CW's Back Yard Water Garden Begins!

[combatwombat]

Alright, moving forward w/ H2O2 treatment. I have 1 gallon of 12% concentrate. If I assume 10,000 gallons, using the whole gallon will bring the pond to a concentration of 12 ppm. That's on the high side for a single treatment on a pond full of fish, but might actually be on the low side for all the algae I need to zap.

Honestly, will probably be ineffective on the duck mites. Have read some accounts of commercial fish farms that treat parasites at 50 - 500 ppm. But hoping that the reduction of algae will also reduce the snail population leading to "bye bye duck mites."

I know this is treating the symptoms and not the root cause. Goal is to move to smaller maintenance doses for the rest of summer (assuming this one gets the bulk of the string algae) while also adding as many plants as I can. Plan to discontinue treatment as soon as I'm comfortable that the duck mites are gone and start removing string algae more frequently as it returns to prevent the snail population from getting out of control again.

Unfortunately, the only way I can figure out how to test for the mites is to stick my feet in the water for an hour and see how many itchy welts I have the next morning.

With luck, this will all be behind us by fall.

 

[GBBUDD]

They sure do when they poop out a bird

 

[combatwombat]

They sure do when they poop out a bird

I think I'm missing some context here.

 

[Jhn]

I think I'm missing some context here.

lol, think he is referring to a bullfrog eating a bird, which in turn would create alot of waste.

 

[j.w]

lol, think he is referring to a bullfrog eating a bird, which in turn would create alot of waste.

Thanks for hopefully clearing that up for us! You can have the job of interpreter for @GBBUDD from now on

 

[GBBUDD]

lol, think he is referring to a bullfrog eating a bird, which in turn would create alot of waste.

I have limited my fish population to 0! Do the frogs poop that much!? lol

got to keep up people

 

[Jhn]

Thanks for hopefully clearing that up for us! You can have the job of interpreter for @GBBUDD from now on

Is that a high paying job cause that sounds like a lot of work…

 

[Lisak1]

Is that a high paying job cause that sounds like a lot of work…

I think it's more the effect on one's mental health. Soon you'll find you understand him perfectly and then you know you're done for.

Duck mites and the old swimmer's itch... once you've had it, you never forget it.

 

[Jhn]

I think it's more the effect on one's mental health. Soon you'll find you understand him perfectly and then you know you're done for.

That is definitely the beginning of the end or it might be just the end.

 

[GBBUDD]

Come now thos site would be DEAD .. without good old Gb. OK so a little proof reading wouldn't kill me before I hit send. But that too is often a problem as I may miss the button and the text might sit there in limbo all day.

 

[combatwombat]

 

[j.w]

Well it looks spectacular! Sorry you can't use it to swim in now due to the itch bugs. It must be so hard to resist jumping in there w/these hot days we are now having. So how does one keep ducks out of a pond?

 

[combatwombat]

Quick thought: UV lamp to kill pathogen? Why not?

So how does one keep ducks out of a pond?

Good question. Don't know yet. Plan to just run them off when they arrive again. Have also read that raccoons can carry the parasite, and I've found some of the bog plants trampled lately, so it could also be coming from raccoons...

 

[TheFishGuy]

The pond looks great! UV lamp to kill the swimmers itch just might work…

 

[combatwombat]

Ok, a little more research this evening and I have a better handle on what's happening and feel confident that we'll be in the clear by winter even if earlier interventions fail. A couple important notes I didn't know before:

1. It can be carried by some mammals like raccoons and muskrats. The mallards were probably Patient 0, but we get frequent visits from raccoons who very well could be perpetuating the problem in our pond.
2. Infected snails will shed the parasite for life, but...
   • Snails do not pass the infection to each other, so once you eliminate the ducks/raccoons/etc from the pond, the parasite will be gone when the last generation of infected snails die.
   • Most snails cannot survive water below 50ºF. Our pond will likely hit this temp before end of November, so the winter should give us a hard reset. But if you live in a warmer climate, you're SOL because some snails can live 15 years in the right conditions!