“I’m pond scum. Well, lower actually. I’m like the fungus that feeds on pond.”
I’m certain every woman knows where that line is from. Julian Potter, played by Movie star Julia Roberts, uttered this in My Best Friend’s Wedding. She was sorry for attempting to stop the wedding of her closest friend, whom she evolved feelings for.
But if women are familiar with the line and may have heard it repeatedly after continuously enjoying the romantic flick, do they even know what lake scum is?
From the line, it appears that pond scum is among the lowest tiers of the world. Makes you not wish to be what it is. Well, you don’t want to be lake scum. It is a form of algae that forms a green blanket on a stagnant lake.
You don’t wish to be lake scum and you surely don’t want lake scum in your fish pond. So part of understanding how to build a pond is to know how to prevent fish pond scum from forming.
Garden pond scum is a common problem in both lakes and ponds and like the cliché, “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure,” it will always be best to stop the fish pond scum from developing rather than having to treat it.
Stopping lake scum from forming is fairly easy. Just be certain that sunlight doesn’t get to the bottom part of the bed because that is where fish pond scum starts. Only, you don’t notice pond scum until it is floating on the surface but it actually develops at the bottom. You don’t necessarily have to prevent sunlight from getting into the fish pond. Sunlight continues to be helpful if you’re farming fish and other seafood in the fish pond. Just don’t make the light reach the bed.
This is one of the things to consider when you study how to build a pond. A partial shade that only permits sunlight in the surface should be included in making ponds.
If the pond scum is already there, you can take it out with a pool net. But by then, it has already begun its population. So you have to place treatment in the water to destroy the scum.
Among the more popular treatments are copper substance and contact weed killer. Here’s a tip, don’t attempt to treat the entire pond scum. Just treat about a third because it can have an impact on the available oxygen for the pond inhabitants.