I have searched the sight and read a string about common pond snails that seem to view them as "undesirable" in a farm pond. In my home tropical fish aquarium we spontaneously have hatched hundreds of what I believe to be trumpet snails. I have not added fish or plants for over a year and they just seemed to appear out of thin air. (long, skinny cone shaped with largest about 1/2 inch long. ) One of our ponds in East Texas has RES in it, but I have never seen any snails in that pond. I have contemplated adding these snails to the pond to help the RES. Am I crazy? What risks am I assuming if I add them and would this type of snail be appealing to the RES?
The only downside that I see is that snails are vectors for swimmers itch.
Yeah I has snails at first in my pond and I had some issues with black speck and flashing and some sores on my fish. I got 150 RES and I have not had an issue since after about a year my fish looked great! I would not put snails in my pond on purpose!
RC
Thanks for the input gents. I think I will leave the snails in my aquarium!
You may not so much as be able to start a snail population with adult RES established. If there is a population, it'll be limited. Likely, if they can survive in your pond, they're already there.
A controlled snail population doesn't mean wantom disease and parasites will affect/infect swimmers, just slightly inceases the chances. Then there's the benefit of an additional food niche for your RES. As long as you have a healthy bunch of RES, snails have little chance of overpopulating.
Put some large RES in your aquarium and Presto, no more snails!
I come from a naturalist point of view in that the waters I find most interesting have a variety of life for a balance of what life must have been like before humans. I put snails into my pond. The common snails are just there but I put in the Ramshorn Snails and freshwater mussels that I found still surviving in a rare unpolluted stream in my county.
I too have purposely added snails and freshwater muscles since they occupy a spot on the pond ecosystem that I wanted. I have yet to notice any parasites on my fish, but my pond is less than a year old. I also don't use it for swimming.
I find freshwater mussels opened and likely consumed by a raccoon or some predator on the shore of my pond frequently and I never put them there. They must have a way of burrowing through the "sugar sand" deep in the underground springs.
If you added water plants with any soil attached, they may have hitch hiked in.
I have had trapdoor snails and freshwater mussels in my pond for 6 years and no ill effects. We swim in our pond.
We once put some random species of creek snails in our fish tank... Long story short, we soon had hundreds and they stopped up the pumps/filters...