quarantine for plants or how to get rid of snails

[roger]

Ive been battling snails in on tank for the better part of 2 years and short of tearing it down and bleaching the hole thing I was hoping to get some help in the battle.

I havent seen any snails for about a month now but that doesnt mean they arent there. Ive gone several months before one will show up. Hell this may be as good as it gets. Any suggestions for getting rid of the pesky bugers shy of nuking the tank ?


Also Ive been planning on getting some new plants for the tank and I was wondering if anyone had some hints on how to treat the plants and with what to make sure I dont add any more fun to this already full barrel of monkeys.

[RAWesolowski]

Roger,

Several things work well on snails. If you like you could add a botia to the tank. The fish is a natural snail eater and will even pursue snails beneath the sand.

I had a wonderful addition of snails when I did not treat the plants when a set up a new aquarium. The little buggers were using my cannister filter for a nursery. At the same time I developed thread algae and the lazy things wouldn't eat it.

I had just cleaned the cannister , clearing out the nursery, when I hit the tank with AlgaeFix from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. The treatement dropped the snail population to near zero and a second treatment got rid of the rest.

My recommendation is to do a 50-75% water change before the first treatment. When the second treatment is due is 3 days, repeat the water change before treating again. Dropping your pH to more acidic levels, of 5-6 will also help in their control.

[Georgios48]

Hi Roger,
You can treat new plants with a strong dose (20 drops/liter) of formadehyde for 4-5 hours. IMO this will kill all harmful organisms.
Georgios48

[roger]

Anyone have a suggestion for a Discus friendly botia ? This is currently for a tank being used quarantine.

Thanks for the advice folks since Ive seen some decent plants at the LFS but Ive also seen a butload of snails in there as well.

Im going out shopping today for supplies so the timing is perfect

[djlen]

If you go to the grocery store and pick up some Alum, mix it up in a bucket, put the new plants in for a few hours, it will kill all the snails on those plants.
djlen

[RAWesolowski]

Roger,

Is your botia working out?

[jeep]

I had a black and yellow staraited botia (I guess they are in the loach family) that was great with my discus. He was a great snail eater... He died not too long ago and I suspect it was because of higher temp and lower pH. I'm not really sure though. Don't get the brown "ethos botia", they are nocturnal and will harrass and scar, yes scar your discus at night.

Since he rid my tank of snails, I never bothered getting another...

[jeep]

Forgot, a friend has clown loaches. They do eat snails, but she has three and they didn't do as good of job as my one stariated...

[mrtorts]

Get a clown loach and you'll never see a snail again. One cleaned out my100 gallon full of snails. Get a few. They're cool.

[ALEXIS]

Clown Loaches are night owls and will disturb your discus when the lights are out. They are slow growers but will reach 12" plus in a tank. I suggest a bucket of tank water with a strong mix of Formilin 3 for a couple of hours to take care of the snails and eggs on the plants. If you decided to go with any type of loach be sure to clean it up before you add it to your tank.(internal and external)

[SoloDiscus]

I personally have had great luck with a clown loach when I first had the snails. I started using a product called lime-it which you can find at most on-line stores. It is like a plant bath that eliminates eggs and snails. You just soak the new plants in it for 15-20min rinse and drop in.