Eradicating Pond Snails

[chykityta]

Before going on vacation 3 weeks ago, I bought an Anacharis. Forgot to put it on the freezer as recommended, and went on vacation for 2.5 weeks until today.

I have removed what appears to be all sizable snails; but the worse part is still on the tank: pond snail eggs.

All I have found online was regarding the eradication of the snails and not the eggs. Can someone please provide some guidance on what I can do to eradicate the pond snail eggs?

This is a Guppy only 10 gallon tank, bare bottom, and with a few live plants like Pothos, Anacharis, and Cryptocoryne Wendtii. Please do also advise whether getting rid of those is the best thing. I plan on cutting down feeding from 2x a day to 1x a day.

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

You can crush the snail eggs with your fingers or something hard lies the back of a spoon. If you want to go extreme you can also do a copper treatment of the water.

But I gotta ask, why do you want to remove them? It seems like you're tank isn't terribly planted (judging by bare bottom) and for the most part the snails will help eat leftover food (as well as their population size will be a good barometer for if you're over feeding or not). Snails tend to get a bad rap as plant killers and bad for tanks when that's not true.


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[chykityta]

This is a reply into my own thread on how I eradicated the snails on my tank. No sign I them on the tank except on the hospital bin in which I performed the same process.

1) remove fish without moving plants and or decorations or the water. This is to prevent bringing snails or eggs into the hospital place you put your fish.

2) leave the filter running and add a gallon of Clorox or equivalent into tank per 9 gallons. The water should reach the lid. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SAVE ANY FILTRATION FROM THIS SYSTEM.

3) after 3 minutes, remove plants you want to save, rinse throughly, and place on a separate bin with water. You WILL lose you plants after this time. Only strong plants will survive from a 3 minute exposure to Clorox or equivalent.

4) place a humid old towel over the tank and let it run for at least two days. The towel should not touch the tank water. The humidity in the towel will aid with the Clorox or equivalent smell from taking over the room.

5) empty the tank, and clean it with water. Also the equipment and decorations.

6) empty the tank, and clean it with alcohol. Also the equipment and decorations.

7) empty the tank, and clean it with vinegar. Also the equipment and decorations.

8) place the tank in its permanent location, add water (good if you add a bit from another tank), squeeze a healthy tank's filtration media now, add your water conditioner, and let the system run for a week.

9) re-add fish to the tank.

10) have a bucket/bin/anything where you can place plants at for 1-2 weeks before adding any to any tank.

A month later and no snails with this method.

Note: you may see some snails wherever you dumped water from where you brought the first infected plants but you can fill up the drain/sink with water, and Clorox or equivalent, and leave overnight.

Good luck!


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[Tropical Aquarist]

Wow wish I had seen this earlier! There are much, much easier ways to get rid of snails than bleach!

I use Alum(found by spice section in grocery store) at 1 tablespoon per gallon for a 3-4 days in the tank. It kills all animals(FISH, snails, shrimp etc) and algae! It doesn't affect the filter at all, nor the plants(they actually look better afterwards). To remove it, add a water conditioner that reminds heavy metals(Prime by seachem) at triple dose, than remove all water(especially gravel vac) and refill the tank. After a day repeat and you should be good to go.

 

[Laeris]

Wow wish I had seen this earlier! There are much, much easier ways to get rid of snails than bleach!

I use Alum(found by spice section in grocery store) at 1 tablespoon per gallon for a 3-4 days in the tank. It kills all animals(FISH, snails, shrimp etc) and algae! It doesn't affect the filter at all, nor the plants(they actually look better afterwards). To remove it, add a water conditioner that reminds heavy metals(Prime by seachem) at triple dose, than remove all water(especially gravel vac) and refill the tank. After a day repeat and you should be good to go.

That is pretty epic, despite the need to remove all the things.

 

[Tropical Aquarist]

That is pretty epic, despite the need to remove all the things.

Not sure what you mean?