Snails... Arrgh!

[s_anthony]

I've got snails. Lots of them. Little ones. Driving me nuts.

They aren't doing anything, my plants are thriving, but I have thousands of little pointed shelled snails all through my tank, the size of a pin head.

I only have one fish in there right now, a skunk bottia. My cory cat is in a seperate container since he can't handle the copper in the water right now...

I've tried to poision them with copper treatments, and they seem to be thriving. I've treated the tank again today with double the dosage and they are still there.

Are these snails immune to copper? I've tried snail eating fish, I've tried chemicals, nothing works.

help

 

[phin]

If you have very alkaline water the copper sulfate is neutralized and doesn't effect the snails. I had a huge explosion of little MTS a few months ago and think it might have contributed to my genocide, but I'm still not convinced. Is your tank planted? If not, and you have a suitable tank for your skunk botia for a week I have a suggestion....It is how I killed all my snails, but also how I killed my plants. If you have plants you want to keep I suggest moving them as well.

If all you have is a tank full of snails and want to kill them without having to cycle your tank again get some Janatorial Strength ammonia from ACE HARDWARE. Depending on the size of your tank put enough ammonia in your tank to bring the readings up to 8.0ppm. Be sure to take readings at least an hour after adding ammonia. Keep increasing the ammonia to 8.0ppm, then double it. That should kill 99.9999% of the snails. After 24 hours do a 100% water change, but don't remove or rinse the gravel or filter. Replace with fresh, clean, dechlorinated water. Wait a day and test ammonia levels again. You may have to do multiple water changes before ammonia levels drop again. If you have a HOB filter don't forget to remove the water that is in the overflow box. Once your readings are in the high range, but on the scale (4.0-5.0ppm) stop water changes and monitor ammonia and nitrite to make sure your tank is still cycling. Once ammonia & nitrite levels are back to 0 add mr fish back.

This process can take up to a week, but it is faster than breaking down your tank and then having to cycle again. Also if you are just putting pure ammonia in your tank it will evenutally break down on its own so you really aren't adding any "outside chemicals."

Another suggesting would be to look into KENT POLY-OX. It contains potassium permanganate and is a violent oxidezer of organic waste (including snails). I've only used this stuff to soak my plants in prior to replanting my tank, I've never added it directly to the tank.

 

[s_anthony]

Love the ammonia idea. I think that's going to have to be the route.

My tank is heavily planted, but I can start over if I had to. My bottia can be re-routed for a week or so I 'd think. If I can catch him. I didn;t even think anything was alive in the tank till he shows up every few days..

Sadly potassium permanganate is illegal to sell here in PA. I drive to ohio to get mine (its nice and flammable LOL) for making campfire starters.

 

[phin]

I removed my driftwood, java moss, & java ferns before I treated my tank. I thought my annubias would survive since they are hearty, but they turned black and whithered away. My crypts melted down but are growing back nicely. My hyrgo basically dissolved.

I, however, did not wait an hour after adding my ammonia before I tested my water and ended putting in wayyyyy too much. If you are careful to get it to 8.0ppm and then double it (roughly 15-17ppm) your plants might survive. Remember to use ammonia with no surfacants/soaps/dyes/fragrances. The ACE brand janatorial strenth works well.

If you remove your plants, and add them back afterward, or buy new ones, and you don't treat them for snails there's a good chance you will be introducing snails again. See if you can order some Kent Poly-Ox online or on ebay. If you can find some to treat your plants the dose is 4ml per gallon of water to get the KMnO4 concentration right.

Let me know how the ammonia treatment works for you.