Question
I purchased a small (125 gl.) pre-fab pond kit about 4 years ago. We enjoy it and planned to expand it into other larger ponds but have become flustrated with algea growth. We have 5 goldfish that are about 3 years old and every spring we buy plants to put in the water. The pond is in full sun in NE Georgia. Fish and algea doing well but plants tend to turn yellow and die. I run an external bio-filter with water exchange several times each hour. We had some success with barley bags but little with chemicals. We use well warer so no chemicals there. How can I have a clear pond without hurting the plants or fish?

Answer
Read over my pond algae page at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/algae2.htm for some ideas.  It sounds like your algae problem is due to having full sun and a hot climate over a small pond.  If plants don't do well, you can provide a sun shade for part of the pond to cut down on light.  Pond plants usually do pretty well.  It'd be unusual for them to always turn yellow and die unless the water was unsafe.  Since your fish are fine, that's obviously not the case.  How do you plant them?  What plants have you tried?  Did you fertilize?  See http://www.fishpondinfo.com/plant.htm for plant info.  Good luck!

Robyn