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#220473 06/07/10 07:06 AM
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This may be a stupid question but I am interseted in opinions. When I first stocked my new 2 ac. pond Sept '05 I put 200 snails that i purchased from a hatchery in it. Sometime after that I added about 50 more from a local pond. When I drained the pond last month to repair a leak there were literally thousands of snails crawling to stay in the water. It was amazing how many there were.

Can you have too many snails? If so what is the consequence? What eats the mature snails in deep water? When I restock should I go with another 200 to start?

I had a problem getting an algae bloom before even with aggressive fertilization and never got water clarity below 4'. I also had an unwanted BB population.

Thanks in advance for any replies.



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Red Ear Sunfish (RES) seem an obvious choice. They are known to be prolific snail hunters, hence their nickname "shell crackers."


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Snails can be bad news. They can be hosts for numerous parasites and even get them from birds and pass them on to your fish. If you swim in your pond, they can give you a nice dose of swimmer's itch.

My favorite bg/sf, the RES. Shellcrackers at least keep them down if not out. Although I think there is a place for every critter in every pond, I'm not a big fan of snails. I agree with JHAP. You just can't get too many RES.

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What about freshwater drum? I don't know if there's a source out there, but maybe there should be. They eat snails, produce floating eggs (per Travis), which makes me think predation would keep a population down, plus they're a great sport and table fish. Anyone considered this?

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About the time I made my initial fish stocking, I had a huge snail infestation. I could swipe a dip
net, and catch 20-50 on each swipe. 3 years later, I rarely catch one. I do have RES, though I have
trouble believing they ate that many snails. For a while, I had 3 mallards constantly dabbling
around the banks, but finally ran them off. Or maybe they ate all the snails and decided to leave
on their own. I have a pretty large crawfish population, so maybe they helped too.

bobad #220523 06/07/10 11:53 AM
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OK. So are the snails good or bad?



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Let me rephrase this. In the opinion of experts would you stock a pond with snails or not? is there a problem with having a lot of snails?



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PF mentioned the primary problem with snails, Bill Cody has mentioned this in the past as well. Snails can be hosts to parasites that can effect your fish. In addition, as PF said, this can give you "swimmers itch." We use to have that problem in our pond. Once we added RES the problem was greatly diminished - in fact we haven't had any of the "swimmers itch" since we added the RES.

I don't recall anyone "stocking" snails in the past. That's not to say that it isn't done - - it's just not common.

If your pond were mine I'd add RES to get rid of the snails.

Hold on for more opinions.




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Zetts in WV sells Japanese Trapdoor, Pond and Ramshorn snails.
Bullheads too! JHAP, want to send a care package to Sunil? grin


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esshup #220635 06/08/10 06:38 AM
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To answer the question, I can't think of anything good about any species that can be considered a parasite.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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All the snails will be dead as I am redoing the bottom to fix a leak. I had thousands of snails in there from the original stocking. I was wondering if there is a benefit to stocking snails again when I refill the pond or simply leave them out?



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Mark, I'd say your best bet is to just leave them out. Plenty of downsides to them and, unless you have fish or other species that eat them, not really any upsides, unless you like the red welt look and fish with weird appendages hanging off of them from parasitic growth! laugh

Seriously, I think there's been enough input here to convince me that the snails I have in my pond - they were already there, I didn't put them in - are going to have a date with some RES beginning this year possibly.

Like esshup mentioned, Zetts over near Martinsburg sells snails, but is the only fish supplier I've seen that actually recommends snails in several of their stocking "packages." I don't think I'd put them back in, though, if I were you.

Go Mountaineers! Less than 3 months to kickoff!


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esshup #220675 06/08/10 10:26 AM
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Originally Posted By: esshup
Zetts in WV sells Japanese Trapdoor, Pond and Ramshorn snails.
Bullheads too! JHAP, want to send a care package to Sunil? grin


Tempting but I'm in the process of procuring an order of Pacific Banana Slugs and turning them into Banana Slug jerky for Sunil.

I know he likes his jerky.


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Originally Posted By: Mark Brown
Let me rephrase this. In the opinion of experts would you stock a pond with snails or not? is there a problem with having a lot of snails?


Not.

Yes, there can be many problems already mentioned.

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I got the original snails - and BB from Zett's. That's 2 strikes against them. Why on earth would they recommend snails when all I hear are negatives?

Todd, I went to BE tournament, Syracuse and Indy for the final 4> I am not sure I am emotionally ready yet for football.



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Snails I think have a role in an aquairium setting for algae control, but no clue why they'd be recommended for a pond ecosystem. I'd stock RES ASAP - they will make quick work of the population.


Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

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Originally Posted By: Mark Brown
I got the original snails - and BB from Zett's. That's 2 strikes against them. Why on earth would they recommend snails when all I hear are negatives?

Todd, I went to BE tournament, Syracuse and Indy for the final 4> I am not sure I am emotionally ready yet for football.


How awesome is that, Mark! Glad to hear you made those trips - I'm envious! And because I DIDN'T go to any of those venues, I am absolutely ready for football season!


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Originally Posted By: Mark Brown
I got the original snails - and BB from Zett's. That's 2 strikes against them. Why on earth would they recommend snails when all I hear are negatives?

Todd, I went to BE tournament, Syracuse and Indy for the final 4> I am not sure I am emotionally ready yet for football.



$$$ easy money.

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Originally Posted By: The Pond Frog


Originally Posted By: Mark Brown
Todd, I went to BE tournament, Syracuse and Indy for the final 4> I am not sure I am emotionally ready yet for football.



$$$ easy money.


On what, PF? WVU football or WVU basketball?! grin


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I think he meant it was easy money for the hatchery to sell me snails when I posed the rhetorical question about why would they sell them to me if they create problems-not our sports teams.



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laugh


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Just curious.....Can you boil and eat them???

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Last edited by andedammen; 06/10/10 03:13 AM.

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Now I know more about snails than I ever wanted to.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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Originally Posted By: hang_loose
Just curious.....Can you boil and eat them???


If they're like what's in my pond, the biggest are not quite even the size of a pencil eraser. And I've eaten snails before - kind of like swallowing a bunch of phlegm covered in garlic butter in my opinion. Not much different than how I perceive oysters - snot with cocktail sauce! grin


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