VitaStim MD Pellets are slow-releases pellets that sink down into the muck to deliver essential bio-stimulants and indigenous bacteria. They penetrate and degrade pond muck by stimulating naturally-occurring bacteria and adding sludge-eating cultures. This product works faster than any other on the market today!
The pellets are a dense product that look like orange Chinese dried noodles and are made to be "tossed in" and sink to the bottom. When they sink into the muck the bacteria produce enzymes that speed up the breakdown of organic waste. They contain safe and beneficial bacteria, and will not harm aquatic species, fish, waterfowl or people. Use just around beaches & docks or treat entire bodies of water. Can eliminate the need for manual dredging savings thousands of dollars. No EPA or regional wetland permits necessary because it is 100% organic. Spread by hand or with a spreader mounted on a boat for large areas. 55 gallons drum sizes are available for large treatment area by special request. Please call our office 203-287-0636 for more information.
- Consumes nutrients - Specially formulated for advanced performance in muck removal. Reduce up to 70% of sludge and much more!
- Lowers ammonia levels
- Clarifies water for better visibility
- Helps reduce pond weeds by consuming their food source (muck).
- Allows for high stocking levels of fish
- Works best in water temperatures greater than 60 degrees
- Balances ponds ecosystems and helps get rid of algae by consuming the nutrients that algae require to survive.
- Reduces dredging costs by organically & quickly digesting the muck eliminating the need to do expensive mechanical dredging.
- VitaStem works by organically digesting the muck solids and then converting them into gases that escapes safely into the atmosphere.
- No Wetland permits needed to use this product. Available to ship to all US states with no restrictions. Can also ship to Canada & Mexico.
- Available in 5 sizes: 5 lb, 10 lb Tub, 30 lb Pail, 50 lb bag, & 1 lb sample pack (enough to treat an 8' x 11' area)
- Aeration will help speed up the decaying process in a static body of water.
- Works in Fresh, Brackish, & Salt Water applications
- Use with Pondzilla PRO (see Related Products below) for a powerful knockdown of excess organics in the water column.
To calculate shipping costs: Add a product to the shopping cart. An orange colored "Calculate Shipping" tab will now show up on the right side of your screen in the blue area in the shopping cart section. Click on this "Calculate Shipping" and enter your zip code. Hit "Submit", and your shipping options & delivery times will now be displayed. If there is a choice, pick the option that best fits your needs. Canadian customers responsible for duties & import taxes.
NOTE: It is always best to have aeration in the pond, especially if fish are present. These bacteria will consume oxygen as they eat away the muck on the bottom. If oxygen levels are low, a fish-kill is possible. To prevent this in non-areated ponds or lakes, separate areas to be treated and do them one at a time over a period of 2-3 weeks.
A: It really depends on the muck composition, water temperature and water movement. Typically customers will see 40-80% of the muck gone over the course of a summer.
Q: Does the muck ever increase?
A: Early in treatment as bacterial activity increases muck can get fluffier and less dense, this is temporary. For the best judge of progress measure initially and later in the fall when temperature cools off.
Q: How do they work?
A: VitaStim MD Pellets sink into the muck and come alive. Muck is high in organics (food), nitrogen and phosphorous. With these conditions they will grow. If they are applied near a shoreline that gets good wave action this works dissolved oxygen into the muck and they will work faster.
Q: Where do they work best?
A: In organic matter that is humus and has started the degradation process. In laymen’s terms if you step in the muck and it’s gooey this is a good application. Works on dead leaves, dead weeds, dead grass, fish poop (like in aquaculture) and waterfowl waste.
Q: Where do they not work?
A:They do not work on rock, sand, gravel or sticks. They work slowly on oak leaves, pine needles and other organic matter that is high in lignin (woody).
Q: Will the pellets harm fish?
A: No, if they eat the bullets they will simply pass through them.
Q: Is there a scientific way to see how much muck will degrade?
A: Have a lab run a TVSS (total volatile suspended solids test). This will tell you what % is organic and biodegradable.
Q: Why are these pellets better than other pellets?
A: #1 We make them small so they cover a lot of surface area.
#2 The bacteria in the pellets are indigenous in many lakes. They are not just from a test tube.
#3 The pellets contain a broad spectrum of organisms. The broader the spectrum the better the results.
Wouldn’t it be nice to see the bottom of your lake and eliminate dredging projects?
A fish farmer in Eastern Texas grows his fish stock the natural way, as he prefers to stay away from chemicals and he does not keep extremely high population densities. The biggest concern he has is the amount of muck fish generate and how much room it takes up which is where VitaStim MD Pellets come in for Bob. MD Pellets are all natural and reduce muck through high concentrations of helpful bacteria and biostimulants, reducing the need to dredge the ponds. It saves thousands of dollars annually and doesn’t have an adverse effect on the fish. Sticking to his methods he is rarely required to feed his fish, and with the lack of a chemical presence he can keep the price of his fish low while they are among the healthiest and fastest growing fish on the market, with trophy largemouth bass being caught seven years after stock date. The fish farm’s inventory consists of channel catfish, blue gills, sunfish, largemouth bass, threadfin shad, fathead minnows and season stock of triploid grass carp, black crappies, and striped bass.
Leaves and Organic Build Up
This pond in Southern Ohio was filled with leaves and organic build up. The applicator treated it with VitaStim MD Pellets.
A lake management company in the Ft Meyers, Florida area tested the muck-removing abilities of our MD Pellets against another treatment in golf course ponds over two months. In the 60 day period, the muck levels in the pond treated with the competitor’s product increased by 3 inches. A nearby pond was left untreated as a control and lost 5 inches of muck during the study. In the same time, MD Pellets removed a full foot of bottom sludge, or half of the muck in its pond. WITHIN THE SIXTY DAYS of treatment, MD Pellets degraded an entire foot of muck, exactly half the muck in its test lake.
This is in contrast to the control lake, which lost 5 inches of muck, and the lake treated with the competitor’s product, which
despite having the least muck to begin with, ended up gaining 3 inches of muck.
These particular lakes illustrate what can be a common problem in Southern Florida: being surrounded by heavily manicured
lawns and near the ocean can result in large deposits of organic matter, and the year-round warm temperatures create a perfect
environment for high muck production. MD Pellets negate the need for constant treatment by intergrating themselves into
the lake ecosystem and growing stronger with inch of muck they degrade. Their high germination rate means the work for
applicators is cut in half.
The Muckity-Muck of Your Pond
Summer is here, you’re sitting on the deck enjoying the birds, fish, frogs and just reveling in amazement at how beautiful your pond is. Summer is a wonderful time to enjoy your pond and it’s also a wonderful time for a variety of plants to grow. These may include alga and nuisance aquatic weeds. Warm water and nutrients can make several species proliferate.
For those of us who built brand new ponds, it’s important we take healthy steps in this infant pond’s development. This would include aeration, stocking the right kinds and sizes of fish, and choosing what aquatic plants you prefer to have growing rather than completely letting Mother Nature decide. For new ponds, it’s about creating the right balance so your ecosystem is in harm. In some parts of the country this may also involve adding lime or fertilizer, depending upon what’s dissolved in your water. If you add bacterial cultures to these ponds, do so sparingly as these fresh bodies of water can have very limited activity of all types and a little dab will do ya.
For those of us with more established ponds, or ponds that have been neglected, it’s about picking your battle each summer. Find one or two things you can do to improve water quality and slow the growth of “bad” plants. Remember this, aquatic plants need three fundamental things to be able to grow. They need sunlight, temperature, and food. If ponds like this have a layer of muck mostly of biodegradable organic matter in the bottom, then we suggest physically dredging the pond or using a bacterial product in the bottom to remove muck. Beneficial microbes working with aeration can break down some of this muck, thus removing food from the rooted plants we don’t like. We focus on managing the muck in older ponds as this is a rich source of nutrients and will often cause turbidity in the pond.
As always, any time you are trying to control alga or aquatic plants, consult with a local lake management applicator. There are so many types of aquatic plants and so many chemistries available to control the different situations, we always suggest finding field biologists who know plants and are careful with the environment. This means they know how to use the least chemistry with the most benefit.
For you do-it-yourselfers, please be cautious. It’s very important to understand the “cause and effect” you will create any time you treat a pond. That holds true for both herbicides and aeration. Identify the “problem” before you offer a solution. Oftentimes, the problem is not the plants, but what is available that caused the plants to grow.
Summer is also a dynamic time because weather can dictate much of the health of your pond. Drought can have an impact as our friends in Texas saw last summer. Heavy rains in other parts of the country wash in leaves, grass, and nutrients. Floods can exchange nutrients, and extended periods of cool, cloudy weather can completely disrupt the chemistry of some ponds. For ponds that experienced a drought the year before and the pond was refilled with fresh rainwater, expect that water to green up quick as that ponds nutrients have concentrated in the soils and will easily dissolve into the water.
The biggest single issue that ponds f, ace in the summer is lower dissolved oxygen concentration. Warmer water has lower oxygen solubility. This is when it pays the most to have an aeration system. If you see fish coming to the surface looking for air then you know you need aeration. But, by then it’s too late.
So, summer is a time of activity inside the water column. Pay close attention to the volume and types, of aquatic plants which grow. If your pond is older and has a buildup of muck, consider what it would take to begin to convert that muck to its basic nutr, , , , , ients and, , to bind them where they can’t create a situation where your pond’s health is at risk.
Learn the symptoms and you’ll be able to identify potential problems and be proactive. See chart below.
If you are noticing any of these issues this chart should give you some options to choose from. Water clarity varies from pond to pond and it really varies depending on the environment. Some ponds are not meant to be crystal clear while others just naturally stay clear. Study the chart and study your pond. The more you learn the better you will get and the better your pond will thrive.
| Symptom |
Diagnosis |
Solutions |
| Green mats floating on surface |
Filamentous algae |
Reduce nutrient levels |
| Pea soup water |
Planktonic algae |
Reduce nutrient levels
Use algaecides
Use bacterial catalysts |
| Rotten egg odor |
Hydrogen sulfide |
Improve aeration
Reduce slu, dge and muck |
| Manure type odor |
Typically blue-green algae dying at night |
Control algae |
| White scum on surface |
Buildup of proteins, often caused by spawning |
Degrade proteins with enzymes
Improve circulation of pond |
| Ammonia or Nitrite present |
Nitrifying organisms are insufficient concentration |
Add nitrifiers
Reduce chemical and copper use |
| Cloudy water in decorative ponds |
Too much muck, sediment, or clay
Bacteria, protozoa or zooplankton |
Chemical precipitation
Polymer precipitation
Reduce muck |
| Invasive plants |
Plant must first be identified |
Chemical treatment or Physical removal |
| pH over 8 |
Alkaline water or algae bloom |
Control algae
Use select bacteria cultures
Chemically precipitate algae |
| pH under 7 |
Acid water or high in tannins |
Aeration
Add lime or gypsum |
