough to stop in any area. I'm betting that you have a very high alkilinity rate due to limestone in the area. I also expect that the algae mats will keep increasing.

Like Meadowlark, I would prefer not to nuke it and at this stage, I think it's too late anyway. We tried 70 pounds of tilapia, after spraying, on a 1.5 acre pond at Aledo with no discernible results. We started after the infestation. Often, this stuff gets a big head start before the water gets warm enough for tilapia.

Next year, think about spraying when it first appears and stay after it. Stocking about 50 pounds of tilapia per acre, in our area, will help but I would still spot spray the stuff that the tilapia don't get.

Interesting comments about tilapia stocking rates to control algae. You have found that rates as high as 40 and 50 lbs to the acre did not wipe out the algae? There are some who promote 20 to 30 lbs to the acre will control even heavily infested filamentous algae. For budget reasons we generally stock 10 lbs to the acre for additional forage, allowing the bluegill to rest a bit. I know a few landowners who can and do stock 20 and 30 lbs to the acre on very large water, but these are cases where budget is not a factor in their decisions.

At risk of drawing unwanted attention to myself....

Not all tilapia are the same. If "true, pure Mossambique" tilapia as called for in the regs, they probly won't eat much algae as that fish is primarily a filter feeder. Still a decent forage fish, but not much use for filamentous algae control.

Better choices would include the typical "Heinz 57" tilapia with a lot of blue (aurea) or nile (nilotica) in them as these species are more omnivorous. Actually the catchall name "tilapia" includes these fish which belong to the genus Oreochromis.

Best choice is the Tilapia zillii, a substrate breeder and superior to the Oreochromis types in many respects. It is a true herbivore and eats algae as well as rooted aquatic plants, doing a better, safer, more effective job than the grass carp. Also as a substrate breeder, it has a much greater fecundity (has a lot more babies) than the mouth brooders and makes a tremendously effective forage fish. Brightly colored, it is very visible to predators. This species is also much less cold tolerant and becomes "sick" while bass are still very actively feeding, making them even more vulnerable to predators at the perfect time in the fall. As such it also has much less chance of establishment in wild bodies of water throughout Texas.

The downside of zilli is that they are a prohibited species in Texas, apparently so for no good reason whatsoever.

Politicians, not biologists, in control.

I think most tilapia sold for forage fish are a Heinz 57 tilapia. There might be a few places selling pure mozambique tilapia, but as rule I think most are Hienz 57. Brett, your thoughts on the amount to stock to control algae, assuming it is not out of control. I realize there are dozens of factors, but is there a "general" rule you use?

WOW that's a lot of Tilapia. In addition to the variations in genetics that Brett mentioned, other factors I've observed that can hinder their algae eating include 1) artificial feeding and 2) very high populations of predators.

Artificial feeding can substantially reduce the algae effectiveness of Tilapia. I've seen it over and over. LMB predation can also do a number on them especially early in the season, but eventually the Tilapia will simply overwhelm with numbers.

I can get by with about 5 pounds per acre for algae control, but I prefer more for the forage production.

So many variables that are out of our control. But for sure, whether you've stocked tilapia for algae control or grass carp for rooted aquatic weeds, if you keep feeding pellets (usually a good idea) these fish will eat those to the exclusion of all else. Like Meadowlark says, you gotta stop feeding pellets until the weeds/algae are under control.

If a lot of predation in clear water, like in the photo, the tilapia might have to spend all thier time avoiding predators and staying hid out. Or might get ate up....

Another species, but with threadfin shad, 10,000/acre won't get a stand established in a poor candidate while I've established strong populations in a good candidate with one threadfin shad for every four acres. So it goes with tilapia, although they are easier to eastblish than threadfins in most cases.

So, in some cases 5 pounds an acre are plenty and 75 pounds an acre aren't nearly enough.....

Actually, I think one of the owners bought 20 or so pounds of bigger tilapia after we did the 70 pounds. There are 4 houses around the pond.

I gave up on it and called in the Cavalry. I didn't want to spend every other week there. This year spraying was started immediately and continued. I believe about 40 or 50 pounds of tilapia + aeration is being used. Also some beneficial microbes which I know absolutely nothing about.

Expensive but the water is now useable for recreation.

I have had good luck with barley straw in the past

I have heard good reports about barley straw whipping other algaes but never FA. However, I don't think I've heard of anybody trying it for that stuff.

Can you tell us more? Size of the pond, % of algae infestation, when first used, how long it took, methods, etc?

I would love to try it instead of chemicals.

Brett how much would 40 pounds of tilapia cost? My uncle has a pond near McKinney and it has bad moss every year.

Just guessing here, but I'm sold out and really a loooong ways from there. You should try Boatcycle in Henderson, TX. I think they get around $13/pound but not sure. You can get a "fish availability list" from the Texas Aquaculture Association and see about close by sources. I think www.txaqauculture.org but you might need to try and google the name to get the site.

My ponds are small-maybe 1/2 acre-and I had tried the blue granular product(copper sulfate) without much luck...so I called and ordered the barley straw. They send mesh bags to put the hay into as it comes in square bales. But I am not up on the the types of algae-we just grew up calling this stuff moss. Anyway I put some scrap iron on the bags to weight them so they sink to the bottom and after several weeks-as the weather continued to warm-the "moss" was pretty much gone. I did it again the next year and it continued to work well. Bigger ponds or lakes I cannot say how well it works...the decomposition is what does the work.

Interesting. Thanks!