Spotting

No problem Jamie, I hope it gets sorted out :) Fertilisers are usually the main culprits for these kinds of things, the nutrients trigger the bloom, and once the bloom dies off, the excess organic matter starts to decay, which is what removes the oxygen from the system (which is why it's bad news for fish!). Hope you can get to the bottom of it!

Thank you guys for your help. I think Ill make some calls tomorrow to see if theres anything that can be done to help. What I do know is all these ponds around here are retention ponds, but the pond in the neighboring comunity is clear. I believe it is a case of fertilizer run off...as I said, Im gonna find out for sure.

That kind of algae apears when there is an incresing of organic material in the ponds. It can reduce the level of oxygen in the water, which inevitably affects the fish that need oxygenated water. Tilapias, carps and catfishes aren't as affected as these other species.

It's more than likely a bloom of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae. They can form blooms like this in ponds, and can cause a lot of problems for the whole system within it. If you're concerned, I would also suggest contacting some kind of local authority to inform them it's a regular event, because in my opinion it's an indication that there is a lot of run-off of nutrients into the water system! Hopefully that can be fixed before it does any long term damage to your pond. :)

The local Wildlife and Fisheries department may also have info. Even if the agent can't answer your question they may be able to get you in contact with one of their biologists who can.

I have checked out the map of the location, and I see it's very close to urban settlements and the ponds themselves are very small, in these cases the rapid growth of algea will fill up the ponds in practicly no time. I'm not aware of what kind of institution you should seek out, but any local athority(like the police) should have some information on where you should go to get some clue on what is happening and if it is in any danger for the pondliving creatures.

What Local athority? Because I would definitely like to take some action. I had such a great time last year catching big healthy bass...this year, nothing!

It looks like algea of some sort, I see there are trash laying in the vicinity, is it close to urban settlements and maybe industrial compounds? If there are any croplands or wastedeposits in the area and a small stream goes into this pond from those areas you might have your answer there. I would personally visit whomever responsible and explain in orderly fashion what the consequenses are, if it doesn't help I would seek out local athority to investigate. Hope this helps...

it is probably single-celled algae. I don't know how it affects bass populations.