Hardcore Tank cleaning?

[z71silverado98]

if your going to clean your plants, id suggest cleaning only 1 or 2 at a time then replace.

a bare tank will be more stressfull to your fish than a plant or 2 'missing' for a few minutes.

 

[SueOB1]

What fish do you have in your tank?
If you had space and nothing too aggressive - why not add fish that would eat the snails such as clown loaches or brass barbs?
:fairy:
Sue

 

[Roan Art]

What fish do you have in your tank?
If you had space and nothing too aggressive - why not add fish that would eat the snails such as clown loaches or brass barbs?
:fairy:
Sue

Why add a fish like a clown loach that will get too big for most tanks when fixing the problem of the snail explosion -- over feeding -- will solve it instead?

Snails are *good* for tanks. They eat leftover food and algae. Too many snails just means too much food in the tank.

Roan

 

[Wishful]

If you don't get good results with lettuce or veggies, you might consider trying a foodblock (white block of compressed who-knows-what available at every chain store) to lure the snails out. Our LFS tosses one in at night just before lights out, takes it out first thing in the morning. The fish don't get much food off it as it's designed to be broken down very gradually. From what I've seen, it holds the snails attention much better so you get more of them at a time.

 

[SueOB1]

Why add a fish like a clown loach that will get too big for most tanks when fixing the problem of the snail explosion -- over feeding -- will solve it instead?

Roan

I did start with "If you had room etc."

If you overfeed the tank you have to cut it down, but there will always be places for food to get caught up in plants and around decorations.

Snail snacking fish are unlikely to wipe out the entire population in a tank, and by adding natural predators at least the snails make a good meal rather than suffocating on a compost heap or in the trash!

:fairy:
Sue

 

[asincero]

I did start with "If you had room etc."

If you overfeed the tank you have to cut it down, but there will always be places for food to get caught up in plants and around decorations.

Snail snacking fish are unlikely to wipe out the entire population in a tank, and by adding natural predators at least the snails make a good meal rather than suffocating on a compost heap or in the trash!

:fairy:
Sue

I once had, what I perceived at the time, a snail problem. Three yo-yo loaches solved that right quick, though. The only snails I see these days are the very few I see hiding in fear inside my canister filter. So if you want to go the natural route, loaches will definately do the job. Yo-yo loaches don't get very big either. They like to be kept in groups of at least 3 though ... I think a good minimum is a 40g tank.

It turns out the snails did serve a useful purpose. Once the snails disappeared, algae started to take over!

 

[SueOB1]

I once had, what I perceived at the time, a snail problem. Three yo-yo loaches solved that right quick, though. The only snails I see these days are the very few I see hiding in fear inside my canister filter. So if you want to go the natural route, loaches will definately do the job. Yo-yo loaches don't get very big either. They like to be kept in groups of at least 3 though ... I think a good minimum is a 40g tank.

It turns out the snails did serve a useful purpose. Once the snails disappeared, algae started to take over!

Snails will eat some algae, but out of control algae is an imbalance of light/ferts/CO2/plants/and waste(food, fish & snail!)

If adding 3 small loaches and taking out some of the snails was enough to tip the balance algae problems must have been close anyway.
:fairy:
Sue