In this fall update on my Japanese style medaka biotope, I’m just going to cut to the chase—this is the worst it’s looked, period. I had a legit hair algae outbreak, and it got way heavier than I’ve seen in this pond so far. So in the video I jump into some quick maintenance: I pull out a bunch of that hair algae, top off the water (it’s been evaporating a lot), and then fix my little waterfall because it was dumping flow out the back instead of the front. The big takeaway is why it happened. It’s October, it’s cooling off, but this spot on my front porch actually gets the most sun this time of year because leaves are starting to drop and that late summer/early fall sun hits hard in the afternoon. That extra heat and light kicked the algae up—same reason my Japanese maple in the same spot started getting crispy leaves after being fine all year. I also talk through why I didn’t remove every bit of algae: I actually want those light-colored rocks to get covered in algae/moss so they look more natural, and the fish really like the overgrown plant cover. Everything’s still healthy and growing—I’m just keeping it functional and letting the pond evolve into fall.