hitchhikers in my java moss

E

Emily Mae

AC Members
Feb 21, 2010
13
0
0
Central Ohio
i picked up some java moss at my lfs to try out some live plants in my tanks. when i got the bag home i noticed a couple of tiny black dots in the bag which turned out to be pond snails. is there a way to rinse them out of the java moss, including any that are unhatched? or should i just throw the bundle out and try some from another store? thanks for any help:)
 
I'll start off by saying that snails will not harm your plants, they actually help to clean up leftover food and plant detritus (dead/dying stuff). They will not be a problem, number-wise, unless you are over-feeding your tanks. I love my snails :) They're fascinating to watch, but I know some people just don't like 'em.

You could put them into a shallow container of water and try to pick them off the moss. You could also add a piece of blanched zucchini - left overnight or for a few hours, the snails will find it & chow down. Then (while the snails are on the veg) you remove the zucchini.

There's a chemical way to treat the moss to kill the snails/eggs, but I don't care for that route, so don't know much about it.
 
It is real hard to have plants and no snails. People do it...but it is not easy. After about a year think I am finally rid of pond snails. I chose the manual extraction method. If you buy from an LFS or fellow hobbyists...chances are you will get snails
 
1) The snails are not harmful in a tank.
2) If you must==You can disinfect by using a copper dip, ect.
 
thanks everyone for your informative advice! I didn't want to kill them, just wasn't sure if they'd stress my bettas' enviroment. from the way some people talked about them i thought they were bad for you tank (excess bio-load and such). Almost like a flea problem on a dog:) I guess the fish will get some new tank buddies!
 
most of the time when people hate snails, theyre either A) aesthetic clean-freaks that also cannot handle a spot of algae, B) misinformed (as it appears you were, glad you asked first :)), or C) have some sort of "gross" complex about it.

Personally? I love having snails in my tanks. They clean up excess food, my MTS keep the tank algae-free, create plenty of fecal detritus for my plants, and IMO, make the tank look more natural.

you may notice their population growing exceptionally fast, and it may even come across that you have a "problem". The thing to remember is that snail populations depend on one thing to keep their numbers up: sustenance. As soon as the population grows to consume all the extra food source, be it algae, overfeeding, etc, it will level off and even likely decrease.
 
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