OMG ... What have I done ???

[Bob Vento]

Folks,

We have taken such great care of our fish and plants so far however, I just realized today that to solve a snail and slug problem in our grow bed I used Corry's® Slug & Snail Pellets which I now realize is quite toxic and may kill my fish.

I thought it was an organic product and I should have read the label ! 

I have been using this product for years around the property to take care of slugs and snails without
so much as a second thought.

 

So far I have not lost any fish and the pellets have been in the grow bed for over 2 weeks. Since it has been raining, the pellets are no longer pellets and more of a mush on top of and in between the grow bed rocks.

Should it be removed immediately (and how would I do that) or will the natural filtering process of the grow bed rocks keep my fish safe? KEEPING our fingers crossed.

We have since added red wigglers to my grow bed and released 2000 lady bugs on my citrus, avacado and mango trees as well as the grow bed.

I don't know if the lady bugs will stay for a while  ... guess we will have to wait and see.

Stay tuned!

Bob

[Bob Vento]

Sorry Vlad and no I did not realize my settings were like that ...I have changed them. Thanks for the heads up

[Vlad Jovanovic]

No problemo Bob. (Btw...you have your account here set so that you have to approve other peoples comments to your blog in order for them to be seen...you probably already know that I'm sure, just that it's strange that you'd block my comments from being able to be viewed by others :) At any rate...

You probably have absolutely nothing to worry about, so don't go into panic mode or anything, but keep an eye on your water quality parameters in the coming days just in case...Acetaldehyde is harmless to fish and all, but it further breaks down into (mostly) Acetic acid (vinegar is about 5% acetic acid) which has some well known anti-bacterial properties. Again, don't worry about it, just keep an eye out. My opinion and hope is that you won't notice any negative effects whatsoever...

Scooping out the pellet mush was a good idea to be on the safe side.

If you have a snail/slug problem, why not just use the old beer trick?

[Bob Vento]

Thanks for that info Vlad ...

I was so worried about my fish when I realized what I had done. Yesterday, I took a garden shovel and skimmed off the layers of stones with the mushy pellets on them, washed then thoroughly, and returned them to the grow bed.

Think we dodged the bullet this time.

Bob

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Hi Bob, even if it was 'organic', that does not mean that it is fish or bacteria safe!!! There are many, many products  that are allowed in organic gardening, or that are labelled as organic that will kill your fish in a heartbeat...Please keep that in mind...

But you can probably relax now. Metaldehyde (the main ingredient in Corry's S&S pellets) is said to be practically non-toxic to aquatic life. It will mess up Rover or your cat or bird (or you), but fish should be alright...not sure about the bacteria though so keep an eye on your water quality levels in the coming days.

(Interesting...in the aqueaous environment of a slug's/snails insides, metaldehyde hydrolizes into acetaldehyde, thats the molecule associated with an alcohol hangover...that is what kills them...must be one whammy of a hangover. Though again, it doesn't seem like fish should be affected, I guess they can't get hungover. Hehe, maybe that's why they say "drinks like a fish"..?