Snail hitchikers

[marlboro]

Hi,
I have removed some floating artificial plants, that were used for fry to hide in, from a tank that has very small snails in it. I have seen snails on these plants when they were in place. I've dried the plants and am wondering if I reintroduce these plants into a DIFFERENT tank, will snails rise, zombie like, from the dead (?) an infest the second tank? If that is likely, what can I do to these plants to clean them off and prevent this? Buying new plants is the obvious answer, but my printing press broke so I don't have money .

 

[meaghan9930]

Im not sure so dont hold me to it, but I think there is something you can buy from your LFS to get rid of them. I just thought I heard that on here before???? Try foing to your LFS and asking them

 

[dorkfish]

If it really has been dried up for a while, the snails should be dead, but if they aren't, I've alwasy found snails to be a more of a benifit than a detriment.

 

[meaghan9930]

I agree with dorkfish. I like the snails.

 

[jennfier]

You usually have a snail explosion if there are lots of excess food in your tank. My snail population (hitchhiked in with real plants) has stayed quite constant at 6 for a few months now.

Rinse off your fake plants very well or bleach them to be sure. Feed only as much as your fish can eat in a minute or 2 and scoop out the excess. There are things like 'Had-a-snail' at the LFS but they're said to be bad for fish so perhaps you could just pick the snails off as you go along or attact them to a piece of lettuce and take that out when it's covered.