how to de-snail plants for aquarium transfer?

[Rachelinwy]

Hi

I have a 10-gallon tank with some healthy Elodea. The problem is this tank also has a bunch of pond snails in it. I'm shutting down the 10-gallon for the summer, and want to take the plants (plus the fish!) with me in a smaller tank as I relocate for a summer job. However, I don't want to drag any of the pond snails with me.

I would like to know if there is some sort of treatment for the plants so that I can kill off any pond snail larvae/eggs/etc while not killing my Betta or the olive snail currently in the 10-gallon tank. I will be setting up the 10-gallon again, at the end of the summer, so I want to know all the pond snails left in the tank will be dead.

Thanks!

 

[theotheragentm]

Take the plants out and treat with copper solution, separate from the fish and olive snail to be safe. If you're leaving the tank over the summer, you might as well drain it if it's not going to be maintained and you want the snails to die.

 

[Purrbox]

If you want to keep your Olive snail safe then DO NOT treat anything that's going to be in the same tank with it with copper. It would be much better to treat with an appropriate dip as described at Steve Hampton's site.

 

[Rachelinwy]

If you're leaving the tank over the summer, you might as well drain it if it's not going to be maintained and you want the snails to die.

That was the plan. I want to make sure any eggs left on the rocks, etc., are killed, too.

 

[jsoong]

Bleach will kill off any snail eggs on inanimate objects. Just make sure you rinse well (last rinse with dechol) before reuse. If left to air out over the summer, any residue bleach not removed with rinsing should be long gone.

 

[Rachelinwy]

What is dechol?

 

[Angry the Clown]

de-chlorinate (i.e. treat the water that the plants are soaking in with Prime, or something similar.)

 

[theotheragentm]

I would skip the bleach. If it's only a 10-gallon, you can just empty it out and bake the substrate in the sun on a pan or anything flat. That doesn't take more than two days.

 

[Rachelinwy]

I would skip the bleach. If it's only a 10-gallon, you can just empty it out and bake the substrate in the sun on a pan or anything flat. That doesn't take more than two days.

I can see this working for the rocks and the decorative house, but will it also work for the actual tank?

In reference to dechlorinator.... so I should dip the plants in the Alum stuff for 2-3 hours (per the link someone posted), then dip them in dechlorinated water? I take it I can use the same dechlorinator I use for the tank water?


Sorry I keep asking so many questions - I've never dealt with this before. Thanks for the help!

 

[theotheragentm]

Drying out the tank completely and having it in a place that gets sun would kill anything in it. You could also do an ice treatment if you're worried. Toss a bag of ice in the tank after draining it half way and it should lower the temperature enough to kill anything in it.

 

[tommyr]

I use Alum. I forgot the ratio but about 4-5 teaspoons in a gallon of water, let the plants soak for a day or 2. Snails die right away, eggs in 24-48 hours I believe.

Tom