Question
I have a small pond and don't want fish. I have a small waterfall and fountain. The problem is the worms keep plugging up the head of my fountain. Is there anything that I can do to get rid of them? More light? Less light? More plants? Less plants? Anything?

Answer
I recently got the same question in my e-mail.  Are you the same person?  What do the worms look like?  If they are large and pink, they are probably earthworms that fell into the pond.  Raising the lip of the pond above ground level usually reduces that.  Most other pond "worms" are in fact insect larvae.  Few of those would clog up a pump or fountain head.  If you could open up the fountain head so the grap was larger, that would let them through.  Otherwise, you'd either have to add predators like the fish you don't want or kill the "worms" directly.  I don't suggest using poison as animals may drink from the pond.  Mosquito dunks and liquids made from the bacteria called Bt may kill some insect larvae but not all.  Depending on what you have, adding that may help (or at least reduce your mosquitoes).  Insects also don't like copper so adding a copper algaecide might kill them (it can also kill the plants at those higher doses if you have plants).  Both real worms and insect larvae like darker areas so if the fountain had more light, that might reduce their population.  Both real worms and insect larvae like the plants but I don't suggest removing them if you have plants.  How big is your system?  How often are you cleaning out the fountain head?  If it's more than once a week, then something should be done to try to improve it.  Good luck!

Robyn
fishpondinfo.com