Can i add anything to small duck pond to stop it going green so quickly?

Question

Obviously as the pond is used by ducks we don't want to add any chemicals that could harm them. Is a few drops of milton a possible solution? plants are also out as they get eaten. We clean it out regularly but if we didn't could the green water be harmful to the ducks? They have fresh drinking water daily.

thanks

Answer 1

If you want a really "Green" alternative to chemicals in your duck pond, try mosquitofish.  They are small, 2-3 inches at maturity, and they will help keep your pond clean, less green and mosquito free (Bonus!).  

Check this story out:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/green/arti...

Good luck.

Answer 2

Barley straw safe for them, would give it a go as I certainly wouldn't want to be trying to clean all that out. Might help to try skimming as much as of the feathers etc off the top regularly to stop it sinking, rotting and going generally grim. Plants to help aeration might work in a pond that big but it is more likely that the ducks will eat, dig up, trample anything you plant Very Happy

get an onion sack or 3 fill em with barley straw and a brick ...

Leave the barley bales in the pond until they completely decompose.  It takes several months or more for this to happen.  Keep changing them as they decompose.  I would do this continuously.  I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Go to a pet shop and buy a bag of fresh straw/hay, wrap it in plastic netting and place in the pond.

Answer 4

get some of those fish that eat the algae, i think they are called loaches.

Answer 5

Barley. You can get the bales and add one to your pond. They're about the 12"X4" or you can just get the extract. Works great!

Answer 6

Maybe you could buy an undergravel/underwater filter?  I know they make these for Koi ponds, where an outside man-made pond needs to be kept clean, but without the look of a fishtank.

But I really like the other person's idea of buying algae eating fish.  Is this a man-made pond, or a regular, outdoor pond?  If it's man-made, you can go to a fish store that at has some experience with Koi ponds/man-made ponds and ask their opinion. (If they try to sell you chemicals that kill algae, LEAVE! Those are deadly to the ducks and can cause cancer to humans)  

If it's a natural pond, there is not much you can do-- interefering would be putting the ecosystem of the pond all out of whack and killing the organisms that live there, thus driving your ducks away, anyways. You could call the city and let them know, though.

(**NOTE** If it is the green little peices of algae that float at the top, you don't want to get rid of this! That means that your pond is VERY HEALTHY! While not sightly, it is a good thing!  As they say, there are 18 GOOD things about algae and only ONE bad: That some people don't appreciate looking at it.)

Answer 7

Serious answer - more ducks.