Swimmer's Itch = Duck Mites?

[ApS]

Originally Posted by weim2

Years ago we never had this "Duck Itch", we did not have many ducks either. Water was perfect and clear. Too bad people thought it was cute to feed the ducks, so they hung around. Maybe reducing the duck population would help. We never had Canada geese either.

The Duck Itch plague will last all summer. Occasionally, I'll get two or three bites in one hour of swimming near shore.

I asked my camper-friends at the Camp Wyanoke forum if they could recall any Duck Itch cases. (Camp Wyanoke closed in 1975, and the forest converted to at least a dozen year-round residences).

Nobody at the Wyanoke site could recall any Duck Itch cases—nor any ducks or Canada Geese, either. (Loons are affected by the snail's spreading of Duck Itch too—and we certainly had Loons in 1975).

What is new is algae and the snails that graze on it.

Snails spread Duck Itch to ducks (successfully) and to humans (unsuccessfully, but stressfully).

Algae needs the elements of nitrogen and phosphorus to flourish: Both elements are provided by lawn fertilizer.

http://www.uvm.edu/~vlrs/doc/lawnfert.htm