snails?

[hawk2110]

I live in Iowa and my pond has recently thawed. I was out there fixing a rock that had fallen out of place and I noticed there were a couple small snails on the rock. Are snails ok to have in your pond? My pond has 2, 8inch koi and I will be adding 2 more small koi so they can reproduce to fill the pond in the future, and I have lillies and other plants in the pond. Also, are they ok if I bring one or two in the house to put in my 40 gallon aquarium?

 

[taherrmann4]

I have lots of small snails in my creeks and pond, haven't seen any problems with them. I also have some large trapdoor snails in there.

 

[addy1]

I have lots of snails, have a pond snails will come, just like frogs, they come from somewhere lol They have not caused any issues with the pond.

 

[KenG]

Being new to ponds I couldn't speak on that part but I do know that people add them to their aquariums and they assist with cleaning.

 

[taherrmann4]

I have some assassin snails in my aquarium, they seek out and kill the ones that reproduce by the hundreds, so they keep the population in check.

 

[Anthony Altorenna]

I've had good luck with snails in my pond, but very bad experiences with snails in my tropical aquariums -- they tend to multiply fast!

I would warn against bring a pond snail into your indoor aquarium -- unless it is for your pond fish. Snails carry parasites and bacteria that could be hazardous to your tropical fish. I'd suggest leaving the snails in the pond -- they eat decaying plant matter, and that's not bad for your pond!

 

[hawk2110]

thanks for all the quick feedback. Glad to hear they are fine to have in the outdoor pond. I am more than likely going to take the snail out of the aquarium since hearing they can become a problem after reproduction.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

We've been putting trumpet snails from the aquariums out in the pond, but they're not hardy enough to survive the Winter here. Good for helping with Summer cleaning, though. I just ordered a batch of Japanese trapdoor snails today though, hope they're as good as advertised.

 

[addy1]

I have a bunch of trapdoors in my pond, no algae. Can't say if it the snails, the bog, the weather or a combo of all.

 

[sissy]

To really clean a pond you would need a lot of snails .I got the trapdoor snails and they have had babies also .I think tadpoles do a better cleaning job if only for a short time .Here there are so many frogs and that means tons of tadpoles ,too many at times .

 

[Shdwdrgn]

I ordered a batch of 50 snails. I don't think they'll go hungry anytime soon, but hopefully that will be about the right amount to help keep things cleaner. I'm already seeing a hint of green water, and the algae is growing like crazy.

@addy - Its always been my belief that the best ponds rely on a wide variety of techniques to keep them clean. The more diversity you have, the better your chance for having a well-balanced low-maintenance pond. Plus it just feels like it mimics nature better that way.

 

[addy1]

Same here shdwdrgn, snails, plants, bog, fresh water from rain, mine has not given me any problems since I got the ph balanced out (5.6 ph well water) Water tests always perfect. Fish happy so far, cept they think I am not feeding them enough.

 

[Jeremy]

I've had good luck with snails in my pond, but very bad experiences with snails in my tropical aquariums -- they tend to multiply fast!

I would warn against bring a pond snail into your indoor aquarium -- unless it is for your pond fish. Snails carry parasites and bacteria that could be hazardous to your tropical fish. I'd suggest leaving the snails in the pond -- they eat decaying plant matter, and that's not bad for your pond!

Agreed.
I've heard that several species of flukes (One that can cause blindness in fish, and more than one which can be fatal)
have a life cycle which includes snails, birds, and fish, remove one of the three and you break the life cycle (IE if there are either no snails or no birds, then some species of fluke would be unable to infect the fish.)

 

[taherrmann4]

Addy where did you get your snails from?

 

[addy1]

Addy where did you get your snails from?

I bought them from tricker's. http://www.tricker.com/prod-s-trapdoorsnails
The ones they sent were good sized and if you buy quantity they were the cheapest I saw at the time. They sent more than 100, babies were born on the way, and they were all alive.

It sounds like sissy found a nice supplier too.