driftwood shedding brown dust... + snail outbreak .... ??? (w/ pics)

[kyazh]

The Driftwood Issue:

I purchased two medium pieces of driftwood from a lfs about a month ago. I preped them by soaking them in water overnight and brushing them off with a steel brush. After I tossed them in my 29G, they started discoloring the water, which is normal. I do 50% water changes weekly and change my carbon filters. However, what is NOT normal, is that there seems to be A LOT of 'driftwood dust like' stuff all over my substrate, which is sand. It looks like wood dust, I've tried vacuuming it out but it just keeps on shedding more and more. I don't know if it's rotting or what. I forgot the actual type of driftwood it was.

Here's a shot of the wood dust stuff

The Snail Issue

I bought a few different types of plants in the past month or so and I'm assuming one of them had snail eggs or something on it. Now I have dozens of small (0.5cm-1cm) snails all over my tank. I don't know what type they are, but they seem to be doing a good job keeping the glass clean. I'm just afraid they might be harmful to my plants. Also, I wanted to know if they would eat the stuff thats coming off the driftwood?

Some shots of the little bugers

The tank as it is..



Thanks for reading

 

[PufferFan]

could be snail poop :\

 

[Lupin]

Sand is much denser than the gravel thus the waste doesn't penetrate it to settle the same as it would in gravel. If you look at a tank that needs a gravel vacuum, with gravel as substrate there is a line of brown "muck" that settles between the rocks. I have noticed this similarly in my tanks with gravel. In sand, it can't settle between the rocks and this does include things like shedding in driftwood. The other thing I noticed in that tank is lack of circulation which will cause sediments to build and pool in places like that piece of wood. You need to add a powerhead or two and the rest of it you'll have to live with if you want sand. The plants would do better in gravel. Sand is so dense the roots have a hard time growing through it vs the gravel which is nice and airy. You will notice then when the sand compacts rather quickly compared to the gravel that the circulation is blocked eventually choking the plant roots. You need circulation from the sides instead of all from the back. One thing that would help would be to turn the angle of the undergravel tops by pointing them out at the sides or towards the center, but different direction than filter is pushing. You still need a small powerhead in there though because it won't be powerful enough to do much.

Your snails look like pond snails to me which are very prolific especially when you try to overfeed. The abundance of food supply will ensure their fast growing population. If you want to remove them, simply bait them with lettuce or manually pick them one by one. Squish some and your fish will relish them. No need to resort into buying fish to control the population for you and keep your distance from chemicals. While chemicals do kill snails, failing to remove all dead snails will result into ammonia spike which can kill every fish you have.

 

[kyazh]

Thanks for the info. I ordered a RENA XP3 today, and I'm waiting for it to come in. I'm sure that will take care of some of the circulation issues you mentioned. I'm also looking to move up to a 60G tank in the next 2 months. There are no undergravel filters, I just put that top in there with a tube for the carbon to clean up the water. Right now I have a Tetra Whisper 60 and a Whisper 30 hanging off the back. I'll arrange the Rena xp3 to shoot from the sides when I get it in the mail. I like the sand because its easier to vac, even with all those plants in there. But when I mix up the sand, a lot of debris gets stirred up into the water.

Do those snails generally get larger than an inch? I wouldn't mind them if they stayed rather small. No harm done.

 

[Lupin]

Do those snails generally get larger than an inch? I wouldn't mind them if they stayed rather small. No harm done.

For pond snails, I have not seen one growing to more than an inch and yes, no harm done with them.

 

[wataugachicken]

what fish do you have in there? any plecos?

 

[247Plants]

I agree that its most likely mulm that settles in those areas.....

I dont agree that sand is not good for plants. Go have a look in your local creek or riverbed and up to the shore where there are plants growing. Most of these tend the be silty to sandy bottomed areas that are pretty dense. One big difference for us is that we dont get near the amount of waterflow through our substrates as in nature. This is what holds us back as far as having fine grained substrates.

 

[kyazh]

what fish do you have in there? any plecos?

I had 3 plecos, all three died in the same fashion... next to the heater. I have a feeling they somehow get stuck on the heater and end up getting fried . I also have a molly and both of my angels died yesterday. I'm assuming I'm having some water issues, so I'll be visiting the LFS this weekend. :headshake2:

 

[gvildawg]

Those pond snails will soon be living in your Rena XP3 as well. I had the same experience as you--bought some plants and unknowingly got some snails that came along for the ride. My loaches ate all of the ones in the tank eventually but I still see a few in my filter whenever I wash it out. They do no harm either way. As someone else said the population will not explode unless you overfeed. They will eat algae and any fish food they can find but they should not damage your plants.

 

[kyazh]

As long as they don't crawl out of the tank and visit me in my bed, thats all right :22_yikes: :grinno: