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Re: Bluegreen algae control
Here are some non-antibiotic ways to control cyanobacteria.
(1) I have seen many times that Ceratophyllum makes bluegreen algae go
away. It doesn't go away rapidly, but, as the Ceratophyllum grows, the
bluegreens slowly diminish. Hydrilla works the same way on bluegreens.
Possibly we have allelochemicals here that inhibit the bluegreens. Neither
Ceratophyllum nor Hydirlla have any similar effect on green water,
unfortunately.
(2) Bluegreens have defensive chemicals of their own that can make them
inedible for snails (pond snails and ramshorns) and algae-grazing fish.
However, if the light is drastically reduced, the bluegreens become in
three or four days much more palatable and snails begin to eagerly consume
them. I have a lot of windowsill cultures of aquatic plants in jars and in
some of them the bluegreens begin to take over and the snails refuse to eat
them. I take the cultures away from the windowsill and put them in the
back of the room, and, after about 3 or 4 days, the snails begin to get
active and eat the bluegreens. In two or three weeks the snails multiply
and clean up all the bluegreens. I can then return the cultures to the
windowsill and they will remain quite free of bluegreens for several years.
Paul Krombholz Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS 39174, in
cool Jackson, Mississippi.