Need a herbicide for a pond

[Land_Owner]

I have a 1/2 acre irrigation pond at home.  It is becomming clogged with weeds similar to Brittleleaf http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/naimi.htm and Musk-grass http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/chara.htm.  Exact species of weed as yet undetermined.  It also is home for my 11 y.o.'s fish.  Bream mostly and two Common Moorehens, females, mother and daughter; mother has been a resident for three years; daughter for one; both will almost come to the bank for oatmeal while we feed the fish.  I "look out" for them on occasion, but that's another thread.

Anyone have any herbicide ideas for reducing but not eliminating pond weeds as described above?

[Wynn]

The aquacide I use on our stocked ponds where I work is called "Reward". The ponds are about 1/2 to 1 acre each and stocked with carp for hydrilla weed control and Channel catfish. Bluegill and Speckled Catfish occur naturally as well. I only spray about 1/4 of each pond a month in order to not reduce the oxygen levels to much at once. Seems to work pretty well and gives about 2 years of control of everything from cattails to millfoil. Reward is about $125 a gallon but will do a couple of acres of water surface.

[Mikey]

I used Copper Sulfate taht I purchased a large whopping sized bag of only to learn later on that I didn't need it all.  I have a 3/4 acre pond that I have stocked and made the mistake of using that stuff once and I thought I had killed off all the fish but not so.  It managed to kill the weeds and the like but then I wondered if the fish had anything to eat, except themsleves. 

In NYS you need (or at least I did) a Conservation Dept. permit to purchase Copper Sulfate and it only comes in big bags.  But there are other products available from farm stores that contain 90-95% Copper Sulfate and they work just as well. 

In the end however, I found that fish work the best.  Introducing bottom feeders to the pond at the same time as the game fish (Large Mouth Bass, and a few Carp by accident) allows Bullhead, minnows and Goldfish to eliminate the weeds naturally. 

That's what has worked for me.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Land_Owner]

Trying to get some activity on this board I have made a few posts this AM.  In retrospect, and on this topic, I see that I need a PLAN, somewhere all of this is going to take me.  Otherwise, it's just window dressing.  Still, I am having fun, learning by trial, error, and the opinions of what has worked for others.  Together we keep the information alive and available.  When that dies I guess we're done.

I am now leaning toward algae eating fish.  I like that idea along with a modicum of chemical additives.  I'll herbicide near the irrigation inlet and leave the rest for the fish and Moorehens.  Guess I have another avenue to explore.  Where to buy fish?

Someone posted elsewhere that ponds with large bream populations are better served leaving the small bream on the bank when caught vs. returning them to the water thus decreasing the demand on the available food supply allowing the remaining bream to grow.  Anyone got any opinions on that idea?

[Wynn]

Land Owner, the FWC will send you a list, if you request it, of fish cultivators. Be aware that they will do a site inspection and issue a permit for a specified # of non native species. (ie: sterile carp) Native species require no permit. It is a informative and painless process.

When we were kids, a local farmer would beg us to catch and remove as many Blue Gill Bream from his 2 acre stocked pond as we could catch, provided none were wasted. They were huge and would hit any bait tossed in the pond. Grossly overpopulated to the point that the fish were purple in color. Pretty sure he fed them. In our stocked ponds at work, the Channel catfish and carp are fed a couple of pounds of floating catfish food per day. The catfish easily grow to 8 lbs+ in less than a year and the carp to 25 pounds over a couple of years. The attrition rate from otters and young gators is high however, especially on the carp. They do a great job on hydrilla and algae, but little else.

[Graybeard]

Buy you half dozen or so grass carp and turn them loose on it. They should be able to control it for you without chemicals. I think they recommend 6-10 per surface acre of pond.

[jpsmith1]

Be aware that there is NO way to control grass carp.  If they are overstocked in the pond, they will quickly destroy the entire ecosystem.  They eat a lot of grass and they cannot be caught with rod and reel to remove them.  My dad dug a pand of about 1 1/2 acres and stocked 6 grass carp in it.  The pond was completely sterile.  No grass at all would grow.  After shooting several of the carp, the water grasses started to grow and now, I can guarantee youngsters to catch fish (Bluegill, bass, catfish) in this pond.

Also, it's not like shooting fish in a barrel killing off those carp.  It's as hard to stalk them as any four legged critter.

[Land_Owner]

Hot dang.  That sounds just like the challenge I faced when the pond had alligator gar in it.  They would surface for a fraction of a second once every ten to fifteen minutes.  Rarely did they linger anywhere near the water surface in daylight.  I used to stand by the railing of our 2nd floor balcony with my Ruger K77/22RP and Aguila 40 gr. sub-sonic rounds sighted in for 30 yards just to glimpse the gar and attempt to lob one of the rounds into them.  The house is 25 feet from the water's edge.  One and one-half boxes of rounds, several months of Summer enjoyment later, and today I lament (not too much) that I don't have any more gar to shoot.