Pond Scum Or Perhaps The Fungus That Feeds on The Pond

“I’m pond scum. Well, lower actually. I’m like the fungus that feeds on pond.”

I’m positive each and 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 halt the wedding of her best friend, whom she developed feelings for.

But if women are familiar with the line and may have heard it over and over again after continuously enjoying the romantic flick, are they even aware of what lake scum is?

From the line, it seems apparent that pond scum belongs to the lowest tiers of the world. Makes you not desire to be what it is. Well, you don’t strive to be lake scum. It is a type of algae that forms a green blanket on a stagnant lake.

You don’t wish to be lake scum and you surely don’t like lake scum in your backyard pond. So part of understanding how to build a pond is to know how to stop backyard pond scum from developing.

Garden pond scum is a kind of 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 prevent the backyard pond scum from developing rather than having to treat it.

Preventing lake scum from developing is relatively easy. Just be certain that sunlight doesn’t get to the bottom of the bed because that is where backyard 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 stop sunlight from getting into the backyard pond. Sunlight is still helpful if you’re farming fish and other seafood in the backyard 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 allows sunlight in the surface should be included in making ponds.

If the pond scum is already there, it is possible to take it out with a pool net. But by then, it has already begun its population. So you have to put treatment in the water to exterminate the scum.

Among the more popular remedies are copper substance and contact weed killer. Here’s some advice, don’t attempt to treat the entire pond scum. Just treat about a third because it can have an effect on the available oxygen for the water animals.