SubCommittees

Deer Committee

Dredging

Fish/Wildlife

Flora Land/Aquatic

Lake Monitoring Committee

Paths/Greenways Lake

Trails

Mailing Address

Apple Canyon Lake Property Owners’ Association
14A157 Canyon Club Drive
Apple River, Illinois 61001
Phone (815) 492-2238
Fax (815) 492-2160

http://www.applecanyonlake.org/

What is that terrible blue Algae? Is it safe or is it the toxic algae?

Blue Green Algae or Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic organisms that grow in water. They thrive on excess carbon and nutrients and use sunlight for growth. Phosphorus typically has been a big culprit in algae blooms.

Not only can blue green algae be visually disturbing, who wants to swim in that muck, but sometimes certain species can cause toxic or allergic reactions. Swimmers itch,

Apple Canyon Lake photos 2006

Come Take a closer look at what this really looks like under the microscope Microscopic Analyses

Sample point analyses #2

Sample Point analyses #3

Algae Photos 2007

This year, we had very high temperatures for spring, and very little rain for a little while, right about the time that the lake was going through it's annual Spring Turnover. This caused a serious short term algae bloom. The algae was in such a high growth stage, but it burned through all the nutrients so quickly that it died off quicker than usual also. This thick pea soup algae and the blue coloring on the algae scum had a couple of us worried that it might be some of the toxic Blue green algaes.

Luckily when we pulled samples under the microscope, it was really the pigment from the dying algae that was breaking apart and floating to the surface temporarily. It was very surprising.

Here you can see the foam, and dead scum as the algae run out of food and nutrients, and start to die off

Here is the entrance to the Marina, what a change in just a couple weeks after Spring turnover

Hells Branch samples

1000x Mostly Brown and Green Filamentous Algae (left photo)

Odeogonium with epiphytes Brown algae may often be found growing on other plants, as epiphytes (top right)

Look how different everything looks under the microscope at lower power vs higher magnification

Zygnema, Spirogyra are some of the green algae and Achnantes taeniata  is one of the brown algae species

Inlet to Presidents Bay

Since Presidents Bay seems to be one of the great "park your boat and jump in for a swim" areas, obviously the quality of the water is very important to us.

You will be happy to know that in the main part of the water, very little algae was present, just a little bit of the very tiny, small free floating, and again, in such a very little proportion.

Center of Presidents Bay

Again, same thing here, very little algae, and a little debris, this could be dirt stirred up by boats or swimmers. NOtice how clear all the water around the main part is. These photos were taken at low power to show a larger field.

Sides near shore of Presidents Bay

Some short, free floating algae, and the long, green filamentous algae

Marina

Brown algae may often be found growing on other plants, as epiphytes Cocconeis sp. on Cladophora sp

Planaria on the left

Filamentous bacteria, brown and green algae

Again, 1000x on the left vs low power, on the right, amazing how increasing the magnification gives you more details

More than 10,000 living diatom species are known, there are over 8,000 species of Algae, there are 1500 species of Blue Green algae or Cyanobacteria, there are 6000 species of red algae or Rhodophyta. Algae can be found in a variety of environments, soil, fresh or saltwater. They come in various sizes and shapes. They can be single celled, have flagella and be motile, they can be branched. They can be red, green, brown or blue-green.

These are photos of the plants, notice how large they are, this is at a lower power 400x and 100x

More ACL Links

Algae  Pests or Natures helpers

What kind of algae are you growing

Microscopic Analyses

Lake algae Photos

Invasive Species

Bioaugmentation in Ponds and Lakes