Sitting here going thru old pond posts and ran across this one. Wondering if you ever came up with a plan for your Florida pond. I live in IL but have a vacation home in south Florida on the Gulf side. The house was purchased pre=foreclosure in 2007 for use as a vacation home. Like your house, it was a mess, covered in weeds and filled with junk. It also has a pond in the backyard that was icky. One of the first things we did after closing was drain the pond so we knew what was living in it. It's not a big pond - about 12' x 6' oval shaped and 24" at deepest point and also made of concrete painted sky blue. Lots of leaves, pine needles and tadpoles plus a few mosquito fish which I scooped out and saved. After refilling I put in a pond pump and the tads and fish. We were there for 4 weeks that time before we returned to IL. The pump was removed from the pond before we left FL. Next time we went down, put the pump back in and netted out what debris was in there but water was back to icky. What I did was find water hyacinth plants - can import them to FL and they are not sold in the stores near me. So I found a local guy who had some in his pond. He gave me about 12 large plants for free since he had an overabundance in his pond and was tossing them in his burn pile. It's been over 2 years since I added the hyacinths and pond remains clear even without the pump going. Only filtration is the hyacinths. Pond life is abundant. Neighbor tells me she can hear the toads at night. We only go down to the house a few times a year so when we put the pump with a bubble spray in while we're there, it's only for the sound of the water bubbling. Hyacinths are all over Florida in ponds, swamps, creeks, etc. If you're willing to harvest some yourself, you can get them for free. I would get emough to cover 1/4 of the surface because they will multiply like crazy. When we visit our house, the whole surface is covered so we have to pull out at least half of them and burn them. Hope that helps.

I haven't kept them but I have seen several posts from people who keep them in their ponds in areas that get ice on the pond. The article below mentions that you should keep them in groups of 3 or so. Most aquarium articles about them mention they will eat small fish if they can catch them but they are generally peaceful. Red eared sliders will occasionally eat fish too but they really like snails. Here is a link that might be useful: Weather Loaches

Kathy,I usually see this type of floating crud on the surface of my ponds in springtime, as the pond warms up. These dirty looking clumps of algae floating to the surface, is usually caused by the air/oxygen present in the algae, that lines the bottom and sides of the pond, expanding with the heat of the day. At night when it cools off and the algae sinks back to the bottom. I have never tried using any chemical treatments to get rid of it. I find that netting it out during the day time, with a fine weave net, can reduce the amount. Or if you have [or you install] a skimmer in your pond, it should pick most of it up during the daylight hours. Vacuuming the sludge from the bottom of the pond will also help the situation. If you pick it up with your fingers, you will notice that it breaks up into nothing, so fine filtering material is what is needed to trap it. Pumping or skimming the water from the surface, through quilt batting and back into the pond will eliminate it. Any of these methods have to be done over a few days until all the crud is picked up. The batting will have to be replaced or washed out frequently as it plugs up fast. I don't think you can stop it happening again in the future. Algae will grow on the bottom and sides of the pond continually, unless you are willing to constantly vacuum it off. This build up of algae, will eventually let loose and float to the surface, as the weather and temperature conditions dictate. Has your weather been cool then hot, back and forth like that? The fluctuations in the water temperature, seem to bring it on, as far as I can determine. That is why we normally see it in the spring around here, with one day warm and the next back to cool. "Horton"

Dragonfly Larvae will eat smaller fish. Goldfish and Koi are susceptible when young, but get their revenge as adults. I've seen goldfish devour larvae during my spring cleanings. I think Larry is correct about your guppies. Kind of a no win scenario. Add some goldfish and you would no longer see much larvae, but the goldfish would eat the guppies. Dragonflies do eat mosquitoes. They also eat pollinating insects such as bees. Nature requires a balance. The YouTube video below demonstrates what what can happen to small fish. Here is a link that might be useful: Larvae Attack