Pond creatures

[Bill Stock]

I brought some pond plants inside to start my planted aquarium. They're
starting to look pretty good, but I've just started to notice some critters
on the Hornwort. This will eventually be a community tank and GF vegetable
farm. So I have to kill off all the critters.

They are small brown balls (sort of curled up) where the leaves of the plant
meet the stem of the plant. What are these, snails?

Pinging the Snail Queen! :)

TIA

[Ka30P]

Bill wrote
>They are small brown balls (sort of curled up) where the leaves of the plant
>meet the stem of the plant. What are these, snails?

I do believe they are snail poop.
You can do the poor man's microscope.
Use a white dish, a maginifying glass and a flashlight to get a real good look
at it, them.


kathy :-)
3000 gallon pond
800 gallon frog bog
home of the watergardening labradors
zone 7 SE WA state

[Bill Stock]

"Ka30P" > wrote in message
...
> Bill wrote
> >They are small brown balls (sort of curled up) where the leaves of the
plant
> >meet the stem of the plant. What are these, snails?
>
> I do believe they are snail poop.
> You can do the poor man's microscope.
> Use a white dish, a maginifying glass and a flashlight to get a real good
look
> at it, them.

Snail Turds! :)

Funnny, I don't recall seeing them before. I don't think I have snails?

How big should these things be Kathy? They're range in size from the tip of
a pencil to the size of a BB.

Thanks.

[Ka30P]

Hmmm, well if you don't have snails....
Do you have access to a magnifying glass and flashlight? Let's get a good luck
at these.
I think the thing you should be worried about is if these things eat plants
since I think your OP said you were going to grow the plants indoors over the
winter?
There are many pond critters that just eat detritus.
Anyway if you can isolate a couple of these things with some plant matter and
then watch to see what they do...
Let us know!
(This is one of my favorite things to do, bring in odd and strange things and
see what happens!)


kathy :-)
3000 gallon pond
800 gallon frog bog
home of the watergardening labradors
zone 7 SE WA state

[Bill Stock]

"Ka30P" > wrote in message
...
>
> Hmmm, well if you don't have snails....
> Do you have access to a magnifying glass and flashlight? Let's get a good
luck
> at these.
> I think the thing you should be worried about is if these things eat
plants
> since I think your OP said you were going to grow the plants indoors over
the
> winter?
> There are many pond critters that just eat detritus.
> Anyway if you can isolate a couple of these things with some plant matter
and
> then watch to see what they do...
> Let us know!
> (This is one of my favorite things to do, bring in odd and strange things
and
> see what happens!)

I think they might be fly larvae.

They've got two body parts. a very small head and a larger body. Surrounded
by a bubble of oxygen. I can actually see them moving along the stems of the
Hornwort if I wait long enough.

[Ka30P]

Bill wrote >I think they might be fly larvae.
>They've got two body parts. a very small head and a larger body. Surrounded
>by a bubble of oxygen. I can actually see them moving along the stems of the
>Hornwort if I wait long enough

This reminds me of some caddis fly larva that I think I had in my filter a
couple of years ago. They don't eat plants but they might hatch indoors with
the warmer temperatures. If they are hard to round up you could cover the
aquarium (or container) with a double layer of netting to keep them from flying
around the house.




kathy :-)
3000 gallon pond
800 gallon frog bog
home of the watergardening labradors
zone 7 SE WA state

[Benign Vanilla]

"Ka30P" > wrote in message
...
> Bill wrote >I think they might be fly larvae.
> >They've got two body parts. a very small head and a larger body.
Surrounded
> >by a bubble of oxygen. I can actually see them moving along the stems of
the
> >Hornwort if I wait long enough
>
> This reminds me of some caddis fly larva that I think I had in my filter a
> couple of years ago. They don't eat plants but they might hatch indoors
with
> the warmer temperatures. If they are hard to round up you could cover the
> aquarium (or container) with a double layer of netting to keep them from
flying
> around the house.

We had a few damsel flies flitting around the house for the winter last
year. LOL.

BV.

[Nedra]

Oh How neat, BV! I wish had some pretty damsel flies in the house :(

Nedra
"Benign Vanilla" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Ka30P" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Bill wrote >I think they might be fly larvae.
> > >They've got two body parts. a very small head and a larger body.
> Surrounded
> > >by a bubble of oxygen. I can actually see them moving along the stems
of
> the
> > >Hornwort if I wait long enough
> >
> > This reminds me of some caddis fly larva that I think I had in my filter
a
> > couple of years ago. They don't eat plants but they might hatch indoors
> with
> > the warmer temperatures. If they are hard to round up you could cover
the
> > aquarium (or container) with a double layer of netting to keep them from
> flying
> > around the house.
>
> We had a few damsel flies flitting around the house for the winter last
> year. LOL.
>
> BV.
>
>

[Bill Stock]

"Ka30P" > wrote in message
...
>
> Hmmm, well if you don't have snails....

[snip]

Well I've got snails NOW, hundreds of snails.

How big do these things get?

They've got a translucent bronze shell, white head and dark brown rear. The
biggest is about 3/16" long (so far).

Time to find a community fish who likes snails.

[Ka30P]

Bill wrote >How big do these things (snails) get?<

Depends on the snail and I'm not very good at telling which kind are which.

Robyn has a good snail page
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/snail.htm

In my pond koi love snails.



kathy :-)
3000 gallon pond
800 gallon frog bog
home of the watergardening labradors
zone 7 SE WA state

[Benign Vanilla]

"Nedra" > wrote in message
nk.net...
> Oh How neat, BV! I wish had some pretty damsel flies in the house :(
<snip>

I had taken some duckweed in to store in an aquarium, and my wife swore she
was seeing something ind swimming in the tank. I argued that she was crazy.
Until I saw the nymphs, and then the flies.

It was very cool.

BV.

[Benign Vanilla]

"Ka30P" > wrote in message
...
> Bill wrote >How big do these things (snails) get?<
>
> Depends on the snail and I'm not very good at telling which kind are
which.
>
> Robyn has a good snail page
> http://www.fishpondinfo.com/snail.htm
>
> In my pond koi love snails.

Snails go crazy in my pond every year, but the fish keep them in check.

BV.

P.S. Some more snail info here, http://www.iheartmypond.com/Animals/Snails/.

[Bill Stock]

"Benign Vanilla" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Ka30P" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Bill wrote >How big do these things (snails) get?<
> >
> > Depends on the snail and I'm not very good at telling which kind are
> which.
> >
> > Robyn has a good snail page
> > http://www.fishpondinfo.com/snail.htm
> >
> > In my pond koi love snails.
>
> Snails go crazy in my pond every year, but the fish keep them in check.
>
> BV.
>
> P.S. Some more snail info here,
http://www.iheartmypond.com/Animals/Snails/.


Thanks.

I think they're Stagnant Pond Snails, but they're still rather small.
They're a bronze colour and come to the surface to breathe. I may get some
Clown Loaches to clean them up, before I stock the tank. Although I read
they're susceptible to disease.


I had flies in the GF tank last winter too. Didn't see any Damsels or Nymphs
though.

[Benign Vanilla]

"Bill Stock" > wrote in message
...
<snip>
> I think they're Stagnant Pond Snails, but they're still rather small.
> They're a bronze colour and come to the surface to breathe. I may get some
> Clown Loaches to clean them up, before I stock the tank. Although I read
> they're susceptible to disease.
>
>
> I had flies in the GF tank last winter too. Didn't see any Damsels or
Nymphs
> though.

I had a gold ball sized Snail in my tank last year. My loach took 'em out in
just a few days.

BV.

[Derek Broughton]

Benign Vanilla wrote:

>
> "Bill Stock" > wrote in message
> ...
> <snip>
>> I think they're Stagnant Pond Snails, but they're still rather small.
>> They're a bronze colour and come to the surface to breathe. I may get
>> some Clown Loaches to clean them up, before I stock the tank. Although I
>> read they're susceptible to disease.
>>
>>
>> I had flies in the GF tank last winter too. Didn't see any Damsels or
> Nymphs
>> though.
>
> I had a gold ball sized Snail in my tank last year. My loach took 'em out
> in just a few days.
>
A Gold, ball-sized, Snail? Real gold? Even a small ball would set you up
in pond plants for years :-)
--
derek

[Benign Vanilla]

"Derek Broughton" > wrote in message
...
> Benign Vanilla wrote:
>
> >
> > "Bill Stock" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > <snip>
> >> I think they're Stagnant Pond Snails, but they're still rather small.
> >> They're a bronze colour and come to the surface to breathe. I may get
> >> some Clown Loaches to clean them up, before I stock the tank. Although
I
> >> read they're susceptible to disease.
> >>
> >>
> >> I had flies in the GF tank last winter too. Didn't see any Damsels or
> > Nymphs
> >> though.
> >
> > I had a gold ball sized Snail in my tank last year. My loach took 'em
out
> > in just a few days.
> >
> A Gold, ball-sized, Snail? Real gold? Even a small ball would set you up
> in pond plants for years :-)

Oops. I meant Golf-ball of course. I guess that's what I get for not running
a psell check before hitting send.

BV.