Daphnia bloom

[Malcolm Banks]

Last year my pond appeared almost completely devoid of daphnia, and bloodworms etc and this worried me in terms of a food supply for the large population of damselfly nymphs (mostly early stadium) that were present.
This year, for the past 10 days I have had a bloom of daphnia, with about the same numbers of damselfly nymphs as last year. The daphnia are dispersed during the early part of the day but as the day goes on they assemble in huge numbers in large "clouds" that can be moved about by blocking the sunlight. I have had the same moderate algal bloom as last year, but now the water is crystal clear, like an outdoor aquarium
This glut of food and the relatively mild temperatures may have been the reason for my first sighting of a Large Red damselfly on it's maiden flight on Saturday 24th April, a little early but within the normal limits I believe.
I am not worried about this bloom, and I don't suppose the damsel and dragon nymphs are either, but would be interested to hear if others have experienced this and moreover, any suggestions of causes?
M

[lipase]

I've definitely noticed the massive bloom in daphnia in our pond this year but I'm unable to compare with previous years because this is the first year I've checked in a while. The daphnia are a small species and seem fairly black, and are occuring in fairly large swarms even though there are a number of newts feeding on them.

[Malcolm Banks]

Hi Lipase, yes I've seen my newts swimming through the clouds of daphnia and you would think that they would just swim through, mouth open like a basking shark and get a belly full, but in fact they appear to ignore them. Maybe the newts are already full
M

[dampflippers]

I suspect they are thriving because of the breakdown of decaying matter at the bottom of the pond- they will be thriving due to the nutrients that have been released.
Brilliant for newts and all other carnivores like dragonfly larvae and beetles. I too thing it helps keep he pond clear. I buy bags of it, and make my own daphnia nurseries in tubs and buckets of water, and seive it out with an aquarium net to feed my newts. I also put some in the water butts and it helps keep the water clear and smelling nice.