what about epson salt

[mattbeau]

talked with guy at LFS (the good petsmart)
he's very knowlagable and I have been able to ask and have answered plenty of questions from time to time

I wanted to see about something rather small that would fit in my community 20 g
that ate snails


obviosly clown loaches and Dwarf puffers are out of the question.

his reccommendation was epson salt, the stuff from the drug store, he said its fine with fish and kills snails.


he says he reccomends it for those that buy plants and are afraid of getting snails

just thought I'd ask here before I alter things in the community again.

any thoughts or experience

BTW tried cutting back feading to eery other day

tried lettus, cappage and cuccumber

Im removing about 10 snails a day

and killing about 10 babies a day

just seems like a losing battle

 

[SirMinion]

I'd agree with using an epsom salt bath to kill snail hitchhikers on new plants, but I wouldn't put it in my tank. It'd cause havoc with the pH and I dread to think what it'd do to the poor fish's metabolism.

Continue with the manual removal and feed your fish a lot less.
The snail population is directly linked to the amount of available food.

less uneaten fish food=less snails.

 

[Tolak]

I've used epsom salt in tanks on a few occasions, it's great for constipation, and helps when dealing with internal parasites. I start with 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons, working up to 3 teaspoons per 10 gallons over a few days. I don't know if this is a high enough concentration to do anything about snails, but I know it hasn't have an adverse effect on any of my fish.

Tolak

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I wouldn't add salt to the tank either, your corys and otos won't be able to handle it. If you take out all the ornements and plants in the tank and put them into 2 separate buckets, the snails will go to the bottom of the buckets off the plants and ornements and you can collect them and any others left in the tank unable to hide- it worked for me pretty well .

 

[rdd1952]

If you have the snail problem I have, removing them by hand isn't an option. What kind of snails are they? Mine are trumpet snails. I would venture to say that I probably now have closer to 10000 than 1000 in my 29 gallon tank. They range in size from 1" long down to probably only 1/8". I have only fed my fish once since last Wednesday but I can't tell any change in the snail population. My corys and ghost shrimp have become very active in the last 3 days. I guess they are really hunting food.

I took my algae mitt las night and wiped all of them off the front of the tank and washed them down the drain. There were probably 50 of them. Ten minutes later, the there were probably that many more on the glass again. I can take my net and dip up a scoop of sand. When I dump it out, I usually have 10 to 25 in it.

I have room in my 75 gallon for a few more fish so I had thought about getting 3 or 4 small loaches to clean the 29 gallon up and then moving them to my 75 gallon. I just don't know what to get that will be ok once I move them over. I have about decided I have no choice other than to change the substrate and start over. I love the Tahitian Moon Sand anyway. This looks like the opportunity to change to it.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Why don't you get a pair of clown loachs? i would say you have room for those in your 75gal.

 

[mattbeau]

wow RDD1952,

I thought I had a problem, I probably only have a couple hundred in there.

I had thought that by adding 6 ghost shrimp to help clean things up, it might help on the snail population. so I will be adding another 6 today. and see what happens

the ones I have are the round pond snails

now what I have noticed is the ghost srimp will eat a snail dead or alive if its shell is broken

hmmm

I have the shrimp in training

 

[Ryeguy]

well i just found my first snail...looks like a trumpet hanging out on a piec of drift wood i have...needless to say hes gone...but i worry there will be more....does anyone know what their larvea look like?

 

[rdd1952]

Why don't you get a pair of clown loachs? i would say you have room for those in your 75gal.

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I think I'm just going to change the substrate. I don't really like the playsand that's in it now. I will probably go with Tahitian Moon sand. I love the black sand.