Upgrading tank, want to lose the snails.

[gmdfunk]

I have a hi tech planted 20g tall tank and I am upgrading to a 29g in the near future. I have tetras, a dwarf gourami, and a bunch of red cherry shrimp. I also have tiny snails that hitched their way into my tank on plants. I am dosing the tank with flubendazole to try to kill them, but its now been 3 days with daily dosing and I still see snails moving. When I have to take everything down to start my new tank, how do I make sure I don't take any snails? with me to my new tank? do I need to bleach the entire system and start over cycling the tank? will the bleach ruin my ECO complete substrate? or will it still work fine after the tank is re-cycled? I would just get some loaches, but I like the shrimp. Or if I re-house the shrimp into my shrimp tank, would a couple yoyo loaches completely eliminate all snails in a couple months?

Advice?

 

[sinibotia]

I have a hi tech planted 20g tall tank and I am upgrading to a 29g in the near future. I have tetras, a dwarf gourami, and a bunch of red cherry shrimp. I also have tiny snails that hitched their way into my tank on plants. I am dosing the tank with flubendazole to try to kill them, but its now been 3 days with daily dosing and I still see snails moving. When I have to take everything down to start my new tank, how do I make sure I don't take any snails? with me to my new tank? do I need to bleach the entire system and start over cycling the tank? will the bleach ruin my ECO complete substrate? or will it still work fine after the tank is re-cycled? I would just get some loaches, but I like the shrimp. Or if I re-house the shrimp into my shrimp tank, would a couple yoyo loaches completely eliminate all snails in a couple months?

Advice?

Yoyo loaches would get way too big for a 29 gallon, so I wouldn't recommend them. Maybe some dwarf loaches (sidthimunkis) would clear up the snail problem? I don't know how big the shrimp are but dwarf loaches only get 2 inches so they may be too small to eat your shrimp.

 

[FWFishTanks]

assassin snails help a ton, I have 4 in a 75 and I hardly see pond or mts

The snails would probably never be eliminated as there will still be some hiding in your filter, I have a nice colony in my canister

 

[trennamw]

Turning off the filter and dumping several liters of carbonated water in, is supposedly one method. Didn't work for me.

Sidthimunki loaches tend to be really expensive. I got Laos pygmy multi striped loaches instead. Didn't eliminate but kept the population down to just a few.

But I just adjusted my perspective and came to like them. One got to be dime sized and was actually very pretty, it lived about 6 months. Malaysian Trumpet snails are the real worker though.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.

 

[sinibotia]

Turning off the filter and dumping several liters of carbonated water in, is supposedly one method. Didn't work for me.

Sidthimunki loaches tend to be really expensive. I got Laos pygmy multi striped loaches instead. Didn't eliminate but kept the population down to just a few.

But I just adjusted my perspective and came to like them. One got to be dime sized and was actually very pretty, it lived about 6 months. Malaysian Trumpet snails are the real worker though.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.

Laos pygmy multi stripe loaches are awesome if you can find them. Personally I very rarely see Sidthimunkis, but I've literally never seen a pygmy multi stripe. They're on my fish bucket list (along with basically every other loach...)

Either one would help with a snail problem, that's for sure.

 

[trennamw]

Laos pygmy multi stripe loaches are awesome if you can find them. Personally I very rarely see Sidthimunkis, but I've literally never seen a pygmy multi stripe. They're on my fish bucket list (along with basically every other loach...)



Either one would help with a snail problem, that's for sure.

The Wet Spot Tropical Fish here in Portland carries both and a bunch more very small loaches. I know I'm really lucky to have them in my backyard but they do ship. The pygmy multi stripes are fairly inexpensive. Never seen one eat a snail and they have extremely small mouths ... They don't eat MTS to be sure ... but the pond snail population did reduce.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.

 

[TheMacInnis]

I'd advise:

• Anything you're carrying from the old tank to the new tank, carefully rinse under tap water and pick out any snails
• Rub the undersides of plants that may have gelly-like snail eggs; easy to feel with your fingers
• Introduce assassin snails as soon as the new tank is cycled; they're remarkable beings, and they will prevent a substantial snail bloom if introduced early
• If assassin snails die after a few weeks, you might see if any snails begin to show before replacing them; if not, you may be "clean"
• For what it's worth, loaches are insanely effective against snails, especially clowns, but 29g is room for only a few and they're gregarious.

The loach-snail debate is annoying because there's no clear answer. Clorox and fish? Clear answer: don't do that. Snails and loaches? Comes down to the various species of each, the food sources for the loaches, the size of the snails, the size and configuration (e.g., plant density) of the tank.

Good luck. I used to have so many snails it was grotesque (an undulating substrate after the lights went out). Now I can't find a single one!