I noticed some very large looking snails this summer all along the shores. I meant to look them up and today it crossed my to do list and I did some googling. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I have the Chinese (or Japanese) mystery snails in abundance!
Since my pond has no inlet and no outlet, these probably came from my not so helpful neighbor who emptied his aquarium into my pond the day before he moved out of the house. Another reason to enforce (as best as one can) the NO BUCKET STOCKING rule.
Not sure the impact on my pond yet. They seem to multiply like rabbits. Not sure if filtering the water will be helpful or harmful. I also know my RES will not be able to control their numbers at least the adults as they get very big!
Some articles:
Big snails in small ponds MSU extension article Anyone else have these? Any other pros or cons to report in ponds that do have these?
My snails seem to stay in about 3" of water in the shallows so I can rake them out easily enough but how many are there in the deep?
I can try to post pictures but they seem to match the online images.
