Need help getting rid of snails

[chrissyoscar]

Since my Snakeskin jumped and commited suicide I've removed the 3 remaining discus from the 4ft tank. The problem I have is that tank has heaps of snails and I want to get rid of them. As there are no fish in the tank and only potted plants are there any chemicals I can use to kill the snails but not harm the plants.

I want to use the tank again and want the snails out.

Thanks.. Oscar

[kalebjarrod]

surley a dose of chorline should kill of evrything, i'd have to find a rate so DON"T JUST SPLASH SOME IN!

in the right dose it will not harm your plants

Don't run your bio filter when you are doing this process

you would have to cycle your tank again

[sunshinediscus]

Id take the plants out of the pots as some snails will hide in the substrate, carefully inspect the plants for eggs and snails and remove by hand. Drain and scrub the tank and all the filters and replace the substrate. Keep a careful eye on the tank for the next month or so and if any escaped then remove them before they are old enough to breed.

I had a snail infestation in a planted tank once and each day i spent 15 minutes removing every snail i could find, it took 3 months but eventually no more snails ever appeared.

Most snail remedy's that are added are copper based and copper can affect some plants as well as fish.

Another remedy is to place a couple of snail predators in the tank. best one i know of is Anolachromis thomasi followed by the clown loach, Botia macrocanthus.

[ahsan]

Well chlorine , can be really deadly to some plants ,, even with a fewer concentration , or amount of usage, what i know is
1. never use chlorine repeatedly , even if you are using a dilute solution , in your case (if all snails dont get killed the first time , dont just use chlorine right after that ,, to kill the rest , they would certainly kill the plants as well) the point is that the dosage has to be small and far apart

2. chlorine in any concentration is deadly , dont use it near the roots and the leaves , use at one end of the tank and then make it take over the whole tank.

i wont quote the dosage because i am not sure ,, coz high dosage if not kill but it does adversly affect the growth of the plant ,

ryan is a smart man , he'll get you the dosage , by the time ill check and confirm it as well , if i could get the info from any different source
cheers
ahsan
2.

[kalebjarrod]

trying to find the rate in my text books is a bit harder than i thought

they all talk about the concept like you should know what the rate is

[africandiscus]

Clown loaches love snails. They will all be gone in a few days

[ahsan]

i chated with a person , who has been using chlorine for quite a time ,, according to the guy " chlorine one way or the other affects the plants , with small dosage it could affect the growth , with medium or large quantity acc to the tank capacity it could easily destroy a plant."
Chlorine is effective in small ponds , where the plant just have that enough norishment for the chlorine to affect it .
My experience of making the fish eat away the snail was not really great. I just brought pair of clown loach from a friend for a couple of weeks , they tore them apart but the tank it got really misty ,, even with 5 or 6 water changes ,, i was not able to get the water clear ,, i ended up , taking out the fish ,, threw the survived snail and cleaned the tank, also that gave an awkward smell
anyway ,, that was my experience, i would suggest you to take out the plants , and just throw the snails away.
cheers
ahsan

[flukes]

The mist and smell is because the loaches turned it into a snail grave yard. They just forgot too bury :wink:

[Chris McMahon]

best one i know of is Anolachromis thomasi followed by the clown loach, Botia macrocanthus.I think the correct spelling is Anomalochromis thomasi (http://www.google.com.au/search?&q=%22Anomalochromis+thomasi%22) (African Butterfly Cichlid).

How do those guys go with Discus Rod?

[sunshinediscus]

Thanks for the spelling correction Chris, i winged that and didn't look it up :roll:

The thomasi should do fine with the discus when they are small, they like similar water and conditions and don't seem to be agro. When they get to breeding size i would prob remove them as i can imagine they may get pushy then, but i bet there won't be a snail in site by that time.

Rod

[Chris McMahon]

The thomasi should do fine with the discus when they are small, they like similar water and conditions and don't seem to be agro. When they get to breeding size i would prob remove them as i can imagine they may get pushy then, but i bet there won't be a snail in site by that time.
RodThanks Rod.

I may get a pair for my 30" community tank. It's kind of small for Clown Loaches, which I have in my 5x2x2.

Do you know if Wetpetz stocks them? (I was only there yesterday - bought 8x Melanotaenia boesemani for my 4' discus tank).

[kalebjarrod]

has anyone had experience with these guys in a planted tank?

how many per litre?

[sunshinediscus]

Chris,

Not sure if wetpetz has any atm, prob as they are a regular stock item.

Ryan,

They don't uproot plants if that is your concern, actually they look thier best in heavily planted tanks showing great colors. At wetpetz we would change the position of the thomasi around the shop to the tank with the biggest snail problem :wink:

Rod

[chrissyoscar]

Thanks for all your help guys.

I thought about getting some Clown Loaches but went against it as I really don't want other fish. The Chlorine idea made me think that maybe ammonia would work so you guessed it I added ammonia.
I know it was a little extreme and some of you might think I'm a bit of an idiot but I wanted those snails gone quickly. I added about 100-200 mls of ammonia and the snails started dropping within seconds. The tank has now gone a little cloudy from the dead snails.
I'll do a 75% water change today and then leave it until I get back from holidays. The plants don't seem to be affected so hopefully they'll stay that way.
I'm now going to get rid of this tank when I get back from holidays.
Because of this I'm not to worried about the ammonia causing problems with the tanks bacteria cycle I just hope those plants are okay.

Oscar

[nicholas76]

Use a product called snail rid by aquamaster.

I used this and it worked a treat. Snails started dropping like flys within 20 minutes of putting it in.


I do recommend a water changer after several hours though.

[Trebs]

I had a lot of snails until my PH dropped below 6. All the snails were gone. I'm not absolutely certain that it was the ph but I can't think of anything else that changed.