Snails and discus question

[Erk]

I need to figure out a way to get rid of these darn snails!? The problem isnt getting any better, I try and pick some out daily from the glass, and when I gravel vac, I suck some out as well....I tried the cucumber trick twice and both times it just made my tank nasty, and the cucumber never had any snails on it....any suggestions on what to try now, or a good product that wont hurt the plants or fish?

Next, the baby discus arrived yesterday, I have them in a quarantine tank, but Im curious how long I should leave them in there? The temp in that tank is 87-89F, with a pH of 6.4 (RO water with Kent RO right, and kent discus essentials) low kH and gH. The main tank with the plants and snails is 84F, with a steady pH of 7.0 and all the other specs as listed below in the summary.

Thanks for all your help, as always :D

[DiscusMad]

1 answer its simple get some clown loaches the snails will be gorn in 1-3 days then you can remove the loches

[Erk]

Thanks DiscusMad, I had clown loaches before, and was told they get too big, so I removed them, I guess I could get one of them back for a lil bit, I just hate to keep moving fish around like that

Thanks for your help! I will get one of them back soon....its much better then having to dose the tank with something

[ILLUSN]

I'd quarantine for AT LEAST 2 WEEKS, though people tell me I should quarantine for A MONTH!. Sorry I'm of no real help.

[Erk]

Thanks ILLUSN, I was thinking two weeks to a month, depending on how they ate and acted...the temp change and the pH change are the main factors holding me back

Thanks for your help tho :D

[clineb]

I had a MAJOR snail problem about 4 months ago...no matter how many I removed, abou twice as many would pop up the next day...

THEN i got a clown loach :wink:
Haven't seen a single snail since

He's gotten pretty big, but doesn't seem to bother the discus...even during feeding time. Otherwise, if he ever did, I would remove him. They are extremely active fish!

[Erk]

OK, sounds like I will get one of the clown loaches back tonight, and we will see how things go....the snails are starting to get a lil out of hand :(

Thanks for your help clineb

[dntx5b9]

I have three clown loaches in my tank, but they don't seem to enjoy the snails... I still have a tons of tiny snails.

[Erk]

Thats odd dntx5b9, I have read on other threads they eat the babies, and thats how the population stays low...I had two in the past, and didnt see any snails, all my plants come from the same LFS, and now that they have been gone for about 3 weeks or so, I have them everywhere!! :evil:

I will get one of those back, and see what happens over a week or so with my snail population and go from there, since nobody is suggesting any liquid products to dose in there, while the discus are quarantined, I thought this would be a good time to really try to get rid of the snail problems

Thanks

[ILLUSN]

Erk most snail rid products contain high ammounts of coper, thats what kills the sNails, it also kills plants thats why no one recomends it.

[Erk]

Could I take the plants out and soak them in flubenol15?

I came across a thread today

www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11492 sounded like it would be ok for plants?

And maybe dose a small amount in the tank, while the plants are out? Im just not sure I wanna deal with the hassle of getting the loach in and out of there, but if Im going to take the plants out for the flubenol, I guess the loach is gonna be much different :roll:

Thanks for your help ILLUSN I do appreciate it, and everyones help on this forum :D

[ILLUSN]

If your going to take the plants out, then yeah a dip would work good, also give them a dip in 5% bleach and kill any eggs and algae on them, might help your algae problem a bit ( if you still have a problem that is :) )

[Greggy]

As long as you don't over-dose on the copper (sulphate) based anti-snail treatments your plants should be just fine.

I had several small snails sneak into my new 6x2x2 along with some plants (I was slack and didn't check them out too well) and went with a low (half) dose of what was recomended on the bottle, it killed off the snails, yet the fish & plants didn't even notice!

Just be wary of using such copper sulphate based treatments with low pH & soft water, as I understand this makes the copper alot more toxic.

Regards,

Greggy

[Erk]

Thanks ILLUSN and Greggy, its on order, so I will try that first when it arrives, I can see a good bit of snails in my hornwort plant, so that def. should get a dip....I will pick up some bleach. I think the flubenol should work pretty good, I will def. watch the dose I use, but since the pH is neutral, and the kH and gH as listed below, I think it should go kinda smoothly, but in reading up on the flubenol, it says its safe for everything, but the death of a high population of snails could cause a problem, so thats why I thought taking them out would be a good idea....I never realized you should check the plants out before you put them in the tank :( I do now tho!

ILLUSN, the algae is pretty much gone from the glass, and the only place I really see any is on the plants, its black, greyish, and stringy....it flows in the water! haha....but thats about it, and pull it off when I do water changes, but maybe the flubenol, bleach dip is all I need yet to really get rid of it

Thanks a lot!! Sounds like a busy, yet fun weekend! haha :D