Yikes! Leeches! HEEEEEEEEEELP!

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Pond is doing great. Crystal clear, snails, water boatman, plants. Koi all healthy. Yesterday, I go to step over the stream and see a white rock covered with what seemed to be short black algae waving in the current. To I grabbed the rock, dropped it in an aquarium for a closer look and immediately hundreds of the small black animal began scrambling up the side of tank alternately attaching one end with the other. Im pretty sure these 1/8-inch things are leeches. All of the Gambusia that I have removed from the pond to the aquarium appeared mildly interested in eating most but not all. I have no more Gambusia in my pond because I did not want them to be predators of my 50 or so Flag Fish fry. Will the flag fish eat the leeches?There's hundreds, perhaps thousands of leeches in the stream. HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP! What do I do?
 

clm

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I've seen leeches in my ponds over the past 20 years or so. Found some in the latest pond a year after it was completed. I have no idea how they got there, and while I'm not crazy about having them attach to me, the koi are more than happy to eat them if I bring one up on one of the pumps and chuck it back into the water for them.

Cindy
 
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Thanks Cindy. I'm hearing it two ways. Some say they are harmless to koi. Others say they can cause problems at the gills. I'm thinking there must be different types. I'll just wait and see. I guess during the first year of having a pond everything is new and an adventure. Thanks again.
 
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Nothing living lives through the digestive system of a bird, seeds and things like that need to pass through the acids of the digestive system before some can sprout. A few paracite as well. What you have are most likely a mud leach. harmless to fish. Some fish eat them. I find them in my pond as well. I think the eggs come in on plants we introduce, I hand remove them. Never in 18 years have I hound one on a fish.
 
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The largest one I have found was about an inch "contracted", when extended about 2 inches. maybe 1/4 inch wide as they are somewhat flat. They die after a shot time out of water. Each time I clean a filter I find at lest one in there, sometimes more. I wash them out and let them die then dispose of them in the trash.
 
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if you salt your pond, it will kill the leeches. i've done it before, and you can either dispose of the dead ones or let the fish eat them. hope that helps! :icon_smile:
 

DrDave

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If you choose to do this, I have a link on my web site to the University of Florida for the correct procedure.
 
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oh, i almost forgot! you'll need about 6%-8% salinity to effectively kill the leeches, which means you'll have to remove your plants. also, if you want to go for the throat, potassium permanganate (Jungle makes a product called Oxy Clear that contains it) will do the job; however, it's so powerful that it essentially kills everything in your pond except your fish, including all algae. you've gotta be certain of your pond's gallon size to use it, and you'll have to start from square one with your pond cycle afterwards. hope that helps!
 

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Taken from www.nationalfishpharm.com

"Salt is pretty amazing in it's ability to control algae, detoxify Nitrites, kill parasites and it's antiseptic qualities. Salt is a great item to use for your water quality, but first... you need to know how much to add. We feel that a 0.1% continual salt bath is a good level to run at all the time. To achieve this level, add 1¼ ounces of salt per 10 gallons of pond water.

The maximum level of salt that you can run without major damage to the fish is 0.3%. This high salt level is used for treating fish wounds and parasites. To achieve this level, add 3.8 oz. of salt per 10 gallons. This salt level is better suited for a bath, or in a hospital tank. Never ever take your main pond up this high as a long term bath in a high salt concentration is very bad for your fish, not to mention your biological bacteria. You will ruin your pond and slowly poison your fish with all of this salt. Trust us, around 50% of the calls we are getting are salt-related problems."
 

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