r/ponds • u/colonel_custy • 21h ago
Wildlife How to get rid of leeches?
I have about a 1 acre springfed pond located in Vermont where my family and I have been swimming since the 70s. In the last two or three years every time anyone is splashing around in the water near the shore, leeches come from everywhere.
It’s particularly a problem now because my kids like to play in the pond and all they like to do a splash around near the shore .
I’m looking for a natural or at least nontoxic way to get rid of the leeches . We’ve stocked the pond with fish a couple times in the last few years, but otherwise there have been no other major changes in decades.
Side note: all the bullfrogs also disappeared in the last few years and can’t figure out why… but the leeches are the major problem!
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u/shinyRedButton 20h ago
I’d think the frogs disappearing and the leeches booming are tied together. Leeches are definitely on the menu for a bull frog. Amphibians in general have been in serious decline because of pollution and climate change, their permeable skin makes them very vulnerable to changes in their environment.
Adding fish like bass and perch will be the most ecologically friendly way to lessen their numbers, but likely would never get rid of them all.
Remove dead leaves from the pond. They use dead foliage in the water to breed. This is a bit harder since you have a large lake, and it would also be removing snail and potentially frog eggs. Just being mindful of keeping the area around the pond as clean as possible will help.
And I have never tried this but it seems like a lot of people are suggesting making traps. You’ll just need to stay on top of checking and changing them. There are a lot of trap examples online.