Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Trapdoor snail success!

Jwwann...let me know how it goes. Mine went in several months ago. I have not seen any of them since I threw them in. Hopefully the catfish didn't eat them all. A couple of days ago the guy building our log cabins caught a nine pound catfish. This weekend when I'm down there I'll ask him if when he cleaned Mr Whiskers if he saw any snails in the belly or any evidence of the dreaded and feared parasites.


this company has some info about them, and this company also sells the less invasive, but hard to find papershell crayfish:

http://www.smithcreekfishfarm.com/p-114-giant-trapdoor-snails.aspx

Aren't mystery snails a different animal than trap-door snails?

I was wondering the same thing. Everything I read about them was good including this thread untill i posted. Now I'm half scared I'm going to mess up my pond with parasites. I don't really care to add worms and black spot to my fishes flesh. Their already ordered so I gotta do something with them. I have space in aquiriums to house 25 or 30. Guess I will feed the rest to stray cats around my house if I decide not to add to pond.

Mystery snails are a different name for Trap Door snails from what I read. Live bearing, plant eating doesn't matter, they are an intermediate host for parasites that spend part of their life cycle in fish. The only way to disrupt the life cycle is to remove one of the hosts. Take your pick from Fish, Snails or Waterfowl/Herons. What would be easiest to keep out of your pond? If you want to swim in your pond, the same hosts are in the Swimmers Itch life cycle.......

Bobby:

Yes, some of those parasites that you see are from snails, some are from bivalves. RES won't live in upper Wi. due to the cold winters. The only other fish that could control those parasites are Pumpkinseeds, which will survive colder water than RES.

Thanks Esshup and Bill, you all have yet again prevented me from making a major mistake. What about my Koi in aquarium right now growing out? If I put some trapdoors in the tank will it infect the koi which intern will infect all my fish when released in pond. I think I might be over thinking all this.

After a casual search, apparently there are several names including scientific names available for these snails. There are at least two strains one in China and one in Japan. USGS lists several scientific names for them that are taxonomic synomyms (different names for the same species). Evidently they can consume lots of attached algae per snail probably due to their relative size. The Indiana reports they eat phytoplankton and zooplankton. Attached algae (periphyton) is an important part of the food chain for producing fish biomass.
If you can believe Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mystery_snail
USGS Factsheet:
http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=1046
Some good information from Indiana DNR.
http://www.in.gov/dnr/files/CHINESE_MYSTERY_SNAIL.pdf

If the snails that are going in the aquarium were outside and exposed to bird feces, then it's a possibility. If you have snails in the pond now, then when the fish are moved out there, it's a possibility.

Read this

and this (more pictures and details)

Holly crap balls! Those dang herons feasting on my fish can crap snails into my pond too. Just one more reason to 3S those things.

You pay shipping and there yours. Not sure what it would cost to two day them.
Anybody know if its legal for a supplier to ship a species to state where they are considered invasive? Maybe I can follow bings advise and get this shipment aborted.

I just sent message to seller asking for refund because they are invasive in my state. Not sure how this will work out with it being eBay. I looked at status and it says not shipped yet.

The fact that you bought it on eBay works in your favor. The seller is likely responsible for knowing the legality of what he is selling. If they aren't responsive, and if you used a credit card you can have it removed from your bill. EBay also has a buyers protective policy that you can look into. Your seller will likely want to work with you because you can also give him a negative rating on eBay which sellers hate to get. One way or another you are in the drivers seat.

jwwann, here in Missouri, our conservation laws are "Restrictive", meaning if any species is not made specifically "legal" it is illegal!

The seller still has not contacted me or shipped snails. Missouri was not on his list of forbidden states on eBay page. Hopefully I hear something soon.

Called missouri department of conservation and they are indeed illegal. The seller then told me they are bred in missouri and are legal. I then called missouri department of conservations fisheries biologist. He said do not bring those things into this state. Then contacted seller again and got order canceled. He wanted phone numbers to the people I had talked to because he could get in lots of trouble shipping them here. I gave him the numbers. Thanks again everybody for not only stopping from making a huge mistake, but an illegal one. Wow!

Money officially refunded.

Cool! Glad that it worked out in your favor.