My Koi Pool Algae

A friend came to my home yesterday to pick me up for lunch and was looking at my large Koi pool which is now covered with a dark green algae on all of the interior surfaces, the water is filtered and has ultra violet light exposed to kill bacteria and the most noxious forms of algae (blue-green and string algae) but apparently it doesn't prevent the type of algae growth now existing in the Koi pool.

I enjoyed botany in college and in my choice of reading while doing home gardening. I even took a class to become a "Master Gardener" with the Maricopa County Agriculture Extension. So I will be trying to observe and learn more about the life its ecology in my Koi pool.

She asked me about it and I thought it would be a simple matter to give her more specific information about its name and attributes..... well this morning I learned there are 125,771 different species of algae! How do I go about finding out more information about the specific algae growing in my pool? My friend thinks it might be bad, but I assured her all pools have it , those that have water plants growing in them since one does not use an algaecide in a pool they want water plants to grow in also.
The "green algae" is the most diverse group of algae, with more than 7000 species growing in a variety of habitats. The "green algae" is a paraphyletic group because it excludes the Plantae. In biological taxonomy, a grouping of organisms is said to be paraphyletic if all the members of the group have a common ancestor but the group does not include all the descendants of the common ancestor. Groups which include all the descendants of a common ancestor are commonly termed monophyletic, although this term is sometimes taken to apply to paraphyletic groups, in which case they are called holophyletic.

Like the plants, the green algae contain two forms of chlorophyll, which they use to capture light energy to fuel the manufacture of sugars, but unlike plants they are primarily aquatic. Because they are aquatic and manufacture their own food, these organisms are called "algae," along with certain members of the Chromista, the Rhodophyta, and photosynthetic bacteria, even though they do not share a close relationship with any of these groups.

The major groups of "green algae" are distinguishable on the basis of their flagellar insertion (the number and arrangement of the flagella that the cells have); their method of cell division; and their habitat



http://megasun.bch.umontreal.ca/protists/gallery.html was an interesting sight and I think I believe my algae in the Koi pool is a "green algae"

Green algae:

Algae are not considered "plants" but are their own distinct life form and they do mutate creating new varieties...

I have a microscope but so far have not made a slide of "my koi pool algae"... Oh my, the mysteries of my Koi pool and the life within!