De-snailing plants before adding to the tank

[zendog]

Hi,

I have some plants I'm growing in tubs under lights and I'd like to add them to a tank that doesn't have snails. The plants in the tubs do have some of those nasty little pond snails. Past experience tells me just trying to make sure I pick everything off is no guarantee that I I'll succeed.

For my pond, I was once told I could soak the plants in salt water for a while, but I don't remember how much salt should be added or how long I can soak them before damaging the plants.

I have some assassin snails in other tanks with the snails but they don't seem to have a great fondness for the pond snails or they can't keep up, plus I like to keep Nerites for algae control and adding assassins I'm sure will endanger them.

Anyone have a suggestion?

 

[Becca]

It's a losing battle... just acknowledge that snails are a part of life.

Also, they can close their carapace and outlive salting (and bleaching) long enough to kill your plants.

 

[lkelly]

It's a losing battle... just acknowledge that snails are a part of life.

Also, they can close their carapace and outlive salting (and bleaching) long enough to kill your plants.

Sometimes they can't outlive salting.

 

[dhavalsp]

Assassin snails have done great job for me. I got just 3 and they cleared my 55 G like a charm. Before this I was removing snails half a cup a week!

It was the same time when I moved to herbivore fish so the main diet for Assassin snail was other snails...

I don't see assassin snails as often these days mainly because they must be hibernating (dead) due to lack of food.

 

[b considine]

Dipping the plants in an alum solution will take care of the snails. A potassium permanganate solution works as well. Use your google-fu to find a recipe. I believe the alum is both safer and easier to acquire.

Blaise

 

[zendog]

Dipping the plants in an alum solution will take care of the snails. A potassium permanganate solution works as well. Use your google-fu to find a recipe. I believe the alum is both safer and easier to acquire.

Blaise

Thanks. I found a recipe (and other options) at this site. I might be tempted to try the more severe bleach option on a few plants and see how they do. The main thing I have is about a half dozen small water lily plants I started from a Dauben tropical lily from my pond to winter them over. I'd like to move some of the little plants into tanks, but have enough to risk a test with one. If the bleach nukes the first one then I'll try the Alum, but I'm a little worried about not getting the eggs.

 

[CSnyder00]

Red Jewel Cichlids or Puffers would also do nicely...

 

[JLW]

I really object to the use of assassin snails for pest snail control. I think they are likely to be the next big problem organism. Assassin Snails are pretty durable little buggers. They handle freezing and warm weather, and they have a very tight opercule that they can close. They can handle pretty high doses of chlorine. They can handle prolonged desiccation. They lay small, single eggs on plants or in crevices, including inside the sponges of your filters, and I suspect in between grains of gravel. The eggs are fairly durable and easily transported. They breed quickly and easily -- as anyone who regularly attends fish auctions can attest. It's not uncommon to see BIG lots of assassin snails because someone needs to get rid of them; they don't just eat other snails but will scavenge and eat algae.

I've had assassin snails appear in tanks I did not put them in. I can only assume they came in with plants, or on driftwood. I've also had them appear in tanks in the shop where I suspect they simply crawled from tanks containing them -- which there no longer are any of.

It would be so, so immensely easy for these guys to escape into the wild. They can cross land. They can handle being dried out. They can handle being flushed down the toilet and eventually into the Potomac. Once they get there, we're in trouble.

They fulfill a pretty unique niche which isn't met by any North American snail species. They're predators of not only snails, but other small motile invertebrates (and possibly chordates too). They'll wipe out populations of aufwuch, they'll devour insect larvae, they'll potentially eat amphibian eggs and larvae, fish eggs and larvae, etc. And, because they're a pretty resilient and small snail, there's not much -- if anything -- that will prey on them. These could be a very devastating invasive species if they get out.

They're imported into the United States with the scientific name of "Nerites" or some variant; they're not nerites, but that is what the exporters like to label them. If they get out somewhere, and if they cause a problem, it is extraordinarily likely that the Federal Government will be forced to react, and their action will likely be to add "snails" to the Lacey Act. It happened with Snakeheads, it happened with Newts, it could happen with snails.

Short version, if you're keeping Assassin Snails, be careful with them! There are better options for controlling pest snail populations.

 

[CSnyder00]

I agree, Josh. We as fish keepers MUST be responsible for ALL the fauna we keep. Look at Asian Carp, Lampreys, Snakeheads, Burmese Pythons, Wild Hogs, and many other invasive species are doing to our landscape. It's not good. We need to be very, very careful.

But back to the snails, being careful to rub off any eggs, being dilligent to remove any that you see, may be about the only way. It's hard to keep them snail free, but I have done so for many years. I scrub the shells of all of my nerites that I get if they come from fish stores that have unwanted snails. I have removed lots of eggs from snail shells that would have caused disaster in my tanks.

 

[Terri]

***'ns

I really object to the use of assassin snails for pest snail control. I think they are likely to be the next big problem organism. Assassin Snails are pretty durable little buggers. They handle freezing and warm weather, and they have a very tight opercule that they can close. They can handle pretty high doses of chlorine. They can handle prolonged desiccation. They lay small, single eggs on plants or in crevices, including inside the sponges of your filters, and I suspect in between grains of gravel. The eggs are fairly durable and easily transported. They breed quickly and easily -- as anyone who regularly attends fish auctions can attest. It's not uncommon to see BIG lots of assassin snails because someone needs to get rid of them; they don't just eat other snails but will scavenge and eat algae.

I've had assassin snails appear in tanks I did not put them in. I can only assume they came in with plants, or on driftwood. I've also had them appear in tanks in the shop where I suspect they simply crawled from tanks containing them -- which there no longer are any of.

It would be so, so immensely easy for these guys to escape into the wild. They can cross land. They can handle being dried out. They can handle being flushed down the toilet and eventually into the Potomac. Once they get there, we're in trouble.

They fulfill a pretty unique niche which isn't met by any North American snail species. They're predators of not only snails, but other small motile invertebrates (and possibly chordates too). They'll wipe out populations of aufwuch, they'll devour insect larvae, they'll potentially eat amphibian eggs and larvae, fish eggs and larvae, etc. And, because they're a pretty resilient and small snail, there's not much -- if anything -- that will prey on them. These could be a very devastating invasive species if they get out.

They're imported into the United States with the scientific name of "Nerites" or some variant; they're not nerites, but that is what the exporters like to label them. If they get out somewhere, and if they cause a problem, it is extraordinarily likely that the Federal Government will be forced to react, and their action will likely be to add "snails" to the Lacey Act. It happened with Snakeheads, it happened with Newts, it could happen with snails.

Short version, if you're keeping Assassin Snails, be careful with them! There are better options for controlling pest snail populations.

Great point, Josh--you rock! :sign0173:

 

[Terri]

Sometimes they can't outlive salting.

Yummmmmy!:happy0021: