# Pond Weed Problem



## Roger Sewell (29 Apr 2016)

I have been keeping Koi for over 25 years and recently have been plagued with a type of Fern that grows on the side of the pond very rapidly. None of the normal blanket weed treatments has any effect on it (I assume because it's not blanket weed). I've attached a photograph of the Fern in the hope that someone can identify it and suggest a treatment.

Thanks


----------



## dw1305 (29 Apr 2016)

Hi all, 





Roger Sewell said:


> I have been keeping Koi for over 25 years and recently have been plagued with a type of Fern that grows on the side of the pond very rapidly. None of the normal blanket weed treatments has any effect on it (I assume because it's not blanket weed). I've attached a photograph of the Fern in the hope that someone can identify it and suggest a treatment.


It is a moss, possibly the real <"_Leptodictyum riparium">. _It will only grow attached to a substrate_._

Personally I'd look on it as an entirely good thing for your pond, but as mosses are resistant to some herbicides (glyphosate, diquat, simazine etc)_, _if you want to remove it hand weeding is probably your best option.  You could try selling it on Ebay <"Stringy moss...">

Apparently in the USA they often call filamentous algae <"_Pond moss_">, so a lot of the discussion would suggest methods which might work for algae, but won't work for mosses & liverworts (Bryophytes). 

cheers Darrel


----------



## Andy D (29 Apr 2016)

I agree with Darrell that this is a good thing but, as he has suggested, there is also a market for it if you don't want it.


----------



## Roger Sewell (29 Apr 2016)

Many thanks for your replies. It certainly does appear to be Stringy Moss (on sale on Ebay). I have no problem with the appearance of the moss, the only problem is that any waste matter in the pond tends to collect in the moss and when disturbed by the fish makes the water cloudy. I was wondering if Grass Carp might be partial to it.

Roger


----------



## AndyOx (30 Apr 2016)

In my experience grass carp are partial to most vegetation,  water lilies and the flowers included lol 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk


----------



## frederick thompson (1 May 2016)

Roger I had the same problem. In my old pond mate. Plus string alge.the moss alge never ever went to my filter s but the string alge did. So I bought the grass carp. To try to eliminate it. Say natures way. They never touched the green stuff at all. They just ate koi food. Nice fish though. But I bought them to do a job. I suppose if they where the only fish in the pond and say no koi. And did nt put koi food in.they probably would have eaten the weed. But they never did. In the end I took them out and gave them away. I had five.Hope this helps. Fred


----------



## AndyOx (1 May 2016)

Hi fred, the grass carp I had was fine until he reached about 18" then he turned much more vegetarian. In fact he killed one water lily by his constant grazing. He was especially partial to the red lilies, the yellow ones were pretty much left alone. 
They do get mighty big tho, mine reached 27 inches before I evicted him! 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk


----------



## frederick thompson (1 May 2016)

mine where about 8 to 9 inch had them for about 15 months then gave them away my koi did all my lilys in the root s never touched the leaves and flowers. that s why i have built upper pond on new build. to stream them down into the lower pond. leaving the roots in upper pond. well it s worth a try. ha ha.  thats all i want in lower pond lily pads for shade. nice talking mate take care fred. what fish do you keep.


----------

