Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain snails floating to the surface

I have alot of snails in my pond and occasionally I see them floating enmass on the surface. I really don't have a problem with the snails as my bluegill eat them, and I don't have much of a parasite problem as I keep away the herons that complete the parasite cycle. I've never seen "black grubs" and only saw a yellow grub inoneof my bass back when I didn't keep the herons away. My dog is so well trained now to tell me when a heron tries to slip in she gets hyper when a housefinch lands on the deck!

My question is this: Are the floating snails a way for the snails to distribute themselves and a natural thing? This may occur during turnover -"spring and fall" so I'm thinking it may have something to do with that.

Any snail experts out there? These are small brown snails about the size of a pea that typically litter the bottom near shore. I know if I wanted to I could make a serious dent in them by planting redears (shellcrakers), but since spawning areas are limited I don't want redear/bluegill hybrids. I sell large bluegills to other taxidermist and purity is important.

Thanks,

Cecil

Don't know if this helps but I have seen them feeding on the surface. They hang upside down using the water surface tension to hold themselves up. They use their foot to hold on and then graze any detrius caught in the water surface film.