Algae pond problems ... How to rid your pond of blanketweed.

Blanket weed is an alga, it is a relatively primitive form of plant life that is very successful at colonising and dominating an environment under favourable conditions. Blanket weed spreads and recolonises vegetatively. Blanc-Kit effective in killing

Blanket weed is an alga, it is a relatively primitive form of plant life that is very successful at colonising and dominating an environment under favourable conditions.
Biologically speaking, this can be a risky strategy, as if the environmental conditions change, it does not have extensive means of adapting to the changing environment.
However, where the environment provides consistent conditions, (as in a koi pond), and the blanket weed is adapted to those conditions, it is a very successful strategy, allowing it to thrive and spread rapidly.
Are there different types of blanket weed.
Blanket weed (also referred to as string-algae) is a collective term given to a number of very similar algae that both look and behave identically.
Absorption of light and nutrients is very efficient in such small structures and so growth can be incredibly rapid.
We don't resent blanket weed's grip on our ponds because it poses a direct threat to the health of our koi, as in fact, it can actually lead to improved water conditions.
Its fine filament structure and submerged position lend it to producing a ready supply of microscopic oxygen bubbles.
So intense may be its aerating effect that in strong sunlight, rafts of blanketweed will rise up to the surface, buoyed up by the mass of oxygen bubbles caught within its filaments.
This will give the water a tint, and will need to be topped up when the natural dyes are broken down by the filter, but proves effective as a long-term control of blanketweed.

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