Is this pond scum? (Photo credit: iStockphoto.com)As the weather warms up, the Aquascape phones and email inboxes get busy; the growing season is upon us, and that means something less pleasant for lakes and ponds than for the flower garden. From now through the summer months, local water bodies are susceptible to a nuisance “blooming” of aquatic vegetation and/or algae.
If you don’t muck around in water for a living, it isn’t always easy to correctly identify what has suddenly appeared in, or appears to be overtaking, your pond. Understandably, folks who contact us often get creative in trying to describe the problem. Here are a few of the most common terms we hear, along with the likely actual culprit(s):
- Pond scum
- Green funk
- Green slime
- Green paint
A report of any of the above in the summer months almost always indicates an algae bloom – although in early spring, it may simply be an accumulation of pollen!
- Oil slick
- Greasy film
- Rusty water
Rarely do we find that oil or grease have actually been dumped or spilled into ponds that report these conditions; the sheen usually comes from a natural source, such as bacteria or byproducts of the breakdown of organic material. Similarly, “rust” is typically iron ochre that forms as a byproduct of iron bacteria metabolism.
- Seaweed
- Pond grass
- Lily pads
- Hydrilla/milfoil
Any of these terms naturally indicates the presence of some type of aquatic vegetation — although seaweed is only found in the sea! Lily pads, hydrilla and milfoil do exist, of course, but not all floating plants are lily pads, nor is all grass growing underwater either hydrilla or milfoil. Tiny “lily pads” often prove to be watermeal or duckweed, while everything from alligatorweed to parrot’s feather (along with a variety of other aquatic plants) has been misidentified as hydrilla or milfoil.
We appreciate the sometime vivid terms used to describe aquatic issues, and we’re available to come make a visual identification and recommendation for treatment if needed.
Evan Carpenter
Lake Operations Manager
