snail infestation

[lionheart]

i have a bucket with about 25kilo of substrate from a tank i recently purchased
i was going to use the substrate but i found 100's of small minute snails so i purchased some new substrate
can i boil the old substrate up in a large container and succesfully eradicate all the snails and there eggs as i would like to put the substrate to good use
i do have a SNAIL CONTROL KING BRITISH TREATMENT but i do not want to use chemicals so will the boiling of the substrate alone kill off the snails

 

[Lowryder]

boiling the substrate will turn your snails in to escargot. Although you will have 100's of carcases, maybe you will be lucky and the snails will float once cooked.

 

[lionheart]

i dont think anythink can survive being boiled as for the carcases these little blighters are about 1mil in size probaley fit about 10 or so on a match head they are alot smaller than the substrate having just done some quick reasearch seems boiling will kill them off and there eggs
usually only suggested as a last resort of bad infestation as this would mean breaking down the tank and re-cycling but in my case thats not the issue as i already purchased new substrate and cycle is well under way
i guess seen as i dont want these snails in my aquarium but would like to use the substrate boiling it is the way to go

 

[Smitty]

The only think I can think of with boiling the snails and them putting them in a tank is that you will have a lot of bio matter that is going to be decomposing... creating a big spike. You will want to take a lot of care testing the water and possibly doing a lot of daily water changes to make sure the paramaters don't go too far out of wack.

 

[lionheart]

i was thinking boiling up then leaving for 7days,
then boiling up again,
that way i think carcases should disintergrate on 2nd boil
or at least alot of the decomposing will come out in the boil
if neccesary repeat process a 3rd time

 

[jessibell]

get some puffers LOL

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

You could totally sell them as clown loaches love snails, at worst give them away. Search the diy section for aquarium1's diy to snail traps. Its pretty ingenius.

 

[Aquarium1]

Here ya go, http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f20/diy-pond-snail-trap-126550.html. Thanks for the recommendation CA

 

[Lowryder]

Well, since they are so small, after you boil them you could probably just suck them up with a gravel vac.

 

[lionheart]

thats a great great little snail trap
but it's not really appropriate for me seen as the substrate in question is in a stand alone bucket/container and not in a aquarium but thanks for the info
i also think the boiling method will work with alot of paitience
i tryed with a small amount out earlier
and the snails actually came straight to the surface while boiling
so i think doing that with small amounts and using the gravel vac idea is the way i shall go
thanks everyone for the idea's