I need some advice. (snail eradication)

[kribbman]

Hi guys its been a while since ive been around.

Anyways I was having serious trouble with snails a while back, It turns out they completely overwhelmed my tank. I tried eradicating them by all means sugested here and none of them worked. In the end both of my kribbs died and I took the clown back to the LFS, he was getting territorial. I was left with a plants and snails. so I got tired of them and just poured about 20 gal of boiling water in there and kept doing this for about a week. They didnt die. so I put some bleach in the water. They didnt die..
so I put some more bleach in the water In the end they all died but now even after chaningin water on an almost daily basis ..boiling the substrate, rocks and drift wood It dosent seem like the tank is cycling...
I have all the equipment running and put in 2 air stones as well. and I threw in a shrimp.. but about 1 week has passed and although i do have a rise in amonia nothing seems to decompose in the tank...and no other parameters are changing either..
Im guessing the tank is still leaching chemicals into the water and inhibiting bacterial growth, not to mention is probably going to be toxic to fish
anybody ever beenthrough this? any advice?

 

[HN1]

Snails only over populate if your maintenance is lacking or you are overfeeding. I have no advice to give you now that you have taken such drastic and irrational actions. Good luck.

 

[fromtheheart]

You're only supposed to use 10% bleach solutions in order to disinfect aquarium equipment. If you added too much it's not safe for fish.

The best you can do now is empty the entire tank. Rinse everything off with warm water. Let it air dry. Then rinse again for good measure. You're probably going to have to replace everything too, like the biofilter, filter cartridges, and what not. You're really going to have to tear down your tank. I would even just let it sit there for a few days before setting your tank up again. Then I would start cycling the tank using the fishless method or you can use biospira.

 

[kribbman]

I knew I would catch some flames for this, but I can assure you guys I was not over feeding and I was very constant with my maitanance, I did tear up my tank and threw out everything that was interchangeable like filterpads and the like. I also got rid of my plants which I regret having done but I knew snails would be in there. I spent about a week doing 50% water changes with boiling water every day. and running all the filters and air compressors. Im on the third week now and what Im doing is 50% water change every week and running all the equipment and Im throwing some food in there to see if it will start cycling. I guess what im realy concerned about is weather any of the chemicals from the bleach will still pose a potential threat to fish. Im planning to put in some plants before I get new fish.

 

[HN1]

No flames were intended at all. I'm just going by what I've observed. I would make sure you rinse everything very well before adding fish. You could also allow it to dry completely which should mitigate the risk of the bleach.

 

[joy13]

Alum will help kill snails on plants, about 10 teaspoons per gallon and let them soak for a few days. Don't use it in your tank only in a bucket since it will lower the PH. Hopefully your tank will start cycling soon.

 

[match55]

aww I would get them all if u don't need them OoO
I feed all the snails in my fw tank to my puffer.

but yet, empty the whole tank worked for me a while ago when I don't have my puffer to eat all the snails.

ghost shrimps seems to control the pop of the snails too, I have 2 fw tank, one is fully snails..pufff 1 week, eggs all over the glass; the second one with fishes and ghost shrimp, won't see any eggs on the glass, and there aren't much snails in this tank only many empty shells~Ooo

 

[kribbman]

Thanks for the advice guys....ill look into ghost shrimp in the future. On the other hand I took some more readings today and found that amonia is starting to rise. nitrites are way hight than they were last week and nitrates are starting to show up as well.
once again thanks for all your help

 

[bs6749]

Copper will wipe the snails out fast, however it will also wipe out other invertebrates and isn't recommend for scaleless fish. Yo-yo loaches are one of the best ways to get rid of snails and snail eggs.

 

[jsoong]

Bit late for this now that your tank is starting to cycle ... but bleach will degrade with light, so I was going to suggest emptying the tank, rinse & let sit in the sun for a few days. However, if the tank can finish cycle, the bleach is prob gone.

 

[JPKeenan]

I have seen my new addition angels take a nibble at the snail's egg sacs and at a few of the smaller snails... Would they actually eat the snails or just take a nibble?


My snails go in cycle... kill most of them off by hand and then get a population boom.

 

[kaiofcanada]

Snails are very easy to bait and get rid of. I am not sure what led you to the extremes you went to.
Just blanche some spinach or romaine lettuce every night before bed and sink it. First thing i the morning before lights on, take out the lettuce and all the snails on it. Do this every night until your population is under control. HN1 is right, snails only flourish and reproduce like crazy if there are ample nutrients and food.

Next time, pick out all the snails you can see by eye and bait the tank every night with spinach or romaine. You don't need chemicals, boiling water or bleach. Keep your gravel vacuumed and feed your fish only what they will eat. Do this, and you should not have a snail problem that requires such extreme measures.

I hope your new setup goes well. I highly recommend if you put more plants in to but the snailfree plants from snail free aquarium plants takashi amano nature aquarium live
so you don't have to do this again.