Freshwater Limpet Snails !!!

[Seasand]

:help2:Hi all,
I had a problem with a sudden algae bloom in my planted 50gl tank.
The day after I cleaned it I noticed that I had little white dots on my bogwood.
With research I found that they are freshwater river limpet snails and there are now hundreds of the little suckers ( very unsighttly!!!)
Can anyone tell me how to eradicate them please......

 

[platytudes]

They'll probably go away on their own. Do you have any other invertebrates in the tank?

 

[Seasand]

Yip, 3 ghost shrimp, cople of small cone snails and another snail black body with yellowish stripes ( forgotten its name!!!)

 

[platytudes]

Don't let it bother you too much then, because any methods of control such as borrowing a loach or using chemicals will hurt your other inverts. All you can do is siphon them out if they really bother you. Try to think of it as - the diversity of the aquatic life in your aquarium just expanded

 

[Seasand]

would it be possible to take my bogwood out and soak it in a mild bleach solution such as the sterilizer fluid used for babies bottles and then rinse it in cold water as they seem to be multiplying very quickly?

 

[Linda S]

how did you treat it before putting it in the tank? 20:1 water:bleach should do it, then rinse well and hit it with declorinator rinse before putting it back in

 

[bazil323]

If you do anything with bleach, I would let it dry out completely, then rinse again before putting it back into the tank.

 

[platytudes]

Alternately you can use salt instead of bleach. I just sprinkle a generous amount of salt on the thing I'm trying to scrub, dampen with water a toothbrush (or bigger brush depending on the size of the wood) and get to scrubbing. It requires rewetting the brush several times but eventually you'll get it all cleaned up, and it will be perfectly safe to reintroduce.

 

[Piranha86]

Yip, 3 ghost shrimp, cople of small cone snails and another snail black body with yellowish stripes ( forgotten its name!!!)

That's an asassin snail. That'll take care of the white ones.