Question
Help! We have a  10X10 pond, with a couple of waterfalls, a few fish.  Suddenly we have an infestation of thousands of little snails.  Any suggestions? Thanks

Answer
Some fish are more apt to eat snails, for example orfe but I don't know if your pond is large enough for them (how deep is it?).  I have a page on snails at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/snail.htm including a section on how to control them.  You can also try to bait some out by putting in something they like to eat and removing it the next day.  Lettuce sometimes works.

My personal suggestion would be to not worry about them.  When I started my pond 10 years ago, I soaked all plants in potassium permanganate to get rid of snails but still ended up with them.  I have half a dozen species of snails in my ponds.  I just let them be.  The raccoons eat the larger snails (to my dismay) or leave them stranded on land.  My fish eat some of the smaller snail eggs and baby snails.  The snails aren't a problem except that they do eat some of the waterlily pads.  There are no safe chemicals that would kill all the snails and not harm other animals.

Good luck!

Robyn
fishpondinfo.com