snails bad???

D

D.J.

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May 3, 2008
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im wanting to get some plants from petco but all the fresh tanks and plant tanks are overrun with snails......

i dont want 1000000000000000 snails in my tank......how can i get rid of them off the plants wthout killin the plants.....

and is there a chance that the plant would be covered in snail eggs or something and still have to worry about a hatch off......
 
Snail population is based on the resources they need to explode. If you overfeed, or have too much waste in the tank, they will have enough food to breed crazily. If the food is kept to a minimal, they won't have enough of it to go around, and you keep a small amount of snails.
 
snails good.
lol.. just put a cucumber or something in there and in the morning take it out with all the snails and keep them in another tank or jar and bring them to the LFS when it gets pretty full if you dont want a billion.. also dont overfeed as was said before.
 
you can do a bleach solution soak... 1 part bleach to 20 parts water for 2 minutes (time it exactly or plants can get too stressed). Then plop 'em in a bucket of water w/ a couple cap-fulls of dechlorinator (neutralizes the bleach). If you can still smell bleach, rinse until you don't. There are a few plants that are too sensitive for this, but if you make sure you don't do it for longer than 2 minutes most plants will be fine.
 
Bleach is a good method if done properly, though a bit risky for my taste though.
Pond snails and common ramhorn snails are bad, IF you don't want them. Personally, I find most snails to be a pest, especially if I get them as hitchhikers and had never planned on buying/obtaining them to begin with.
The only snails I want to keep are spixi snails, everything else I find in my tank, I squish for my fish/shrimp.

Bleaching plants before you put them in the tank is a good method.
There's also the lettuce method, but that kinda just reduces snail populations, not really eliminate them completely like the bleach method.
There's also a QT for plants. In which you have a small tank and you keep the plants there for approx. 2-3 weeks to make sure it's snail free (and snail eggs free). When no snails appear, then you can call it safe to put into the main tank.
Or if your PH is in the acidic range, you can just have the snails die off from the low PH. That requires little work on your part :P
 
i have used the bleach solution b4 1 part bleach 20 part water and works a treat just as stated b4.
 
wouldnt the bleach soak into the plant and then release into the tank? or no?

i would be scared of that since it would be goin into my tank afterwards...

would any of the "snail eating" fish do the trick in a QT tank to help?
 
1) no the bleach wont soak in, the plants should only be in there for a couple minutes, and bleach is
1 very unstable
2 mostly chlorine
thus the dechlorinator takes care of it pretty easily. I use a 3 or 4 times dose when dealing with bleach, to be safe.

2) i would not get a fish JUST to eat snails. If you want it , thats one thing. But just snail eating isnt good. Besides, some snails aren't susceptible except to the BEST snail eaters, which often grow big and need schools (such as clown loaches)
For example, malaysian trumpet snails are pretty much immune to snail eaters, except for a select few.


Personally, i wouldn't even worry about it. Go over the plants when you buy them, and then don't over feed.

If you get snails- they're GREAT fun to watch, and you can always pick em out and 1) smush and feed to fish or 2) give to LFS (or sell on here, depending what they are)


Good luck
 
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