Hornwort/coontail for feeders, possible parasite issue.

[teslas intern]

Greetings all. So I've stumbled across a new staple for my feeders, Hornwort. It's a type of pond weed, that gets really bushy and grows extremely fast, for those who don't know their pond plants. I have to assume it is decently nutritious, because ducks eat it like crazy, and it will contain whatever is in the water it grows in, including little water bugs, and trace elements.

But... It is a pond plant, and ponds contain parasites... Now I have no doubt that a frog specific parasite would die in the belly of a roach, but roaches crawl all over what they eat. The Hornwort I use comes from a goldfish pond (with no goldfish) that was stocked with local swamp water to introduce local micro flora and fauna, and is inhabited by frogs. Lots of frogs... I'm certain there are froggie nasties in there. I think in the future I'll sun dry the stuff, and then freeze it before use, but question of the day is, should I be collecting fecal samples now to make sure my froggies are Ok? Do you guys think it probably isn't necessary? Other thoughts?

[deranged chipmunk]

Hornwort is a bryophyte, like mosses and liverworts, so it should be safe in itself. However, you are talking about feeding something from outside, which could contain not only parasites, but some pretty nasty bacteria or diseases. There has been a school of thought for a long time to NOT let crickets roam in live, planted tanks for long because the crickets could feed on toxic plants, such as pothos, philodendrons, diffenbaechia, ect, which would lead to frogs eating said crickets and themselves being poisoned. This is a similar situation, with the exception that MOST bryophytes are not toxic to most animals.

I'm sorry, but assuming parasites would not survive in a roaches stomach is just plain naive. It's safer to assume that any parasite can survive more than what we would expect. After all, they are parasites for a reason.

That being said, drying and freezing would be the best bet, if using hornwort. Fecal samplings should also be the order of the day if you have already fed frogs feeders that have eaten the hornwort. If they are clear, then you found yourself a sustainable food source for your feeders


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