I've seen "proper" leeches before in natural ponds, marshes etc.
However, when buying some oxygenators for our small pond, I noticed what
looked like a small transparent leech.

I *thought* I'd hosed it off the plants before the went in, but today there
were three hiding in the folds of the liner.

I managed to net them out, but wondered are they the same as the "normal"
leeches" and can I get rid of them for good ?

Peter

On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 22:55:54 +0100, "2pods"
wrote:

I've seen "proper" leeches before in natural ponds, marshes etc.
However, when buying some oxygenators for our small pond, I noticed what
looked like a small transparent leech.

I *thought* I'd hosed it off the plants before the went in, but today there
were three hiding in the folds of the liner.

I managed to net them out, but wondered are they the same as the "normal"
leeches" and can I get rid of them for good ?

Peter

Why not leave them alone. Most leaches are scavengers or predators on
smaller organisms, the minority are ectoparasites (blood suckers)

They serve as fish food as well.


--

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others

I managed to find another one, but the light here (west of scotland) is
awful for photos just now.

This one is smaller (1 inch) and wrigglier (?) and looks like a transparent
worm which keeps going into a U shape.

Peter

Leeches are in my pond. That's why I wear hip boots when I'm in
there. Whenever I have to evict a snapping turtle, I find that it is
covered with leeches. There's a way to catch leeches using some raw
beef liver, but I'd only do that if I wanted to use them for fish
bait.

Peter wrote This one is smaller (1 inch) and wrigglier (?) and looks like a
transparent
worm which keeps going into a U shape.

I entered 'transparent leeches' in google and I got back this very interesting
page
http://www.4qd.org/Aqua/Worms.html
(also got all sorts of B movie hits...)
and I like this critter
Oligochaeta
because it mentions transparent versions.
And this page is from the UK.
This here
http://images.google.com/images?q=Ol...hl=en&btnG=Goo
gle+Search
is a link to google images.
(Do *not* view with a wonky stomach!)



kathy :-)
algae primer
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html

Leeches are in my pond. That's why I wear hip boots when I'm in
there. Whenever I have to evict a snapping turtle, I find that it is
covered with leeches. There's a way to catch leeches using some raw
beef liver, but I'd only do that if I wanted to use them for fish
bait.

Peter wrote This one is smaller (1 inch) and wrigglier (?) and looks like a
transparent
worm which keeps going into a U shape.

I entered 'transparent leeches' in google and I got back this very interesting
page
http://www.4qd.org/Aqua/Worms.html
(also got all sorts of B movie hits...)
and I like this critter
Oligochaeta
because it mentions transparent versions.
And this page is from the UK.
This here
http://images.google.com/images?q=Ol...hl=en&btnG=Goo
gle+Search
is a link to google images.
(Do *not* view with a wonky stomach!)



kathy :-)
algae primer
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html