Conflicting Instructions

[the_lock_man]

I have an infestation of snails, so I've bought Interpet Anti-Snail. The instructions say that it is harmless to the filter, but then say to remove carbon and zeolite from the filter.

If it's harmless, why remove the carbon and zeolite?

Sorry if the answer's obvious.

 

[Embrace]

Hi,
From what I know the carbon sponge removes medication from the water... So if you put the snail treatment in with the carbon still in there, it may not work properly.

 

[ZoddyZod]

instead of adding a treatment, have you tried placing a lettuce leaf on the substrate? The snails should make their way to that and you can simply pull them out. May take a few attempts to get them all out, but probabaly better in terms of water chemistry.

I'm sure the anti-snail is fish safe, but the fewer chemicals you add to the tank the better I think.

 

[Curiosity101]

I'm sure the anti-snail is fish safe, but the fewer chemicals you add to the tank the better I think.

^Agreed, when it comes to pest snails I've always opted manual removal rather than chemicals. I've only ever had them twice and both times they came in with plants but were totally irradicated by just manual removal.

 

[jacko32]

it says remove the carbon because the carbon removes the meds so if you leave it in your just wasting your time its the same with any meds you use you always remove the carbon from your filter first

i just bought a dwarf puffer when i had snail problems i thought it would take him a good few weeks to see a difference lol not even close they where gone in a couple of days

 

[Essjay]

I don't like to use chemicals to kill snails either. One problem is that you will end up with a lot of dead and rotting snails in the tank which can play havoc with your water conditions. Mechanical methods are better - I pick them out by hand. Though I don't have many snails as I'm careful how much I feed the fish.

 

[markandhisfish]

agreed the lettuce leaf is best , chemicals should only be used in a tank if you have no other choice. another thing you can do is get some assassin snails , these will eat the other snails

 

[the_lock_man]

Thanks for the advice, I'll try the lettuce leaf idea.

But, my main query was - if you take parts out of the filter, wouldn't this disrupt the nitrogen cycle?

In my particular filter (came with my AquaMode 600) I have 3 sections - plastic sponge, carbon and cermaic tubes. As I understood it, the sponge collected large waste, the carbon provided an area for one of the bacteria, and the ceramic housed the other? Or have I got that completely wrong?

 

[jacko32]

Thanks for the advice, I'll try the lettuce leaf idea.

But, my main query was - if you take parts out of the filter, wouldn't this disrupt the nitrogen cycle?

In my particular filter (came with my AquaMode 600) I have 3 sections - plastic sponge, carbon and cermaic tubes. As I understood it, the sponge collected large waste, the carbon provided an area for one of the bacteria, and the ceramic housed the other? Or have I got that completely wrong?

the ceramic tubes and sponge have most of the bacteria the carbon is for removing things like excess ammonia and meds and only lasts for a few weeks before it becomes just another surface for the bacteria i think you will find that most people dont keep carbon in there filters 24/7 personally i just use carbon for a couple of days after a course of meds then take it out again

 

[Essjay]

Most media do several jobs. The sponge catches the bits, and is a home for the bacteria. The carbon adsorbs chemicals amd is a home for the bacteria. The ceramic rings tend to just be a home for the bacteria. Both types of bacteria live on all types of media, they don't grow on different types.
You can safely remove a small portion of your media. So long as the carbon makes up less than a third of the total, you can remove it without problems - well so long as you don't go mad with the amount you feed afterwards, or get more fish.
I, like many other members, don't use carbon full time but I keep a bag in the cupboard to remove medication if ever I have sick fish. You can fill the space left by removing the carbon with more sponge (any make cut to fit) or some more ceramic rings. After a few weeks, the bacteria will have colonised the new medium.

 

[CTGoldfish]

add a loach like a dojo loach

 

[Curiosity101]

add a loach like a dojo loach

It's never a good idea to get a fish to 'deal' with a problem you're having. Apart from anything else it may not be suitable for the tank, and the dojo loach specifically should be in a group.

 

[the_lock_man]

add a loach like a dojo loach

It's never a good idea to get a fish to 'deal' with a problem you're having. Apart from anything else it may not be suitable for the tank, and the dojo loach specifically should be in a group.

And in any case, I don't have room in the tank for any more fish.

 

[JoshuaA]

The cucumber or lettuce trick works well however I feel very bad on my apple snail as it gets very excited about the prospect of such food and then for me only to take it away before it gets to thoroughly enjoy it... makes me feel bad haha.

Having said that, you can always get assassin snails, you're kind of fighting snails with snails just having two small assassin snails will be less of an eye sore and in fact they're not that bad looking. They don't have much of a bio load.

Finally

Warning! If you're using a med and it is expected to kill off the snails, make sure you remove any as soon as you find them. Otherwise you may be introducing a large dose of Ammonia into the tank along with any other toxins release from rotting snail flesh.

 

[Harlequins]

I would go for manual removal of snails,i got rid of mine through lettuce leaves and using the gravel vac to suck them into the bucket on w/c.
I dont like using meds unless absolutely necessary,has they always knock my stats about.

TBH if you've had your carbon running in the filter for a while,then its probably not much use now anyway,so removing probably wont make much difference.
Carbon normally lasts around 3-4 days when you first put it in the filter.