Malaysian Trumpet Snail

[newb]

Hi all, I am new to this forum and this is my first post so I apologise for any duplicate posts recently.
I am taking the plunge and have invested in under gravel heating, 90 litres of Elos substrate and upgraded from a small internal to a large external Dupla C02 reactor for my planted 6x2x2.
Unfortunately, I have recently had explosive growth of MTS throughout my whole tank. My overfeeding has been so abundant that they are living on top of the substrate and throughout the entire tank. As harmless as the snails can be when managed, I don’t really want dead/empty shells as well as the color contrast of MTS snails in my new back substrate because at retail of $90 a bag, it is not something I want to be replacing anytime soon.
I currently have discus, Cardinals as well as peppermint bristle nose.
I would like some advise on how I can transition to the new substrate and get rid of the snails. My thoughts are:

1) Remove plecos and dose tank with copper sulphate for a couple of weeks at the detriment of the plants, then perform the substrate swap out. I am assuming this will also kill all snails in both canister filters

2) Remove fish to holding tank with both canister filters, copper bath the plants, boil the wood, throw the old substrate, bleach the tank then introduce new substrate / plants and already established filters / water and hope that the snail population rom the canisters is minimal and managed by not overfeeding

3) Remove fish to holding tank with one canister filter, throw away the old substrate / plants and nuke the whole system / main canister filter with bleach, then recycle tank and perform daily water changes for a couple of weeks and hope I don’t lose any discus

Comments on this and any other ideas are very welcome as I really don’t know what to do.

[newb]

Attaching some pics so you can see how bad this is, and it is 2PM in the daylight with my lights on.


https://www.dropbox.com/sc/1g8xo0tic8w09ce/1UAKNOE79B

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Here is a good article that might help you. I would try a loach first.

http://www.aquariumfish.net/information/get_rid_of_small_snails.htm

[Nick Klimkowski]

assassin snail will eat all the other snails in the tank, however i think the shells may get left behind.

-Nick

[strawberryblonde]

So long as you have brand new substrate that hasn't been in the tank yet, here's what I'd do to eliminate those pesky critters:

1) Buy good pre-filters for the canisters. They will keep any new MTS from entering the canisters.

2) Remove the fish and put them into a holding tank along with the canisters. Be sure to rinse the filter media in the canister using pre-treated tap water (add prime or safe to it and use at least 2 buckets in order to rinse them and pick off any snails you can find). Clean the rest of the canister housing well while the filter media is in the rinse buckets. Reassemble, add the pre-filters and then plop them in with the fish.

3) Remove all the plants you want to keep. Place them into a bucket, then mix up a solution of 1 part bleach to 19 parts water. Or, use an alum solution (I don't have the exact proportions of alum to water). Dip the plants into the bleach mixture for 1 minute for delicate plants and up to 90 seconds for hardier plants. After that place them back into a bucket with fresh water. Let soak for 20 minutes, then add Prime or Safe in double the dose in order to neutralize the bleach. Rinse again in a second bucket of treated tap water, shaking the roots gently to be sure that all dead snails are dislodged. Place the rinsed plants into a large bucket, barrel or spare fish tank. Add an air stone and let that tank sit for a week. Check periodically for signs of snails. If you see any, repeat the bleach treatment. Eventually ALL the snails will be dead, but don't rush to put the plants back into the main tank! Wait till you are sure there are no remaining snails.

4) Soak the driftwood in a heavy solution of bleach and hot water. It can soak for as long as 24 hours. Once the soak is done and all snails are laying on the bottom of the soaking barrel, rinse WELL, then soak in hot water with a triple dose of Prime added. Soak for at least 24 hours to be sure that all the bleach has been neutralized. Then rinse again and sniff. If you smell bleach, repeat the soak with Prime.

5) Remove all the water from the main tank, then scoop out the substrate. When it's empty, scrub well, then fill 1/4 full and add 2 cups of bleach. Let it soak overnight, then fill, drain, refill and treat with prime to neutralize the chlorine.

Once all that is done and the tank is refilled with fresh water and new substrate you can reintroduce the fish. If you'd rather add the plants and driftwood first, just leave the fish in the holding tank with the canister filters for the full week while the other parts are soaking/rinsing/neutralizing.

I went through something similar back in August. I wanted to tear down my tank and give it a whole new look, so I used that opportunity to eradicate my MTS once and for all. By the time the new stand was built, the tank was repainted and the new substrate was in, my driftwood and plants were completely free of snails and I've never seen another one.

My discus hung out in three tanks during the process because they were too large to all be stuffed into a 55g. LOL

[newb]

Hi all, thanks for the prompt help.

Toni, I was planning to keep at least 400 liters of the established water during this process (all of the fish in a massive plastic tub)

Are you saying that I should not re introduce the previous water?

Cheers,
Tony

[strawberryblonde]

Hi Tony,

There's no need to keep any of the water. It won't contain any beneficial bacteria and just drags in nitrates and possibly some harmful pathogens. It's a lot better to start with fresh clean water...I do it all the time. =)

[du3ce]

wow that looks pretty bad

[Fish from Philly]

I had same problem. I used sifter to get majority out (had probably 500 and took me better part of an hour) , added about 10 assassins, and now it's under control.

[pastry]

not to piss you off but what's worse is you paid $90 per bag for substrate

[newb]

Haha

Yes, well erm.

LFS gave me a much better deal than $90 but I have been told by several sources how much they love this substrate (zero amonia spike when cycling) and their tanks look simply stunning. Also, no need to vacuum.

I looked at gravel options, and Elos just made sense to me. Too many independent people told me how good it is.

Time will tell when I post some pics!