# Will Amurs eat duckweed?



## Lewis (Apr 5, 2004)

My brother has a small pond that gets a good covering of duckweed every year.Will amurs help control this stuff?


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

Lewis,

I don't think so.

I had a huge duckweed and watermeal problem two years ago.

I used Sonar last spring ( $$$$) and it completely fixed the problem. So far this year no sign of either yet. We'll see if it carries over to this year or not as the year goes on.


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

Fluridone or tilapia. 

I don't know anybody locally who has used this http://www.fluridone.com/ but there was some discussion about it here last year. Quite a bit cheaper than Sonar.


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## Fishman (Apr 5, 2004)

Small grass carp will eat the stuff, the stocking rates are HIGH to say the least and you will never get long term control. I've touched on duckweed control a few times, but when it comes to fish controlling this plant it boils down to this. Inside just about any fishes mouth, covering the gills is something called rakers. These rakers stop food from exitiing the gills when water moves through. If it doesn't pass through the rakers it goes down the hatch.

As fish grow, their rakers begin to seperate. We're speaking in fractions of an inch here, but when you're talking about duckweed that isn't much. Larger grass carp.... 15-20" fish will probably pass most most of the duckweed through their rakers. 

If you're dealing with duckweed just 1 or 2 feet around areas of the bank, the amurs might help. Expecially if you top it off with some applications of Reward when it's concentrated in corners. But if you're looking for long term control go with Sonar AS at the proper application rates.


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## dip1 (May 23, 2010)

My big amurs wont eat nothing but grass and cattails!


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## bigcat46 (Dec 15, 2004)

to my knowledge amurs will not eat duckweed. If it was the only "weed" in the pond they might.? I was told once that Koi will eat duckweed.


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## Eugene (Jun 23, 2004)

Check out this handy fact sheet:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/a-fact/pdf/0019.pdf

There definitely are other things grass carp would rather eat.


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## rustyfish (Apr 27, 2004)

Dip1 when your grass carp eat cattails and grass on the bank, it is there way of telling you "help us, were starving" lol


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