Fish TB and Nerite Snails

[Falconfree]

Unfortunately, the last of the guppies in my 20 gallon tank died today, possibly of fish TB (possibly a systemic bacterial disease, but I just have no way to know for sure). I'm already bummed about the possibility of having to throw out all the plants from this tank, since it is very heavily planted and really nice looking.

But now I'm worried about my two snails. Can myco, or another fish bacterial disease bother them at all? Neither seems to be sick at all, still happily snailing around the tank all day. Do I need to clean their shells or anything, when I move them in my 10g (which has too many snails already, but they have to go somewhere until the 20g is liveable again)?

 

[OrionGirl]

To the best of my knowledge, they are not susceptible to the same mycobacterium as fish, so are unaffected and not a vector. I would rinse them in clean, dechlorinated water before putting them in a new tank.

 

[Tifftastic]

Additionally, to my knowledge you shouldn't have to throw out your plants. A bleach dip should work, without killing the plants. You can also use Potassium permanganate, which also kills Mycobacterium as a dip for the plants.

 

[Falconfree]

I read that only a fairly concentrated amount of bleach works on myco, would a strong bleach solution hurt plants, you think? I bought some rubbing alcohol to clean the tank (read that alcohol was really good at killing it), would that be a good plant dip? Our hardware stores don't tend to be well stocked, so I don't have any potassium permaganate (but maybe I should get some, it sounds handy for a survival kit!).

 

[Falconfree]

By the way, thank you for the good news on my snails! My favorite snail is in this tank, so I'm especially glad to hear it. He has such a personality.