Help please! - Slug pellet made it in to pond

[NickBarthram]

Hi

I'e got a small pond (it's half a whisky barrel) in my garden with 4 fish in it . This morning I was putting slug pellets down and although I thought I was being careful, I think a solitary pellet made it into the pond. I know this is a very bad thing, and am desperate for any advice anyone can give to stop it killing my fish.

I've scraped away at the bottom of the pond and cannot find the offending article. Is it a good idea to overfill the pond and let water run out to dilute the pellet? Any help would be most gratefully appreciated.

FYI - After spending the last hour looking around the net, I now realise how bad slug pellets are for the environment, so please be assured they won't be being used again.

Kind regards

Nick

[Varan Komodosky]

Phew, good old slug pellets! As you have come to realise, they're not really compatible with waterlife, 'cos friendly fauna eat slugs and snails poisoned with them. I wouldn't worry over much about one pellet even in a small pond like yours, I'd imagine that it would disperse and the dilution wouldn't effect the fishes so much.
Still, could be wrong.
Would you follow up with what happens? Thanks.

[Gill Catton]

probably wouldn't hurt to change a couple of watering cans full of the water, siphon from the bottom of the tub and replace with either treated tap water or tap water left out overnight or do you have a water butt? That would be even better

[NickBarthram]

Thanks guys. We changed most of the water in the pond and had a good sift through the bottom to try and find the pellet, so hopefully everything will be ok. I'm amazed as to how much of an effect slug pellets have on the surroundings after reading up on it on the net. I'll think twice about covering my garden in them now...

[nightshade]

Cats can be attracted to the taste of slug pellets which generally contain
Metaldehyde (there is no antidote for this toxic chemical) in cats this
causes dribbling,disorientation and extra sensitivity to noise
Pity the smaller animals and birds that ingest it it is probably like an LSD trip
which results in death

[Kymba]

I cant understand why anyone uses slug pellets, There are so many other ways of detering Slugs which do no harm to them or to anything else. Heres some ideas to try I have found when doing research for my centre

1) Beer. Yes, it really does work. It’s also the best non-personal way to confirm that overnight damage is due to the slimy beasts. Just don’t use the often-cited “stale beer”, which slugs like about as much as you and I do. Place commercial traps or old margarine tubs on top of the soil close to the damaged plants, wait until dusk and then fill them with the cheapest—but freshest—beer you can find. The next morning, they should be filled with dead drunken slugs. Dump this defeated debris nearby (where it will attract their cannibalistic pals) and repeat every evening.
2) Coffee. New research has found caffeine to be very effective at dispatching slugs. Save your dregs and spray them full strength directly on the beasts in the evening. Surround plants under attack with a mulch of used coffee grounds to deter slugs and feed the plants.
3) Iron phosphate. Turns out that iron is very bad for a slug’s digestion. Like deadly bad. So a new generation of products with brand names like “Sluggo” and “Escar-Go!” wrap iron in a slug-attracting bait. You simply scatter the pellets around plants in peril to wipe out the pests without poisons. (And a little extra iron is good for your garden soil.)
4) Copper. Slugs get shocked when they touch this shiny metal. You can buy ready-made copper plant guards or just adorn your raised bed frames with copper flashing. Hot-glue rings of pennies around the tops of your containers. Drop captured slugs into a jar of pennies and watch ‘em spark!
5) Boards. Lay some old planks between your garden beds. The vampiric slugs will crawl underneath to hide from the sun. Come morning, lift the boards and scrape the slugs into a bucket with a flat piece of metal. Then do with them what you will. Hey—got any pennies?
6) Human hair. Surround your plants with a protective barrier of hair. The slugs will get all tangled up in it and strangle (hey—it was them or the hostas!); and the hair will eventually add plant-feeding nitrogen to the soil.
7) Citrus. Leave lemon, orange and grapefruit rinds out overnight near slug prone plants, and then collect and trash them—covered with slugs—first thing the next morning. Old lettuce leaves work well too.
8) Vinegar. A spray bottle filled with plain white vinegar is a great cure for slugs that aren’t on plants. An extremely effective mollusk dissolver, vinegar is also an herbicide—so don’t spritz the salvia.
9) Toads. Avoid all pesticides, provide water low to the ground and a damp shady spot for them to hide during the heat of the day, and these wonderful nocturnal predators will eat lots of slugs for you.

[Kymba]

Might be a good Idea if anyone tries any of the above to let other members if they work or not and how good they are

[Gaina]

So are these 'Wildlife and Pet safe' pellets a load of rubbish? Although I can't convince my Dad not to use pellets at all, he buys these 'Wildlife and Pet safe' ones. But I'm still not totally convinced - I usually work in the theory that if you can't pronouce the ingredients you shoudn't put it in your mouth or on your garden .

I'm going to try the copper tape and I'll let you know what happens

[m1.carson]

Hi,

We saw somewhere on the box that the average garden has approx 50 slugs, well, we put down six slug pubs, [fresh beer it has to be ], and the following morning I counted 96 of the drunk little blighters, from 5mm up to the monsters.

Definitely a working deterent, we use the cut off top and bottoms of plastic coke bottles sunk flush into the ground, and I ask our local hostelry to save us a quart coke bottle of beer every time they clean the pumps [NO I'm not allowed near it ].

Somehow this thread has drifted off ponds, perhaps it should be moved.

Max.

[Hornbeam]

I have a friend who is a veterinary nurse. The stories she can tell about paralysed hedgehogs would make you weep. How do they come to be paralysed? By eating slugs that have eaten slug pellets. Where are all the thrushes gone? Seen any broken snail shells around a thrush's anvil lately?

My solution is to avoid growing plants that slugs like - so delphs and lupins are out. When I plant out seedlings, I surround them with a physical barrier like SlugStoppah. That simply dries up the slug slime so they can't cross the barrier. Poisons will always kill more than your intended targets. So I don't use any at all. Wild life gets into balance and predators eat pests. Result is very little slug damage and no aphids on roses' cos the bluetits, ladybirds and lacewings eat them all for me. They wouldn't if I sprayed nasty poisons.