Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Snails crap!

Well after working 12 hours in 120 degree heat yesterday. Not exaggerating. I came home to relax beside pond and feed fish. I went to wash the fish food powder from hands and that's when I saw them. I now have thousands of snails. They appear to be the local variety in the creeks and rivers in area. I'm trying to figure out how they might of got in pond and multiplied so fast. All of them I noticed are in the juvenile stage. How long ago would the pond have to of been contaminated to get to this point? Do GBH carry snails on feet? i stocked CC and HBG in october last year after first fill. Another stocking in spring of YP and HSB in spring. Then some SMB from creek mid july. In some places it's black spots as deep as you can see. I'll try to make video later. What are the pros if any to having snails. I'm pretty sure their are a bunch of cons. One more note. The pond hasn't even had water in for a year yet. Thanks guys.

You have RES?

No. I was just reading about them. Will my SMB and HSB be able to control there populations? I would like to figure out how these snails got in pond. Can fish be infected with snails when stocked and contaminate pond?

http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/lunged-aquatic-snails-pulmonate-pond-snails

Hmmmmmmmm............ You moved fish from another body of water to yours - a "wild" body of water. Did you give the fish a salt dip before you put them in your pond, or did you just dump them in with the water from that BOW? If the latter, you could have had some snail hitchhikers in the water, although they usually stay attached to whatever they were crawling on.

Snails are part of the life cycle in swimmers itch.

I'd start looking now where I could source a few hunderd RES.

I put the SMB in 1 by 1 carefully inspecting them for leeches. I did not dump any water from creek into the pond. Do you think in a month and half since putting the SMB in they could have reached these numbers. Will 300 RES fish be to many for a quarter acre pond?right now I have 100 CC that I stocked last October. Pretty sure they all died over the winter as I have not seen or caught one. 100 HBG, 25 HSB, 20 SMB, and 25 YP. Thanks esshup.

Snails are not that big a deal. Take a breather... Stock 50-100 3"+ RES and if they are your normal pond snails, between them, YP and CC their numbers will drop fast. Snails could have come into your pond in one of many ways. They are far more likely to hitchhike on a bird than say eggs of a fish and live. If you bucket stocked or even from a hatchery, they could have come in that way as well. Snails sometimes just find their way. I wouldn't stress out over them. I like having snails in my pond. I introduced a few different species to increase the food chain.

I guess I need new glasses and a brain adjustment.

I keep opening this thread while thinking it says Sunil's Crap!.

On a more serious note, I think Travis (CJBS) and Scott (ESSHUP) hit the target.



I fully agree with all that both say. I'd be very concerned about having moved fish from public waters.

I also don't think that you can see most white grubs, yellow grubs, or black spot on/in live fish -- except in the most serious stages.

The addition of RES is probably the best suggestion, unless you want to start over.

I wouldn't sweat it. I'll bet most ponds in the midwest have snails. I know mine do....and we swim in them, and eat the fish from them. You have to realize that despite all of our hands-on management, we're still dealing with ponds after all....I believe there will always be surprises, exceptions, disappointments, triumphs, tribulations, and setbacks.....that's just how it is. Unless you place it under a giant plexiglass dome, you're going to have to contend with stuff like this. Seldom, if ever, are such events apocalyptic in nature.

I would consider said events, (and snails in general), the norm, rather than the exception.

I agree with CJ. I thought the pond was closer to 1 ac in size.

Like what sprkplug said, some things we'll never know. I was walking around in one small area of my pond today barefoot and felt something funny. Pulled it up and it was Chara in about 3-4' of water. Where did it come from? I have no idea.

Thanks guys. I guess I should look at the bright side. I get to add another species to pond and signature line. LOL! Now to source some RES.

Chara was the first living plant life-form in my pond, it was growing the first spring after my pond filled. That stuff must have spoors/pieces long buried on the soil that just wait until conditions are right. Now it is all over the place, but provides some interesting structure in the pond the fish seem to enjoy. Always see the larger fish hanging around the larger clumps of it while hunting. Cattails were the second addition, they were coming up like grass all over the inside basin of the pond, including down deep. Seeds must have been in the soil waiting for proper conditions.

Please post a picture of your snails.

Cattail seeds can travel for miles on the wind.

I'll try to get outside and get some pics today.

Ok, here is best I could get my phone.





I'm not sure I would be going out on limb if I said there were hundreds of thousands of them. These are the biggest and they get small down to we're you have to close eye a rock to see them.

They look like common pond snails to me. Delicious snack for RES and their shells are so thin, even BG will feed on them.

Call me crazy, but one of those little fellas looks a lot like Abe Lincoln!!!

There also seems to be a bunch of Snail Crap!

You're gonna have one cool pond with all those species. It will be very interesting to see if the SMB you added get any recruitment.

Those are the common pond snail technically named genus Physella. Yellow perch will also eat quite a few of them since they have thin shells. They have the thinnest shells of most all snail species. RES will grow fast getting those snails under control.

Thanks everybody.

Possibly stupid question... What do snails eat? Is it possible that the population would be controlled due to limited food?

Water snail mainly feed on the algae along with the microscopic creatures that naturally live on the algae. They will also consume some aquatic vegetation and detritus.

Technically, that may be correct.

But Snails also clean cars

Where did you come up with that video. Lol!