Low PH and snails

[Baalaz999]

I'm trying to get rid of some pond snails in my 108 gal discus tank. Does anyone have any info or experience with snails dying off in very soft or acidic water. Some research has led me to believe this might be a solution as snails apparently have difficulty developing thier shells in this kind of environment. So far I have been successful keeping thier population very low through picking them out by hand but it would be nice to eradicate the buggers. I know this may be wishful thinking.

[brewmaster15]

Low pH does inhibit the formation of their shells...but you may need to take it down to the low 5's to completely eradicate them...

whats your current pH?

-al

[Baalaz999]

My PH is presently @ 6.8; KH @ 2.8º. The water still seems pretty well buffered though I have been trying to bring the PH down and it has slowly dropped over the last couple of months. I use 75% RO water/25% tap water and the water hear comes out of the tap pretty hard, averages PH 8.0; KH 10º.

[brewmaster15]

I don't think that the pH you are at will do the trick..:(

-al

[pcsb23]

Over a prolonged period of time at low ph AND low hardness the shells will become very thin and brittle, however the hardness has to be very low, and therefore you run the risk of serious ph swings. I don't know if low ph alone will do it, usually though low ph and low hardness go together.

[dntx5b9]

What is the best way of getting rid of snails? I have thousands of tiny snails in my planted discus tank. I have three 4" plus clown loaches, but they don't seem to touch the snails. I heard only young clown loaches eat the snails. Should I get three more small clown loaches? I am sure there are chemicals out there that will kill the snails, but I am uneasy about putting chemicals in the tank.