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Is it possible to prevent snail implementation when buying new plants?

5K views 12 replies 10 participants last post by  JDM 
#1 ·
I currently have no plants in my aquarium at the moment.

I'm really not fond of Snails in my Aquarium and I was wondering if there were any tips or tricks to getting rid of snails and snail eggs before I place my plants into my aquarium.

(A guy at my LFS told me that a long RO water dip can remove both, but I wasn't sure as to how much truth was in this)


I have several juvenile Clown Loach, that supposedly love eating snails (Never actually seen them eat snails, as I don't have any in my aquarium).
But I have been told by several people that Clown Loach, and Loach in general love snails and will quickly clean up any snails until there are none left.

The only problem is, I've also been told that Clown Loach love eating certain types of plants too.
 
#3 ·
There are snail killing solutions that you can add to water and dip the plants into to kill the snails. The ones I've seen are safe to fish and can be added directly to the tank, but it would still be better to create a dip before putting the plants in there. I enjoy having various "pest" snails in my tank, but I keep a product called "HAD-A-SNAIL" for when I sell plants. The active ingredient is copper sulfate pentahydrate which makes sense since copper has been known to kill inverts (including shrimp).
 
#4 ·
i love my snails ^_^ can't keep enough of them around.

If you have/or want to have shrimps I wont recommend dipping plants in a copper based solution. plus copper does damage to plants too!

I have potassium permanganate for dipping palnts to kill snails. (and metrocide/ H2o2 dip to kill algae, lol)

I suggest that you try to avoid dosing the actual tank and dip the plants before you put them in.
 
#5 ·
I've only known a few people who maintain snail free tanks in the long run. Their process involves dipping the plants upon arrival, and then placing the plants in a quarantine tank for several weeks and dosing anti-snail substances until any eggs that would have survived the initial dips die off.
 
#6 ·
As has been stated earlier, the clown loaches will keep your tank virtually snail- free. I've never seen mine eating plants; however, "seen" is the operative word here. For tanks without snail eating loaches, I've heard assassin snails mentioned as a remedy. I don't have any experience with them but, if you don't like snails, they're probably not a good option anyway.
 
#7 ·
I don't know why anyone has a hate on for snails.

We have some tiger snails, an unknown quantity of trumpet snails and a few pond snails, the ones most commonly brought in on plants.

The tigers don't reproduce in freshwater but they do tend to lay eggs on the rocks and wood. The trumpet snails are live bearers and are said to reproduce fast but I've only ever seen as many as three or four at any given time. I have stirred a few up while planting as they do dig into the sand.

The pond snails do lay egg clusters but the fish seem to enjoy eating them and we have maybe 6 that we can find after almost three months.

We were going to introduce another snail a few weeks ago, it looked like a trumpet snail on steroids, about 1.5" long or so, but the store rep thought that they might eat plants. That would be a problem snail for me so we didn't chance it.

Jeff.
 
#8 ·
Think of dandelions in the rose garden or slugs on the hostas. It's not so much of a hate factor as much as it is that's not what you intended or wanted. I put up with snails aplenty because that's the way I am; however, at the the first sign of them eating plants, I'll be working on reducing the population.
 
#10 ·
I suppose.

Eating plants? I don't think that many do that, not the smaller variety anyway. The trumpets some say do but I suspect it is a matter of dead or dying plant material making a good snack. I've even pulled various roots out of the sand in my rescaping and never found a trumpet in the roots let alone chomping on them.

Dying leaf + snail = looks like snail eating leaf.

I suppose if there is nothing else for them to eat they might not have any choice... but who has that clean of a tank?

My bane is the earwig... although moving back out the the country they are not so much of an issue. Seems to be an in town thing around here.

Jeff.
 
#9 ·
+1


Every planted tank I have started has always had an initial snail infection. Then a year later only a few are left.

I would just do nothing and enjoy the snails.


my .02
 
#11 ·
I have no pond or ramshorn snails in any of my planted tanks. I do keep MTS and Nerites, but I put those there!

I don't use any chemical treatments on my plants. I give them a good rinse in tapwater, making sure to run my fingers over the leaves in search for slimy snail eggs *blegh* and then I keep them in fishless QT for at least 4-6 weeks before introducing them to my main tanks.

QTing my plants just as I do my fish gives me a chance to clean up any snails or hatchlings from eggs that I've missed, and also protects the fish in my tanks from picking up any possible pathogens that may have 'rode in' on new plants. . . I also like taking care of the acclimatisation process outside of my show tanks. :)
 
#13 ·
I bought a plant yesterday and when I saw it in the tank it had a snail on it, it looks like a snail that I didn't already have so I asked if they would leave it on... I got a strange look. It ended up just being a pond snail with a slightly odd shaped she'll and, even though they don't sell these, I was left with the impression that, because I indicated an interest in it perhaps I would have to pay for it... I did have to actually buy duckweed as it turned out so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Jeff.
 
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