'De-snailing' plants

[aquarius]

It's very frustrating for some of us cos when you buy the plants, they look healthy and has no visible signs of snails. Then a month or two later the whole tank is infested with it!
I'm wondering if you were to put the snail removal chemical in the tank, will it affect the biological filter?

[ja__]

i dont tink it will affect the filter

what chemicals are u using?

[aquarius]

I'm now about to set up a planted tank with everything new. Previously i did not use any snail removal chemical but bought a puffer fish to help get rid of the snails. After sometime the poor puffer starve to death and for a week or two there were no visible signs of snails. But to my worst nightmare, the snails reappeared again! I gave up and just let the snails multiply. Before long the whole tank was infested!!

But after some time i noticed that the snail population sort of declined by itself and maintain at a constant level. I also noticed that there were quite a no of dead snails lying around the substrate. Maybe there isn't enough food in the tank to maintain the population that's why the snails declined and later maintained at that amount.

Right now in this new planted tank, i'm thinking of putting snail removal chemicals in the tank for 2 to 3 weeks after the initial setup to kill off the snails cos afterall i won't be putting in any fishes or shrimps during this time and thought it'll be a good opportunity to disinfect the plants but is worried about it's effects the chemicals have on the biological filteration, plants, fertilization, water chemistry etc.
Anybody care to advise?

[Fei Miao]

How old is the set-up?

In any planted tank, ther bound to be some snails, IMO puffer fish is not the most effective way to remove snails, and I rather not adding any chemicals into a tank.

This is what you can do: in the evening, after the lights are off in the tank for a while, the snails will appears, then suction out as much as you can. You probably have to do this a few times to see a reduction in the popluation.

Check and clean any new plants of snail eggs before putting them in the tank.

Please note that over feeding will cause snail population to explode so you got to control the feeding

[Justikanz]

Side effect of using chemicals againsts snails is that it will also work against any shrimps you might want to keep in the tank. Heavy metals that can kill shrimps, eg, copper, in the tank is not easy to remove...

[StanChung]

did the chemical thing before, no use. esp when you keep buying new plants...[azoo and sera ones]

i've learned to live with snails, they eat algae. one pygmy puffer keeps their population in check. just a biological thing...

[plumboy21]

I also end up with many snails in my 2ft tank. I patiently picked them out & drop them into my small shrimp tank, hehe. Perhaps will get a drawf puffer, but will it attacks cherry barbs, shrimps & neons?

[lseow]

yes the puffer will nip the fish tail as well even though the snail is still around

[plumboy21]

One thing i observed is that the snails didnt seems to consume the plants, perhaps the algae instead? Is it for asethetic purpose that we remove snails or are they really pest?

[Justikanz]

I never see them as pests... they seldom, if any, disturb the plants... The young ones dot the tank glass and it does not look good... So, it is for the asethetics that I want them removed... In fact, I like the adult ramshorn and actually buy red ramshorn and the horned, bat and zebra snails...

[aquarius]

How old is the set-up?

In any planted tank, ther bound to be some snails, IMO puffer fish is not the most effective way to remove snails, and I rather not adding any chemicals into a tank.

This is what you can do: in the evening, after the lights are off in the tank for a while, the snails will appears, then suction out as much as you can. You probably have to do this a few times to see a reduction in the popluation.

Check and clean any new plants of snail eggs before putting them in the tank.

Please note that over feeding will cause snail population to explode so you got to control the feeding

I had the setup for 3yrs but the snail problem began not long after i do up the tank. It's very frustrating cos you're fighting an endless battle. Thanks for your good suggestion.

My friend had fish louse and some worm-like parasites soon after he put the newly bought plants into his tank. I've also read forumers' having leeches in their tanks which obviously comes from the plants.

Which makes me wonder do people disinfect plants b4 putting them in their tanks?

[Justikanz]

A word of caution on the salt treatments... Be careful of the time you soak the plants... I 'forgot' and the plants start melting!! The salt soften the plant very fast...

[|squee|]

that's got to be bad if you forgot. It's salt... draws water out of the plants.

What I do to my new plants is to lay them on the toilet floor, remove the irritating disgusting wool, and start spraying them with water from the hose. I then do a quick visual inspection and spray again.

After adding the plants, I usually observe the tank for any signs of snails. Got snail, pluck out immediately.

[Justikanz]

I am quite amazed at how fast the process can be!... Barely 5 minutes!...

The Limnobium sp. floaters turned brown and the MM almost became like mashed up!!... Really powerful...

[StanChung]

salt is a bad idea unless you want kiam chai made almost a kilo of it before with this method! moss, crispus, lotus kiam chai. you name it...settled with a teeny meeny pygmy puffer...can't even see the fellow but like apache helicopter is on constant search and destroy...cool fella...

[aquarius]

A word of caution on the salt treatments... Be careful of the time you soak the plants... I 'forgot' and the plants start melting!! The salt soften the plant very fast...

I think you must have put quite alot of salt for the plants to react that way. I read from a tread that people put salt into their planted tank to treat white spot. Which makes me wonder if you put too much salt to treat the white spots won't it affect the plants? If you put too much salt the plants die, if too little the white spots won't go away, so how much to put??

From the replies here, i'm also wondering why doesn't anybody soak the newly bought plants in a pail of chemicals for 15 - 30mins to disinfect it?
Is it because the chemicals will leave a residue on the plants even if you wash/rinse it b4 putting them in the tank thereby killing the shrimps?

[Justikanz]

Keke... Yes, I think I overdose...

Anyway, I gave up on using salt... Maybe, just MAYBE, I will be getting a dwarf puffer afterall...

[plumboy21]

I used to add salt to my tank when i kept just fishes. Now with plants around, i realised the salt could have possibly "consumes" their stems ... some plants shows more significance deterioration than others, probably the acidity / alkalinity tolerance level of different plants .

One of my plant (dunno it's name, but it has roots under it's pellets of leaves) simply "rot away"

[StanChung]

hi,
from experience, i treating the tank is a nightmare... quarantining everything before anything goes into the display tank is the best way.

white spot is easy to treat... remove the fishes and treat in separate tank/tub. because you need to heat up the water to 30-32c to speed up the pest's cycle. temp only a few plants can tolerate.

with any fish disease, it's better to scoop the fella out to treat. keep tank empty of fishes for awhile and the parasites will die of starvation or go into 'sleep mode'

[aquarius]

From the replies here, i'm also wondering why doesn't anybody soak the newly bought plants in a pail of chemicals for 15 - 30mins to disinfect it?
Is it because the chemicals will leave a residue on the plants even if you wash/rinse it b4 putting them in the tank thereby killing the shrimps?

Anybody care to comment on the abovementioned?