Hi Everyone

Just wondered if any of you have experienced leaches in your garden ponds before?

My mother in law has a garden pond and its been overrun with leaches. They have used some chemicals bought from a pet shop but they just cant get rid of them. They keep attaching themselves to the fish poor things.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks

they take a LOT of getting rid of as they have a larval stage not affected by pond treatments. I would suggest visiting a koi dealership rather than pet shop, as they will be able to provide you with more potent and effective leach killer as well as some very sound advice. do let them know what fish are in your pond though, as koi dealers tend to stock chemicals safe for koi, but some may be lethal to other fish, particularly orfe and sturgeon. so ASK. Other general advice is to remove and dispose of any plants and clean the pond thoughroughly after treatments. Easy for a koi pond, which is usually a barren water/fish environment but more tricky in a normal garden pond. a heavy load of leaches will eventually kill fish

I had an infestation early last year, but I asked a pond specialist about them and he told me that they would go of their own accord.
They did too after a few months, the eggs came in on some plants but the hatched leeches didnt grow very big and soon died.

However, my pond is only small and a population of leeches wouldnt last for long, I didnt ask, but I imagine that the bigger the pond is, the better chances they have of survival.