"Malcolm" wrote in message !
Water Snails in a pond have the same effect as normal snails in your
border,
they do no good whatsoever.

Err, not so. They are beneficial animals to have in a pond.

Err, in what way? I can't think of one. Or do you allow dead plant material
to remain in your pond?


They will eat the higher order plants in
preference to anything else

Err, not so. They are brilliant at cleaning up algae.

Whilst they will scrape some algae off underwater plants, they prefer nice
soft juicy plants to algae in my experience and they certainly won't touch
"blanket weed".


and produce lots of detritious themselves, they
certainly don't eat it!

They produce detritus ( which is what I assume you mean and by which I
suppose you mean faeces) in proportion to their number and size. As do
fish!

Yes, but you want fish in your pond, that's what ponds are for in most
cases. Pond snails are no different from any other snail/slug. OK, if you
want a "wildlife" pond for a few years then fine, it will get so overgrown
trying to fill itself in you won't notice the damage caused.


One saving grace is that fish will eat them when small, and big fish will
crunch even large specimens.

Lucky old fish. But if you have fish and no pond snails you will have a
much dirtier pond.

Hardly, I hoover mine out a few times every year with a 0.75hp pump untill
it's spotless. The filters ensure the water is chemically purer than tap
water. Probably why it's always a haven for healthy frogs, birds, skaters,
Dragonflies/Damosells....as well as our fish.


Snails are as natural a part of a well-balanced pond as any other
pondlife, including fish, water-lilies, pond skaters, whirligig beetles,
water boatmen, etc., etc. I don't see why you appear to be prejudiced
against them!!

Oh, the "well balanced pond" argument again, and then there are UFO's and
Elves and Fairies....... it's a myth.
A pond is always trying to fill itself in and unless you take steps to
manage it, things will eventually go wrong.
To stay a pond they all have to be cleaned out sometime.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.