RAUK - Archived Forum - Are leeches good for garden ponds?

When it comes to de-weeding time and clearing leaves out of my pond IÆve always tried to kill as little lifeforms as I possibly can cos I donÆt like being mean and it ainÆt pondlifeÆs fault theyÆre stuck to weeds and slime and old leaves, it just doesnÆt seem right to just grab the contents of my pond and chuck it over the wall letting little lives die cos theyÆre out of the water. So I always go through it and remove water snails and other odd creatures but I have sh*t loads of tiny black leeches in my pond which are always stuck to old leaves and theyÆre a bugger to put back in the water. I shake leaves in the pond to get them to fall off but they do like to cling, also theyÆre hard to spot cos sometimes theyÆre very small. Usually I canÆt be bothered saving the lot of them because theyÆre literally stuck to everything in there, do other people try to save the lives of things in their ponds when theyÆre de-weeding? Or are leeches baddies and people donÆt like them in ponds? What do the frogs eat? Do they eat the leeches and like them being in there or do the leeches stick to froggies and pester them? I wanna know if I need to go to so much effort to not end their lives in future.

Hmmn, maybe. I just thought they were leeches cos they seemed a bit sucky onto things. The things in my pond look similar to this (but without wheels )

and are about 3 or 4mm long but can elongate when moving around and become right long to about 12mm.

I can start dumping lumps of weed by the side of my pond on a small tree stump I have, hopefully if I stack it high itÆll fit.

ItÆd be nice to think they could make their way to safety. Though one time I did do that and left it ages and came back when it was all dry to move it and found some dead pond snails in it. They mustnÆt have been able to save themselves. Do you think they were confused and just didnÆt know which way to go or did they suffocate on air before they reached the water?

Well the pond snails seemed to stay there for ages, I just presumed they were dead. I never checked on them much, much later to se if they were gone.  Next time IÆll study them better. ItÆs ace to know they donÆt suffocate when out of the water though, I didnÆt know that, I didnÆt know they could seal themselves in for long periods of time and come back to life later.

I have to remember the word planariun now. ItÆs long and fancy, bet I forget it in a few minutes. Well planariuns must real like my pond cos thereÆs plenty of rotting matter in there, IÆve loads of plant life rotting down right now. & they love the tree leaves, theyÆre always stuck to them. I still have loads of leaves in my pond even after two picking out sessions, keep thinking IÆll fall in leaning into the middle to get them. I hope I donÆt cos the neighbours on one side hate me and theyÆre always watching, bet theyÆd see and laugh.

Thanks for responding, in future IÆm gonna pile up everything I take out of my pond an leave it there for days or weeks ætil IÆm thoroughly sure everything has escaped.

Though at the golf course pond they pull out weeds and IÆve seen dead tadpoles in amongst that. I get very upset when I see theyÆve been de-weeding.

Do all ponds have leeches cos IÆm pretty sure there ainÆt nothinÆ bigger than planarians in my pond?

IÆve tried sticking pulled out weeds into a washing up bowl and shaking a bit and stuff does come out and then I can pour the water back in but it is true, you canÆt get them all. I wonder if my pond is too choked by plants? ItÆs pretty full but I leave a space of nothing (at the bottom of the pic), but frogs donÆt tend to go there, they seem to stick their heads out from where thereÆs plants in the middle (in summer). They have sex there too and bang into the plants a bit. I had grass growing over the water a year back and I gave that a good pulling out cos it was taking over but left some cos the smaller frogs liked sitting on it. IÆll take up-to-date photos sometime. This is from last May after I'd pulled out loads of grass, the yellow flowers ainÆt flowered yet but thereÆs about the same amount of plantlife in it.

Too much plantlife?

ThereÆs lots of hornwort under the water which I thin out but I can get rid of more of that if you think I should.

IÆve got a few Great Pond Snails but thereÆs tonnes more Ramshorn Snails. (YouÆre teaching me words ). ItÆs the Ramshorn Snails that end up entangled with the weeds when IÆm de-weeding. There shouldnÆt be mud on my pond floor BTW, never put my hand in the middle at the bottom but on the bottom around the sides itÆs just the plastic pond lining.

This is what the frogs were sh*gging in last spring. The plantlife is a little more thinned out now but is it not good for frogs having it that overgrown?

IÆve lived in my house coming up to 3 years now and the woman before me put in the pond and she was there 3 years. IÆm only metres from the lake so the frogs have just hopped over from there I presume, I doubt she kidnapped any.

IÆve seen a washing-up bowl inset into the ground too. I thought about doing the same in my back garden then decided against it cos I havenÆt the room really.

IÆve got 3 potted plants (that the last owner left) and they sit on tree stumps submerged under the water.

Is lots of hornwort good? Cos I was thinking of de-clogging my pond a bit by not thinning it out but by creating more of an open space at one side. I.e. pushing the existing vegetation to one side/chopping a bit out and having it half clogged. Good idea?

You seen my dead frog pic from yesterday? It died. ItÆs the first death in my pond IÆve ever encountered before. Do you think thereÆs a chance all my other frogs are dead in my pond too? IÆve a whole family living in there all different ages. After the death in my pond I took my garden brush and put the handle end in the water to try and disturb the plantlife to see if any other dead frogs were underneath and would come up and found that the vegetation is really thick. I couldnÆt shake it around much cos it was so thick, deep and heavy, must be loads of plantlife in there, more than I thought. Do you think it was the gases from that that killed my frog or just the ice? I knocked a hole in the pond every few days, it kept icing over but I didnÆt let it go over 3 days without having a small hole in. Was the hole not big enough or does hole size not matter? Do you think it could have died of old age and my other frogs will be ok? If they are dead they could easily be trapped under the vegetation. Do hibernating frogs always go to the deepest part of ponds to hibernate or the sides? The dead frog appeared where IÆve never seen a frog before, down the side in the deep bit, I think it was in the middle at the deepest point then floated and moved and floated up to the top. From looking at my pic in the other thread how long do you reckonÆ itÆs been dead? It looked all slimey and horrible and like had a layer of slimy gunk around itÆs head.

I took this pic yesterday. The dead frog is at the side on the left about a foot from the frog fly swatter.  Hard to see cos my camera is cr*p.

PS. IÆm traumatised. If I am going to de-weed part of it I need an adult to do it for me cos I donÆt think IÆm going to be brave enough to put my little hands back in there, not if rotting slimy dead friends are floating around, they might touch me or I might grab one and yank it out thinking itÆs plant rootage. IÆm so scared about what lies beneath now, I donÆt wanna look.

Oh and in summer frogs usually hide out around the sides of the bottom right plantpot/tree stump, I sometimes disturb them when IÆm de-weeding. ItÆs not as deep at that end though so I was thinking in winter they go to the far side/middle where all the plantage is. At the very bottom of my pic the water is about 15cm deep and you can see the plastic bottom, canÆt at the other side.

I gave my pond a shake up on Saturday and tried shifting the plantage over to one side more, worked for a day but now theyÆve shifted back again, all IÆve done is disturbed a live frog and broken a couple of plants in the process. Also found a large stone at the bottom of my pond, dunno what that was doing there. Scary putting my hand in to get it out.