Snails

[FlutterChin]

I want to ad snails to my pond to help control algea...any suggestions on where to buy from? I was thinking apple snails. I hope to hear from some one.

[Jackie Ramo]

Kathy is orur local snail expert. Apple snails are cool but you have to bring them in for the winter here, not sure about there but they don't like the cold. Local fish store usually carry them and other snails.

[Tamianth]

Mostly snails of any kind are going to clean up the dead & dying leaves on plants. Rams will eat anything, and Apples like the dead & decaying foliage. They are not much effective with algae, that tends to be more myth then actuallity. Pleco's are not great, if the koi don't try to eat them while they are young, they will eat the algae, but.... once they run it down have been known to attack Koi & goldies to considerable damage.They do have to be fed. Albinos & rubbernose are safer, smaller, but I'm not familiar enough with those to know if they would obtain a safe enough size to be with mature koi in the long run. Any of these do need brought in for winter though.

Algae kills tend to be more in the fish kill problem area's. There really isn't one way to rid algae that works 100%........ wish I had better news on that score.

Hope that helps to some extent anyway! :)

[Terri]

Trapdoor snails do eat algae, along with dead/dying plant matter... I have a few and they do a good job. I agree with Kathy about the Apple snails. Rubbernose plecs can get big(over 12"), depends on the albino LL# as to adult size. Bristlenose plec's would be a better choice as they don't get bigger than 6" and their diet consists entirely of algae unlike some other plec's who's diet is only plant matter(algae) when young becoming more diverse as they come into adulthood. Plec's cannot withstand water temps below 50F for extended periods, so fishing them out for winter is a must.