How To Get Rid Of Duckweed And Ramshorn

[Bloo]

A few months ago I bought some plants from my lfs. I always wash plants before adding them to the tank and inspect for nasties.
But somehow these two evils must have slipped through

Neither is a problem (yet)and both have been around for about 4 months now, and seem to stay very much under control. I think the snails are Ramshorn, but they seem to stay around 5mm so not really sure.

I'd really like to remove these two things from my tank. But from what I've hard, Duckweed is pretty much impossible (??)

I hate snails with a vengeance. Any way to get rid of them too? I can temporarily rehome fish between my other tanks if I use a chemical treatment, but would like suggestions if any of you have dealt with either of these "problems" ?

 

[riverman444]

Duckweed shouldn't be too hard to maintain. I'm pretty wary about adding chemicals to my tanks, ecspecially chemicals designed to harm plants, which duckweed is. I would just scoop it out.......or buy an extremely small duck

As far as snails.......I wish I knew. I seem to always see a tiny one now and then no matter what I do. I've grown to accept them.....slimy little buggers. There are a few chems out there that will kill them off, but I shy away from anything that "kills", if you know what I mean.

 

[DarkSeraph]

Do you just wash your plants off in tapwater when you get home? Does that hurt the plant at all?

 

[Bloo]

Duckweed shouldn't be too hard to maintain. I'm pretty wary about adding chemicals to my tanks, ecspecially chemicals designed to harm plants, which duckweed is. I would just scoop it out.......or buy an extremely small duck

lol I kinda guessed I can't use a chemical to get rid of duckweed but not my other plants. But wondered if there was a "magic trick".

As far as snails.......I wish I knew. I seem to always see a tiny one now and then no matter what I do. I've grown to accept them.....slimy little buggers. There are a few chems out there that will kill them off, but I shy away from anything that "kills", if you know what I mean.

Yeah - I meant chemicals to nuke the snails (sorry I just have a thing about snails).

Do you just wash your plants off in tapwater when you get home? Does that hurt the plant at all?

Yep indeed I do - well no harm that I'm aware of because surely they're just going into my tank which is tapwater anyway ?

 

[zig]

For the duckweed just keep removing it as you see it, for the snails a loach will do a good job and i dont think you will see any snails after you introduce one of those, although i think they are fond of nibbling at shrimp as well so probably a no no if you have shrimp in the tank.

I think if you keep the tempratures on the low side this reduces the overall snail population, they just dont breed as fast, but tbh a planted tank without snails is nearly impossible in my experience.

 

[wendywc]

The tank with the snails is not the tanks with your Angelicus loaches is it? Must be the other one. Can you temporarily put the Angelicus loaches in the other tank; like a week or two? Loaches should eat snails.

When I buy plants, I usually soak them overnight in a bucket of water with some alum. Alum spice is supposed to kill snails and their eggs. I read that online somewhere. Anyway, I've only had a couple ever and just took them out and tossed them. I hate snails too.

 

[Bloo]

but tbh a planted tank without snails is nearly impossible in my experience.

In all my years I've never had snails. The fist time ever was when someone sent me MTS infested plants. They were pretty easy (but a pain) to get rid of.

The tank with the snails is not the tanks with your Angelicus loaches is it? Must be the other one. Can you temporarily put the Angelicus loaches in the other tank; like a week or two? Loaches should eat snails.

When I buy plants, I usually soak them overnight in a bucket of water with some alum. Alum spice is supposed to kill snails and their eggs. I read that online somewhere. Anyway, I've only had a couple ever and just took them out and tossed them. I hate snails too.

Nope that's my other tank with the loaches. I'm not sure if my 19 Gallon planted is not too small for the fully grown loaches. And then they'd have to re-establish their territory in the other tank again. So good thinking, but not ideal

Where can I get Alum ?




Thanks for the advice everyone

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Where can I get Alum ?

You should be able to find it at the supermarket in the spice section.

 

[Ptarmigan]

.

 

[EliteFishy]

i hate duck week too. They are growing like crazy in my tank and every time when I think I got rid of them they come back again.

 

[lljdma06]

i hate duck week too. They are growing like crazy in my tank and every time when I think I got rid of them they come back again.

Well, I know now never to offer Duckweed here when I have eccess! As for snails, my tanks are too small for loaches, so I usually feed them to my bettas

 

[Bloo]

Edit later :
Here is a snail/alum ref by G. Booth (well known keeper of planted tanks etc)
http/www.fishprofiles.net/faq/snails.asp
bottom of that page.

Fabulous - thanks for that info Also interesting to know that there are indeed to types of Ramshorn as indicated by that article.

 

[George Farmer]

For snail population control I find the most effective method is to stop feeding the fish for a few days. Snails thrive on tiny scraps of leftovers and cutting off their food supply really brings down numbers.

Combine this with the fact that your fish will get real hungry and some may even eat snails. My SAEs did. An ideal snail eater is Botia striata, they remain fairly small (<4" generally) and will soon rid your population if hungry enough.

 

[Bloo]

Thanks George, but that's a tricky one.
In the tank I only have 4 Endlers (tiny little things), 5 corys, amano shrimp and 3 killifish (there are just waiting to be rehomed - the twig catfish I'm moving to my large thank this weekend too). As it is, they are only fed extremely lightly every other day or so. I can certainly try not feeding for a week and see how that goes. But perhaps I'll also go and look at some smaller loaches today - good excuse to get some more cute fish ! I can then always put them in my bigger tank with the other loaches if snail population is gone.

 

[steve711]

All the snail treatments I have tried never completely eradicate snails and loaches become lazy and eat more easily accessible foods.

The only sure fire way to get rid of snails is to get yourself a shoal of dwarf freshwater puffers and watch them munch - it is incredible, those little b**gers are snail munching machines, they will painstakingly scour every leaf, every surface looking for snails.

They don't damage the plants either.

The only problem is they are very good fin nippers and won't eat flake foods, I feed mine on frozen blood worm, daphnia, brine shrimp becaue I have no snail at all now.

If you can set up a species tank for them and then add them to your main tank as a snail clean up crew occasionaly that would be the best set up, which is exactly what I plant to do when I set up my next 5 footer.