Ever used bleach in tank to get rid of snails?

[kimmisc]

This tank had just shrimp and snails in it... tons of snails. It's going to be a beta tank (beta is on order).

I gave up manual removal, moved the shrimp elsewhere, and poured bleach into this tank with the filter still running. I only let it stay a few minutes, as I didn't want it to soak down into the driftwood and substrate too much.

Then I did a 100% (as close as possible) water change, and used 3x the normal dose of prime when refilling it.

It's been a couple hours now, and the snails still appear to be dead. I put the shrimp back in and they are acting normal. The nitrifying bacteria are likely dead, but I can reseed that from another tank. I just hope the eggs are dead. If so, what an easy fix. I only have one plant in this tank though.. I doubt this would be a good idea in a heavily planted tank.

If this works out well, I'm going to use this method on my other tanks after moving my fish to a temporary home.

[Rbishop]

Why didn't you clean the dead snails out...?

[jpappy789]

There seems to be a logical problem here. Why DID you leave the dead snails in?

[kimmisc]

To see if they're really dead? And because I got out as many snails as I could before doing this. Dead snails are no easier to pick out of gravel than live ones. I pulled out enough to cover the bottom of a kitchen sized trash can before I bleached the tank. In the morning, I will see if the leftover ones survived the bleach bath.

[wataugachicken]

you need to take out that gravel, put it into a bucket, and keep it out of the tank until the snails are rotten and gone. otherwise you will kill your other fish with the ammonia and nitrite explosion that is going to last for a couple of weeks due to the snails rotting in the water. that is seriously gross, and it will make your house stink because dead snails smell terrible.

[mvigor]

Agreed. You could have set your gravel out in the sun for 48 hours spread on a tablecloth or plastic drop cloth and every snail would have been completely dessicated.

[jm1212]

putting a piece of lettuce in the tank overnight also works

[mvigor]

The lettuce works as long as you're OK with only ever collecting 90, 95% of the snails. If you really want them gone forever it's not that easy.

[kimmisc]

Ooo, I didn't think of taking the gravel out while the snails decay. I can't spread them out outside because I live in an appartment (no yard)... how long do you think they'll take to decay if i sit the gravel in a bucket on my balcony?

[mvigor]

The center of a 2 gallon bucket of small gravel will still be wet after 3 months.

[jwddboy]

Wow... you do know that bleach is just concentrated chlorine?

The stuff that you take out of your water to prevent it killing all your bacteria in your filter. It's not going to dissapear out of the tank and filter so you will have problems for a long time with high levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Your filter will not seed because it will keep some of the chlorine in it and prevent bacteria from multiplying by killing them.

It's likley that the decating snails will pollute the tank further (as decaying snails are one of the worst polluters) and that betta or the shrimp will not be happy with high ammonia levels in the tank.

I would advise aginst ever doing this again or you may have huge long-term problems to deal with.

[Sploke]

ACtually, with a large dose of prime, the bleach was probably not an issue. Even then, whatever was left will gas off within a few hours. Like everyone says, the decaying snails will be a bigger problem. However, if you can swipe a bunch of cycled material from another tank, this might not be as big a problem as it seems. All the snails that are left will decay at about the same time and rate. In this way, it will be pretty much like having a way-overstocked tank, bioload-wise. If you can get a good bacteria colony going and get it caught up, it should be able to keep up with the ammonia produced from the snails. You'll just have to do more water changes because your nitrates are also going to build up faster.

[mvigor]

Wow... you do know that bleach is just concentrated chlorine?
TRUE.


It's not going to dissapear out of the tank and filter so you will have problems for a long time with high levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Your filter will not seed because it will keep some of the chlorine in it and prevent bacteria from multiplying by killing them.

It's likley that the decating snails will pollute the tank further (as decaying snails are one of the worst polluters) and that betta or the shrimp will not be happy with high ammonia levels in the tank.

I would advise aginst ever doing this again or you may have huge long-term problems to deal with.
SO NOT TRUE.


ACtually, with a large dose of prime, the bleach was probably not an issue. Even then, whatever was left will gas off within a few hours.
TRUE.

[jwddboy]

sorry... but this highly concentrated chlorine will not "gas off" anywhere near as quickly.

As my brother works for the UK waterboard in the pollutant control area I think i would know something about chlorine. Chlorine contained in the water as air particles will "gass off" but when it is disolved (which it does, especially with a high concentration) it takes a lot longer to be removed.

[mvigor]

Alright, but "a lot longer than a few hours"

is not the same thing as

"...you will have problems for a long time...Your filter will not seed because it will keep some of the chlorine in it...you may have huge long-term problems to deal with..."

Chlorine does go away on it's own and can be neutralized with Prime.

[jwddboy]

Thanks.

One last thing. im scared for those shrimp in bleach. Chlorine isnt good for any living thing. But as you said, the prime should be a good help.

[Sploke]

Before utility companies started using chloramine, it was possible to dechlorinate water by filling a bucket up and leaving it sit overnight, or running an airstone in it. Chlorine, regardless of concentration, is not particularly stable in solution. Thats why its so easy to detect by smell, because it rapidly goes out of solution and into gas, especially when agitated. That was the reasoning behind switching to chloramine in water supplies, it is much more stable in solution, which is why letting water sit out or agitating it is no longer sufficient to dechlorinate, we need chemicals like prime to neutralize it. Bleach is just chlorine, and even in high concentrations is fairly unstable in solution. If I were the OP I wouldn't be worried about it.

[wataugachicken]

if you keep the bucket outside, and rinse the gravel once or twice a week, the little dead bodies will detach from the shells and eventually go away. probably 2-3 weeks should be enough, but maybe this is a good time to get new gravel.

[kimmisc]

The floor of my balcony slants downward. :( I will think of some way to spread it out more. *fills up balcony with tupperware bowls and hopes it doesn't rain*

[kimmisc]

I just caught one of my shrimp eating one of the baby snails. Hmmm, I have no idea how many snails are left in there. Like I said, I picked out as many as I could before doing the bleach. I'm going to test my water to see what impact they're having, move my shrimp to another tank, along with the beta when it comes, and let this tank even itself out if it's not very bad. I've gotten out all the snails I can see. What's left are mostly baby ones for sure.