Hey everyone! I own two small cattle tanks at my ranch in central Texas and I heard that dying the water will help prevent the summer moss from getting so bad... something about it preventing the sunlight. I manage these tanks to the best of my ability with bass and was wondering if dying the pond will have any effect on the fish...

Any input would be much appreciated!

Maybe Meadowlark or Fishbreeder will chime in. They are a couple of the TFF experts on pond management.

They regularly dye the ponds in our subdivision for that reason. Sometimes they go a little crazy though. One of them is so green right now it looks like one of those little ponds at Six Flags.

I hate the way the dye makes the water look... not natural at all. I'd like to know what effect is has on the fish, though.

First, dye just helps top prevent sunlight penetration. In turn that reduces the natural productivity of an aquatic system which in turn helps prevent weeds from growing from the bottom up. But it also tends to reduce fish productivity and growth in that process.

And not all dyes have to be "tidy bowl" blue. You can get more natural colors of green, black, and mixes of colors to get the desired natural coloration you want. Not so easy, as a lot of those might not be "off the shelf" and more commercial in nature.

I've used dyes in some situations, but not usually my preferred vegetation management technique, as most of the places I work with are for and about the fish.

If you use duy, then you want to provide for an increase of fish productivity in other ways, the easiest of which is to provide and artificial diet. The bass usually won;t eat pellets, but the baitfish will and thus provide for more for the bass. I also use supplmental feeding programs in bass lakes of live fish, minnows, tilapia, shad, sunfishes, etc. which is $$$$ intensive.

I've never used it myself....just isn't natural and I wonder about the effects on the pond life cycle.


Maybe someone has done it or has a reference on it...but I would like to see an independent scientific study of the effects of dye on the pond life cycle. That life cycle is absolutely critical to the growth and well being of the fish we like to raise and catch.

Thanks so much guys for your input!!

I've seen it used quite often. I have never used it. Phytoplankton, microscopic plant life, is the lowest part of the food chain of the pond. It is fed on by zoo plankton which is microscopic animals or bugs. That is fed on by larger bugs and then small fish and so on up the feeding chain. So, if you cut the sunlight penetration you effect the lowest level of life upon which everything else depends on.

Like Fishbreeder says, there are usually better ways to handle mosses like filamentous algae. But, like most things, management has to be done on a timely basis and combined with other proper management tools.

Like Meadowlark, I would like to see a real analysis of the stuff. However, the criticism I stated above have been around for years and I've never seen anything from the pond dye guys refuting that criticism.

tractor supply sells it..... $40 for a gallon

I hate that stuff.. they put it in a lake I fish... and a lot of fish still hasn't spawned yet..

fish aren't biting much... and the ones I catch are so white looking...yick...

and it's killed all the moss... it ruined the fishing and the moss wasn't all that bad in the first place...

the water was looking good now have virtually 0 visiblility...

my biggest concern though is that those fish will still spawn.. I hope it doesnt affect that..

Yep, its not nice to fool Mother Nature. Let us know if you do or do not observe any spawning. Appreciate your input.

Well it's bad... I've caught hardly anything and you can't see a bit down in the water... only caught a few dinks...

I know a lot of the fish haven't spawned before they put that junk in the water...

I also wonder if it affects the amount of oxygen in the water??? since now there is virtually no moss left....

I don't know how long it will take for the water to clear.. gonna wait a month and head back and see