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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stuttgart, Arkansas » Harry K. Dupree Stuttgart National Aquaculture Research Cntr » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #127383
Title: A COPPER SULFATE-CITRIC ACID SHORELINE POND TREATMENT TO CONTROL THE RAMS-HORN SNAIL PLANORBELLA TRIVOLVIS.

Author
item Mitchell, Andrew

Submitted to: North American Journal of Aquaculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/18/2002
Publication Date: 7/1/2002
Citation: MITCHELL, A.J. A COPPER SULFATE-CITRIC ACID SHORELINE POND TREATMENT TO CONTROL THE RAMS-HORN SNAIL PLANORBELLA TRIVOLVIS.. NORTH AMERICAN JOURNAL OF AQUACULTURE. 2002. v.64. p.182-187.

Interpretive Summary: This paper presents a method for killing snails without harming the fish in commercial fish ponds. The snails are targeted because they are known to harbor and transmit parasites that infect fish. A concentrated treatment of copper sulfate and citric acid is applied in the waters around the edge of the pond, where most of the snails reside. The chemical combination kills the snails, however by the time the concentrated treatment is dispersed throughout the pond it is diluted to a point no longer lethal to the fish. Snail kills of more than 95% were achieved at temperatures between 27 and 29C. The applicator should be aware that pond size, temperature and total alkalinity affect the treatments outcome and that the treatment can cause low dissolved oxygen conditions in ponds.

Technical Abstract: The rams horn snail Planorbella trivolus carries two important digenetic trematodes that infect propagated fish species in the southeastern United States. These snails are found in fish production ponds and there have been no proven effective chemical control methods for eliminating these parasite hosts that would not also kill the fish. Application of a water solution of 589 g of copper sulfate and 58.9 g of citric acid per 10 linear meters along the shoreline of a pond in a 2-m wide swath produced an effective treatment against the aquatic rams horn snail. In two separate trials there was a significant difference in the survival of the treated snails verses sham treated snails in the combination treatment. Average survivals for the two trials were 2.2% and 0% in the treatment group and 63.3% and 77.8% in the sham treatment groups. The effectiveness of the treatment against snails and the safety to the propagated species may be affected by the total alkalinity and temperature of the water, wind speed, and pond size, shape, and depth.