Snails...

J

jon

Guest
Im having some problems with some small snails beginning to appear in my tank.. I know they came in when i brought in some plants. Unfortunately just rinsing them under water wasn't enough. I'm planning on taking and redoing the entire tank, but i'd like to still keep some of the plants I have in there.. What should I do with the plants to make sure I won't have another return of snails in my next setup? Any ideas are much appreciated.
 
I've gotten stow-away snails on plants, and never had a problem with them. They reproduce, but not wildly. I like them.

There is a standard treatment to kill all organisms on live plants. As I recall, it's a solution of potassium permanganate, but I don't know where one would buy the stuff.
 
I've treated new plants with potassium permanganate to remove snails in the past.

Didn't work.
 
You can buy moluscides from aquarists and pet shops. A few that spring to mind are Interpet - Snail Away & King British - Snail Control.
 
I have never used them Andrew, would you consider them safe for caudates?
 
It should be safe to treat the plants with it before putting them into the aquarium but I’m not sure about adding it to the aquarium with the inhabitants.
 
I think that would be a safer method of destroying the snails.
 
In my opinion a few snails are very useful. They keep the tank "healthy" and some newts love them.
 
Yea I think I will look into those moluscides for the plants. I wont be using it actually in the aquarium as I'm planning on using it for an entirely different species and want to redo it.. But there are just a few plants I would like to keep but have the snails. I'm actually looking into getting 2 axolotls and I've heard that some snails will actually attach themselves to them and suck off their slime coat.. So I don't want to risk that. I will give the moluscide a chance and I'll let you all know what the results are.
 
I have those same snail, they only reproduce a little, and they dont get out of control, plus they will clean the tank a little.
 
Most commercial molluscicides are overpriced copper sulphate.
My experience has been that copper at concentrations which is lethal to snails (and more relevant to this discussion, their eggs, 'cos that's how they sneak in!) is is also toxic to some (not all) plants.
 
So do you think I will just end up killing my plants with whatever I use to kill the snails and their eggs?
 
I've seen that in the axolotl FAQ (about snails sucking on axolotls' slime coat). I don't know what kind of snails that refers to, but I'd say it's highly unlikely that the small snails you would get with plants would do that. I have pond snails with my baby axies and never gave it a second thought. I guess it's a question for the axie forum.
 
If you get common pond snails (Physa (I think) spp) they can quickly overrun a tank and wipe out the plants.

Ed
 
I soak all new plants in a potassium permanganate solution to kill unwanted quests (the ones you usually can't see). But pp does not seem to affect the snails so much. For snail control, soak plants in an alum solution. Alum "pickles" all the little critters, even snail egg masses. Just rinse plants really, really, well before introducing them into your tank. Another way to reduce the population in your tank is to put a piece of parboiled romain, or spinach, leaf on the bottom. A few hours later, or next day, you will see more snails than you had imagined munching on the salad. Remove the leaf with snails, and "walla". Of course, this an ongoing project, but does help keep the population in check.
 
To keep populations of snails under control in my fish tanks, I put an algae wafer in a jar and put the jar in the tank. In a few hours there a lots of snails in the jar. Remove it, remove them reload an algae wafer and "repeat".

In my axolotl tank one of my axolotls (Jude, as seen in my avatar) has eaten every snail big enough to catch from their tank.

I am not sure you can ever be completely rid of snails if you have live plants.

I have never seen a snail "on" an axolotl eating its slime coat.
 
alright I think i'll give the alum treatment a try. and if i start to see snails reappearing i'll just try and keep up with them with the algae or spinach method. thanks a lot guys, you all have been a HUGE help.
 
definently get rid of them. they are cute at first, but then they take over and you won't be able to get rid of them. i just take hot water and let the plants stay in there for 10 mins at most. it kills most egg sacs, but live snails you will have to remove.
 
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