Natural Perspectives
Vic Leipzig and Lou Murray
We built a pond 18 months ago. I use the term “we” loosely since I dug
the hole, laid the vinyl liner, carefully placed every rock and set up
the pump and waterfall. Vic offered advice, most of which I ignored, on
where and how I should dig. Basically he helped by staying out of my way.
Our long, narrow pond now looks like a lovely natural stream bed
slicing diagonally across our front yard. Having this pond has been an
interesting experience and a mixed blessing.
We were thrilled with the bird species it attracted. Wilson’s
warblers, black-headed grosbeaks, yellowthroats and black phoebes checked
things out from the safety of our Western redbud tree before taking a dip
in the waterfall. Several species of colorful dragonflies flitted over
the water all summer long. Tadpoles came in with the pond plants. They
grew legs, became identifiable as Pacific tree frogs and took up a noisy
residence in our liquid amber trees. A Cooper’s hawk bathed in the pond
nearly every day last winter.
The pond also attracted a pair of mallards, but the ducks didn’t stay
long enough to raise a brood of ducklings. However, they did leave us
with an unwelcome addition to the pond’s wildlife palette -- microscopic
flatworms. Therein lies a tale.
One night about a year ago, raccoons woke us up with soft purring
sounds. I looked out the window and spotted two big ones waddling along
the fence. I wondered why they were making such happy, contented noises.
I should have guessed.
When we checked our pond in the morning, we discovered all the water
hyacinths were broken. Sadly, our two, 9-inch pet goldfish were missing.
Scales and fish innards littering the ground told the tale of their fate.
All the smaller goldfish were gone as well. The rocks lining the stream
bed were knocked askew and the rock grotto was dismantled.
I had worked so hard getting the pond to look just the way I wanted
it. I actually felt violated. With a great sigh, I took off my shoes and
socks and waded in up to my knees. I replaced the rocks along the side of
the stream and thought my misfortunes were over. I was wrong.
The next day I was covered from toes to knees and fingers to elbows
with itchy, red bumps. Vic, a professional zoologist, quickly diagnosed
my rash as swimmers itch and told me more than I wanted to know about a
nasty little parasite called a schistosome.
This microscopic critter uses ducks and other birds as a host. When
the ducks pooped in the pond, they dumped in a load of larval flatworms.
The schistosomes then infest snails as the next host in their life cycle.
When they leave the snails, they try to burrow into the skin of the first
warmblooded animal that they find, preferably a duck or goose, travel
through the bloodstream to the liver and begin their cycle anew.
Fortunately, these flatworms are unable to penetrate human skin all
the way to the bloodstream. Unfortunately, they burrow in a short
distance and die, causing an allergic reaction. Meanwhile, the human host
-- that would be me -- itches something awful and looks worse than a
cutaneous anthrax victim. At least anthrax can be treated. There is no
treatment for swimmers itch other than cortisone cream or calamine lotion
to relieve the itching.
When the pond needed cleaning last week, I dreaded it. I did not want
to go through that itchy experience again, so I suited up like a
Washington DC postal worker. I donned rubber boots and long latex gloves
before venturing into the septic soup. Vic reassured me that I was well
protected, but I didn’t see him jumping in. I longed for a full haz-mat
suit.
I emptied most of the pond, pulled out the pump and handed it to Vic
along with a pair of rubber gloves. While he cleaned the pump and
biofilter, I replaced rocks knocked into the pond from countless raids
over the last year by opossums, raccoons and skunks.
It took all day, but we finally got the pond put back together and
disinfected our work area with bleach. The waterfall runs more swiftly
now and the excessive plant growth is weeded out. We could kill the
snails with copper sulfate and get rid of the schistosomes that way, but
we don’t want to do that. Snails are an important part of our pond’s
ecosystem.
We’ve long since given up trying to keep goldfish and are satisfied
with mosquitofish. They earn their keep by eating all the mosquito
larvae. They probably also eat dragonfly larvae and tadpoles, but our
pond, like much of life, is a trade-off. We accept some bad along with
the good.
By the way, you’ll be pleased to know that my biocontainment efforts
worked. We did not come down with swimmers itch.
* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and
environmentalists. They can be reached at o7 vicleipzig@aol.comf7 .
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