Any chance of killing off scuds?

[Rico1234]

Hi. I have a 90 gallon poly pond thats been a lot of fun for about 6 or 7 years. Only now, last year I started noticing scuds. I know there's a lot of discussion about the usefulness of scuds in a pond, however they cause me one big problem. They clog the holes in my fountain head. And more than once now I have come home from a day of work only to find my pond nearly empty. They can clog the head so bad, I end up with one stream jetting all the water out of the pond. It may be fine for weeks with only minor de-clogging on a daily basis but I know eventually within a few weeks I may suffer "the big one" while I'm away.

I have a self contained submersible filter and pump with UV, Bio balls and two different weaves of mesh filter.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm going to look for a finer mesh filter but I dont think thats the ultimate solution.

Thank you.

 

[sissy]

OK must be a dummy but what is a scud .Is it some type of snail

 

[Ruben Miranda]

@sissy
OK must be a dummy but what is a scud .Is it some type of snail

I think it is a missle lol

Not sure what a stud is either but he might be talking about calcium build up and building up and clogging up the
The.small fountain holes.

I would put some kind of pre filter on the pond and I would also recommend putting the pump up on a block or something.
That will eliminate it draining the pond down. The pump will burn up but your fish will be able to survive.

Ruben

 

[sissy]

or scum .like algae build up .Does your pump have a foam prefilter

 

[Rico1234]

Hahaha...they're bugs. Some sort of cross between tiny shrimps and rolly pollys. Technically I think they are in the Arthropod class. Around a quarter inch long, lots of legs. My fish don't seem interested in eating them.

 

[mrsclem]

Pond scuds
Discussion in 'Newbies to Garden Ponds' started by pikaki, Oct 6, 2014.

Seems someone else had the same problem with these critters

 

[Meyer Jordan]

They are part of many freshwater ecosystems. You may remove them by completely draining and cleaning the pond, but this is no guarantee that they won't return.
Fish normally will keep the population under control. Do you have fish? What specie?

 

[sissy]

I have no clue what a rolly polly is but I know what a shrimp looks like .I guess I am not educated on bugs enough .I stay away from them as far as I can ,because they either bite or creep me out .That is coming from a girl who was raised on a farm .Chickens and my brother and dad did bug patrol Not a bug I want to meet

 

[Rico1234]

They are part of many freshwater ecosystems. You may remove them by completely draining and cleaning the pond, but this is no guarantee that they won't return.
Fish normally will keep the population under control. Do you have fish? What specie?

Shubunkins and comets. I think you're right. I may just need to transfer the fish and do a reset. I use a crappy siphon for cleaning and I know I'm not getting all the gunk out. Thanks!

 

[Mmathis]

Your fish don't eat them? Mine love them. Gee, if we were neighbors, I'd take them all off your hands in a heartbeat! When I clean my filters and have to "sacrifice" the scuds [that I'm not able to pick out], I feel so guilty....

@sissy They are crustaceans, omnivorous little critters that help break down debris. You've probably seen them, just didn't know what they were called [also called side-swimmers]. Note: these are Google images.

 

[sissy]

I have never seen those before .I have never even seen them in my filters and I looked after you posted this .i can see they are tiny but none in my filters .Some of them look big so how big can they get .Maybe we do not get warm enough for them or they are just not around here .

 

[Mmathis]

I have never seen those before .I have never even seen them in my filters and I looked after you posted this .i can see they are tiny but none in my filters .Some of them look big so how big can they get .Maybe we do not get warm enough for them or they are just not around here .

I think the size of the ones in the hand are about the max size. They don't get huge, and they don't reproduce in great numbers if I remember what I've read about them. When I first found them in my filter I freaked out and thought they were some horrible predator, LOL! But now I try to save as many as I can. Even the ones not in the filters [ those are inaccessible to the fish] serve double-duty at yummy fish treats!

 

[sissy]

Well at least now if I ever see them I will not freak out .I would be yelling there are shrimp in the pond get the hot sauce

 

[Jimmy Gibson]

I have no clue what a rolly polly is but I know what a shrimp looks like .I guess I am not educated on bugs enough .I stay away from them as far as I can ,because they either bite or creep me out .That is coming from a girl who was raised on a farm .Chickens and my brother and dad did bug patrol Not a bug I want to meet

 

[sissy]

never seen them either and hope not too .We have enough problems with stink bugs and lady bugs invasions .Those I don't want ,they are ugly things We even get the black lady bugs that smell like stink bugs and they will cover parts of buildings .