I have a small frog pond that is overrun by algae and leaves. I cleared out all leaves in the area, but the pond is chock-full of them. I was going to do a complete reset, but I saw all sorts of wildlife in it and even a frog! What should I do? I can post more pictures soon if required

Watching the post and curious about the answer myself… I always dream of having some sort of small pond or container pond but haven’t figured out the logistics behind it yet… including limiting algae growth. Is there a kind of native snail that can eat out the algae?

Apologies for the old and broken internal link for barley straw - have updated to https://njaes.rutgers.edu/fs1171/ Treat pond algae with barley straw. It sounds unlikely but https://eefalsebay.blogspot.com/2016/04/cape-storm-and-year-of-gardening.html We have only needed to do it once. The pond…

Thanks for the help, I forgot to mention there was a crack in the liner that we just found out was caused by a tree root that’s near-impossible to dig up - but when we redo the pond in the future, we’ll use your advice! I’m sure the algae won’t go anywhere…

Yes, barley straw will definitely help control algae. You can even buy the extract in a bottle, and it’s safe for fish so probably safe for other wild life too. On the other hand, the wildlife that’s there (including the frog) has moved in to an environment that they are probably already happy with …

My polite two pots of dwarf papyrus are now a reed bed where the frogs live. Also have eelgrass growing on the bottom. Just an occasional wisp of green algae to twirl out now.

I haven’t seen the picture so I don’t know if they are filamentous algae or “pea soup” unicellular algae. If the latter, add some Daphnia from a nearby pool and they will clear the water.

I’m in the process of creating a “dragonfly pond” along a neighborhood alley that has drainage issues. The main thing I worried about was the water body getting “ugly” with algae, but if all it takes is some good plant choices I can maybe manage that. ;) Frogs will be welcome too- anything that pre…

You could go to a nearby lake or pond and collect a few local organisms that eat algae(certain species of amphipods, snails, other aquatic invertebrates, small fish). Goldfish will absolutely demolish algae and mosquito larvae(in my experience), but they tend to eat basically everything so maybe not…

I recommend native fish as a better option, goldfish can get extremely destructive to an ecosystem when out of control.

If you want it to be a “frog pond” don’t add fish of any kind, unless you only want bullfrogs, green frogs, and toads (for eastern North America). I have no idea what the specifics of your situation and pond are, but it could just be a seasonal issue or maybe too many nutrients running into it (lawn…

Frog pond help!

Nature Talk

elpatitojuan2 May 9, 2022, 12:31pm 14

So that’s why tadpoles tend to live in temporary, small, and fish free puddles!

Topic		Replies	Views
Building a pond for wildlife observation - Tips and ideas? Nature Talk	59	5225	December 24, 2020
Tips and Tricks for Building a Mini Wildlife Pond? Nature Talk	81	8556	February 6, 2025
Frog pond ramp help! Nature Talk question	21	5447	January 2, 2022
Pond life experts ahoy! Nature Talk	15	900	January 17, 2024
Making a frog pond in northern climates? Nature Talk	24	4695	March 21, 2020

Frog pond help!

Related topics