killing snails

[GWdiscus]

About a week after I bought my discus and about two months after I started up my tank I found this forum. If I had searched alittle harder I would not be having this problem with snails. I have 3 potted plants in a 75 gallon tank with 9 discus ranging from 2.5" to 4.5 " on a bare bottom.
I noticed the snails soon after setting up the tank, but thought I would be able to siphon them out with the daily water changes.
Well, I am now, 4 months later, ready to admit defeat. I can not wipe them out by sucking them out of the tank!!!

What is the best chemical to kill the snails and not hurt the discus? And at what concentration?

thanks
Michael

[Ardan]

Hi,
I am told that clown loaches do a good job of eating the snails.

Otherwise flubendazole kills snails, but then the dying snails pollute the water.

Lowering ph to about 6 kills snails (most) however the pollution problem is still there.

hth

[dred]

GMW,

Do a search in the planted tank forum - this question comes up there frequently. Chances are your snails came home on your plants, so ...

milton

[acorn54]

i had a problem with snails. one day i started using salt in water for health of discus and before i knew it the snails were gone. i forget the dosage but it was probably the standard dosage mentioned on this forum 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons

[RAWesolowski]

A friend of mine recommends placing a slice of carrot in the tank in the evening. In the morning it should be covered with snails. Remove and repeat.

[DRF.in.IGH-MN]

Before I converted my tank to discus, I had a significant problem with snails. I picked out 20-30 every week and had little or no impact on the population. I didn't use any chemicals to kill them because I didn't know the impact on my fish (firemouth cichlids and small Jack Dempseys).

I added a pair of Juripari into the tank and within a month, the snails were gone and the Juripari were fat and happy.

I don't think you should put Juripari in with juvenile discus, maybe adults. They are much more aggressive at feeding time than discus.

[discusinoz]

Buy a couple of clown loaches and they will be gone in no time.

Neil.

[angel12]

whilst many people opt for the clown loach approach to the natural elimniation of snails .. the only thing that could be against them is there relative size they can grow to and it is always wise to keep more than just one they also tend to be nocturnal (not saying that is always the case ) this is NOT to say that clown loaches will not do the job for you but it is something to bear in mind if you are getting young Discus .. they will also eat the left overs from the tank bottom ... I myself got some dwarf puffers and they did the job in no time but I dont know if they would be a good idea in a tank with small Discus .. it is another option as these wil not grow very large and are realy peacfull and basicaly are a snail eating machine what ever method you choose has to be right for you

Good Luck and HTH

:)

[RandalB]

Dwarf Puffers=Not a good idea with discus

The vast majority of them are vicious little predators that think nothing of eating fins and biting chunks out of other fish.

I had some eat the fins off the nastiest pair of angels I've ever owned that were 4-5x bigger than the puffers. I had to separate the angels because they were attacking everything else in the planted tank and the tiny little puffers chewed them up.

I did a little research on them (Dwarf Puffers) and found out most are highly predatory.

JME,
RandalB

[Very Fishy]

I am one who did have success with getting rid of snails when I converted to a bare bottom tank and physically removed the snails. They were everywhere, even getting up into my filter. Most of them were removed with the gravel and frequent siphoning and water changes got rid of the rest of the snails in no time.

[discusinoz]

Angel12,

You are right in saying that they do grow quite large, but in saying that they are a very very slow growing fish and from what I have found are very peaceful.

In saying this I often have different opinions to others. I once posted about bristlenoses and the general opinion was they were a compatible companion. However I find they are very aggresive towards discus when it is feeding time. Anyway just my thoughts.

Neil.

[brewmaster15]

Clown Loaches worked wonders in my tank. :)
other options..

flubendazole
acidify the water
PP


-al