I think this might be one for PermeateFree.

Scenario: Pond (does have flow, perpetual spring, series of ponds, then flows out across the flats as a creek) Grows Azolla (I think, it ends up going red and looking like a scoria area, so it’s actually quite dangerous in the public park). Some years ago the council used copper sulphate in the top pond, which cleared out the herbiage.

My question….does the copper sulphate bother the local frog population? I’ve done a bit of Googling but can’t really find anything very useful. We have pobblebonks, Ewings tree frog, Eastern common froglet, Striped Marsh frog and spotted marsh frogs (I’ve ID’d them by their calls, not seen them all)

This is in our local gardens, and the water system has recently been renovated, so the flow will be much better than it’s been for the past 12 months or so. The council kept failing to find the relatively small amount of money required to fix it up. Now our local gardens man would like to keep it clean if possible. There are plenty of waterside plants and things there for the frogs, it’s just the floating stuff that is a bit of a problem. I suggested giving the local kids pool skimmers and getting them to clear it and put it on the garden beds…

buffy said:

I think this might be one for PermeateFree.

Scenario: Pond (does have flow, perpetual spring, series of ponds, then flows out across the flats as a creek) Grows Azolla (I think, it ends up going red and looking like a scoria area, so it’s actually quite dangerous in the public park). Some years ago the council used copper sulphate in the top pond, which cleared out the herbiage.

My question….does the copper sulphate bother the local frog population? I’ve done a bit of Googling but can’t really find anything very useful. We have pobblebonks, Ewings tree frog, Eastern common froglet, Striped Marsh frog and spotted marsh frogs (I’ve ID’d them by their calls, not seen them all)

This is in our local gardens, and the water system has recently been renovated, so the flow will be much better than it’s been for the past 12 months or so. The council kept failing to find the relatively small amount of money required to fix it up. Now our local gardens man would like to keep it clean if possible. There are plenty of waterside plants and things there for the frogs, it’s just the floating stuff that is a bit of a problem. I suggested giving the local kids pool skimmers and getting them to clear it and put it on the garden beds…

Copper sulphate is a highly toxic trace element unless used in small quantities and NOT often. It would be very difficult to ascertain the correct dosage to control the Azolla, so if the kids can skim it out it would certainly be a plus for the pools.

Probably meaningless to the question, I caution.

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/carbaryl-dicrotophos/copper-sulfate-ext.html

“Frogs died after being given intravenous doses of 25 mg/kg of copper sulfate. The lethal concentration fifty, or LC50, is that concentration of a chemical in air or water that kills half of the experimental animals exposed to it for a set time period”

> Some years ago the council used copper sulphate in the top pond, which cleared out the herbiage.

Copper sulphate has a foul taste in concentrations too low to be dangerous. So it’s less likely to be deadly to adult frogs (who can search for another source of water) than to fish and tadpoles who have no choice.

> We have pobblebonks

One of my favourite ever quotes is “Beauty is a Chorus of Scarlet-sided Pobblebonks” from the book “Wildlife in the Brisbane Area”.

Thank you. Now the water is running better, things should be better.

Copper is very, very bad for aquatic invertebrates.

Teleost said:

Copper is very, very bad for aquatic invertebrates.

scooping the shit out is way more effective anyway.

Teleost said:

Copper is very, very bad for aquatic invertebrates.

I hear Daphnia enjoy it…

poikilotherm said:

Teleost said:

Copper is very, very bad for aquatic invertebrates.

I hear Daphnia enjoy it…

and snails are not fond..

your point?

Again, in the nursery game.. Yet another anecdote.. The young family successor is given the job of spraying copper sulphate on the nursery, to help them drop the leaves.. I was not privy to the instructions he was given.. other than.. go spray the trees with this.

He does what Helix condescended on me for saying.. Did what his family taught him morea.a bettera, the kill.

He somehow wasn’t educated that all that was needing to be done was spray a light spray to cause the leaves to drop more easily.

He did what he did and hundreds of thousands of trees were burned beyond recognition.

Only took him an hour or so.

roughbarked said:

poikilotherm said:

Teleost said:

Copper is very, very bad for aquatic invertebrates.

I hear Daphnia enjoy it…

and snails are not fond..

your point?

If you do answer this, please don’t go all homeopathic. ;)

it’s just the floating stuff that is a bit of a problem. I suggested giving the local kids pool skimmers and getting them to clear it and put it on the garden beds…
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Yeah spot on.

A little bit of elbow grease will save a shed load of drama.

You don’t have to get it all… just reduce the population until it is unable to compete, like the Tazzie Tiger.