Just managing

Last year, the water-flea crustaceans built up their numbers and did a good job of controlling the blooms of green algae. Then they reached such a density that - I think - they reduced the oxygen concentration of the water, and the population crashed, never to recover. I tried installing an aerator, but I think I was too late. This year, I'm trying to stay ahead, and aerate the water from the beginning. I've also cut down a lot on the density of non-oxygenating plants, retaining only the submerged ones that oxygenate the water, with the same aim in mind. In bright sunlight, the rainbow bubbles are an unanticipated bonus

Unhappy news on the bee front. The overwintered colony has contracted a nasy virus infection - a bit like a bee version of flu or covid - that is passed from individual to individual by physical contact. Infected individuals perish quite quickly and the corpses build up on the hive floor, forming a source of infection. To try to counteract that, I have removed the hive floor, so the dead will simply fall out of the hive, but there is little else to be done. There is no treatment or other management that will cure it - again, very covid-like. We simply have to hope they will overcome it