Algae and the PINK STUFF in my ducks water dish.

[indianaducks]

Not surprising. That's why so many dog bowls are stainless steel. Though I do worry about the water in stainless steel getting overly warm during the summer. Thoughts?

 

[TJAnonymous]

I'm battling the pink slime and algae too... I have over a dozen water bowls/troughs of various different sizes for ducks, chickens, goats, and horses. When I was at the feed store last week, I saw some treatment you could buy in a bottle and add it to your water bowls to keep the algae & bacteria in check. I didn't look at it closer to see what chemicals they are using to accomplish this feat. Honestly I don't want any chemicals in my animals' water but the constant scrubbing and cleaning every few days is a PITA. So I'm on the hunt for suggestions. I'd heard about ACV but my chickens refuse to drink any water with ACV in it so that isn't a viable option for me.

Anyone know of any essential oils or something similar that might do the trick? Nothing toxic, of course

 

[Regina Larsen]

Being a Newbie to Ducks that I is, but no stranger to having many different animals and caring for them. I have always been very adamant about them having fresh clean drinking water daily. The importance of animals having clean drinking water was instilled in me at a very young age because it was a big part of any animals care to help them stay healthy.

I thought I had a good routine in place for changing our ducks water in their drinking dish and swimming pool. I dump their large plastic water tubs twice a day, morning and night and spray them out good with the hose before refilling them and their swimming pool water is changed every other day. Then once a week I will take their plastic containers and scrub them good with soap and bleach to make sure they are good and clean.

Knowing that Algae likes warm weather and sunlight to grow, I try to keep their water dishes in the shade to help prevent this. So far I have been pretty lucky and can say I don't have any major Algae issues. I have noticed that in about a weeks time of just rinsing and refilling their water dishes, it is time to give them a good cleaning.

I have a little table set up to help with my weekly water dish cleaning duties that works out pretty well if I don't let things pile up. I had just filled one of their plastic water tubs with just water and was called off in another direction, so I didn't get back to it for a few days. This is what I found after it had been sitting out in the sun for two days, Nasty is an understatement !

Now for the crazy stuff I didn't know about, The Pink Stuff as it is referred to because I am guessing many of us can't pronouns Serratia Marcescens unlike Algae. From the research I have done, this Pink Stuff is bad news, no different then Algae if it gets out of control. I also found out that plastic container used for water dishes don't help the problem either because of the course plastic surface makes it easy for the Bacteria to stick to and grow. Looks like new SS water dishes for our babies.


https://barkpost.com/discover/clean-dog-bowl/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serratia_marcescens

Pink stuff is Serratia marcesans. Hydrophile bacterium. Little bleach will kill it. Not terribly harmful (unless aerosolized) but slimy. Wipe it down lightly once weekly with a teeny bit of bleach and water that will keep it at bay. Its the same pink stuff that often shows up in showers. It constructs a thick biofilm which is why vinegars and oils dont affect it.