Snails

[Mellie101]

Hi, Currently stripping down and putting away my small quarantine tank.
It must have about 2 million snails in it. These originated from one
plant purchased from a well known store. All the time the fish were in
it they lived in the airpipe. Now the fish has gone they are
everywhere. So today i went to another LFS and bought 2 frill plants
to put in my 55g. On arrival home I have noticed a snail in the bag of
water. I'm going to rinse the plants sooo well but is there anything
else i can do to make sure i don't get a snail epidemic in this tank
too? I know that some people do keep snails. Is there a benefit of
having the odd snail in the tank or am I likely to have a whole
neighbourhood develop

All help greatly recieved.
Mellie.

[NetMax]

interspersed..

"Mellie101" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi, Currently stripping down and putting away my small quarantine tank.
> It must have about 2 million snails in it. These originated from one
> plant purchased from a well known store. All the time the fish were in
> it they lived in the airpipe. Now the fish has gone they are
> everywhere. So today i went to another LFS and bought 2 frill plants
> to put in my 55g. On arrival home I have noticed a snail in the bag of
> water.

I think that you can expect to get snails from any live plants which you
buy. They are either hidden, or there are hidden clusters of snail eggs
waiting to hatch. Some people rinse the plants in a solution with
potassium permanganate (can't recall the concentration) or bleach (1 part
with 20 parts water), but the bleach can be very hard on fragile plants.
Works ok on things like Amazon swords and Anubius.

> I'm going to rinse the plants sooo well but is there anything
> else i can do to make sure i don't get a snail epidemic in this tank
> too? I know that some people do keep snails. Is there a benefit of
> having the odd snail in the tank or am I likely to have a whole
> neighbourhood develop

To survive and multiply there must be a good supply of food for them.
Unfortunately, many aquariums provide them a very good home with uneaten
foods the fish miss, and our plants which drop them the occasional leaf
to start decaying. Some snails won't even wait and will eat the leaves
of certain softer plants, while other snails prefer not to eat plants and
concentrate more on eating algae (and most tanks have lots of algae, at
least in the quantities to keep the snails happy and making more snails).

If you are very careful not to overfeed, and gravel vacuum regularly, you
will probably be able to control your snail population. This can be
easier said than done, so most people look for fish which eat snails.
Just about any carnivore will eat them, as will most omnivores (what kind
of fish are going in there?).

What varies is how effective the fish are at controlling the snails.
Some fish (medium-large cichlids) will only eat larger adult snails),
while others (smaller cichlids, gouramis etc) will prefer small snails
while their shell is soft enough to crunch up, and others (some loaches
and catfish) only go after snail eggs, and still others go after snails
of any size in almost any location (many botia loaches). Also some
snails are easier for fish to eat (pond snails) or harder to eat
(Malaysian Trumpet snails). What you have is probably Ramshorn snails
(multiply fast, mostly leave plants alone) or pond snails (multiply even
faster!).

So (to return to your question, pardon my wordiness), there can be a
benefit of having the odd snail, but it's often difficult to keep their
numbers down. The chances of having a 'neighborhood' develop depends on
their food supply and is pretty good. It will mostly depend on the type
of fish you have, and your feeding and cleaning routines.

hth
--
www.NetMax.tk

> All help greatly recieved.
> Mellie.
>

[Altum]

I always soak my plants in potassium permanganate. I make a deep pink
solution and soak for 20 min. It also kills bacteria and protozoal
diseases that might be on the platns. You can pick over plants with a
magnifying lens too. Another option for a community tank is to buy a
few Botia spp. loaches. They're quite amusing to watch and usually eat
snails.

[Mellie101]

Hi, thanks for response. Have 4 fancy goldfish in the 55g. I have
seen the black moor swallow a small snail and then spit it out again.
The only snail I ever saw was in the airpipe when the fish was in
there. Once he moved out there was pleanty. Suspect that the fish
were keeping down the population explosion. I also have a tank full of
diatoms. Maybe the snails will help out with that as it is driving me
mad. Got the tank finally cycled to have brown stuff over everything.
It never ends :-)

Mellie

[Mellie101]

Hi, thanks for response. Have 4 fancy goldfish in the 55g. I have
seen the black moor swallow a small snail and then spit it out again.
The only snail I ever saw was in the airpipe when the fish was in
there. Once he moved out there was pleanty. Suspect that the fish
were keeping down the population explosion. I also have a tank full of
diatoms. Maybe the snails will help out with that as it is driving me
mad. Got the tank finally cycled to have brown stuff over everything.
It never ends :-)

Mellie

[Mr. Gardener]

On Sat, 18 Feb 2006 20:47:00 -0500, "Bill Stock" >
wrote:

>
>"Mellie101" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>> Hi, Currently stripping down and putting away my small quarantine tank.
>> It must have about 2 million snails in it. These originated from one
>> plant purchased from a well known store. All the time the fish were in
>> it they lived in the airpipe. Now the fish has gone they are
>> everywhere. So today i went to another LFS and bought 2 frill plants
>> to put in my 55g. On arrival home I have noticed a snail in the bag of
>> water. I'm going to rinse the plants sooo well but is there anything
>> else i can do to make sure i don't get a snail epidemic in this tank
>> too? I know that some people do keep snails. Is there a benefit of
>> having the odd snail in the tank or am I likely to have a whole
>> neighbourhood develop
>>
>> All help greatly recieved.
>> Mellie.
>>
>
>Alum - 1 Tbsp per gallon - 2 or 3 days
>Bleach - 1/20 strength - about 2+ minutes, will kill some algae too
>Potassium Permangenate - 30 ppm (dark pink) for 30+ minutes
>
>I've got a few large (1/2") snails in my small plant tank. The Barbs msut be
>eating the small ones. They seem to help with the algae patrol.
>
>
>
Where do I purchase potassium permanganate - what kind of store?

-- Mr Gardener

[Bill Stock]

"Mr. Gardener" > wrote in message
...
> On Sat, 18 Feb 2006 20:47:00 -0500, "Bill Stock" >
> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Mellie101" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>>> Hi, Currently stripping down and putting away my small quarantine tank.
>>> It must have about 2 million snails in it. These originated from one
>>> plant purchased from a well known store. All the time the fish were in
>>> it they lived in the airpipe. Now the fish has gone they are
>>> everywhere. So today i went to another LFS and bought 2 frill plants
>>> to put in my 55g. On arrival home I have noticed a snail in the bag of
>>> water. I'm going to rinse the plants sooo well but is there anything
>>> else i can do to make sure i don't get a snail epidemic in this tank
>>> too? I know that some people do keep snails. Is there a benefit of
>>> having the odd snail in the tank or am I likely to have a whole
>>> neighbourhood develop
>>>
>>> All help greatly recieved.
>>> Mellie.
>>>
>>
>>Alum - 1 Tbsp per gallon - 2 or 3 days
>>Bleach - 1/20 strength - about 2+ minutes, will kill some algae too
>>Potassium Permangenate - 30 ppm (dark pink) for 30+ minutes
>>
>>I've got a few large (1/2") snails in my small plant tank. The Barbs msut
>>be
>>eating the small ones. They seem to help with the algae patrol.
>>
>>
>>
> Where do I purchase potassium permanganate - what kind of store?
>
> -- Mr Gardener

I got mine on eBay, but I believe water softener companies carry it. Just be
careful mixing it, don't breathe in the dust as it's a strong oxidizer. It's
relatively safe once mixed up.

[NetMax]

"Mellie101" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi, thanks for response. Have 4 fancy goldfish in the 55g. I have
> seen the black moor swallow a small snail and then spit it out again.
> The only snail I ever saw was in the airpipe when the fish was in
> there. Once he moved out there was pleanty. Suspect that the fish
> were keeping down the population explosion. I also have a tank full of
> diatoms. Maybe the snails will help out with that as it is driving me
> mad. Got the tank finally cycled to have brown stuff over everything.
> It never ends :-)
>
> Mellie


LOL, the tank's bio-system has to level itself to something, and while
there is too much food and no predators - there will be too many snails,
and I don't know what you need to have too much of, to get diatoms (too
little light helps though). Get fish, get a routine and things will tend
to settle down more - somewhere.
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Larry Blanchard]

Mr. Gardener wrote:

> Where do I purchase potassium permanganate - what kind of store?

Kordon Permoxyn is pp in a strong solution. Check their website for how
to dilute it. Big Als carries it, but you won't find it on the
website. Call or email and ask for the stock number.

--
It's turtles, all the way down

[Altum]

Larry Blanchard wrote:
> Mr. Gardener wrote:
>
>
>>Where do I purchase potassium permanganate - what kind of store?
>
>
> Kordon Permoxyn is pp in a strong solution. Check their website for how
> to dilute it. Big Als carries it, but you won't find it on the
> website. Call or email and ask for the stock number.
>
Jungle's "Clear Water" is also permanganate. I found mine at one of
the chain pet stores - either Petco or PetSmart.