getting rid of snails

1844 Views 12 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Guest, Nov 10, 2004

joshsfrogs

Discussion Starter · Nov 9, 2004

I'm growing java moss in my fish tank. The tank is infested with snails. How can I sterilize the moss before putting it in my Leuc cage and not put any snails in there?

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kleinhanz

· #2 · Nov 9, 2004

buy new java moss :wink:

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Java moss is very tough stuff...you can sort of clean undesirables from it by rinsing it in a bleach solution.

Sombody please chime in with the ratio of dilution, I can't remember. I did try it when I first heard of it, and the moss didn't show any sign of damage.

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· #4 · Nov 9, 2004

The bleach idea scares me. Your local aquarium store will have a safe solution that kills snails, not the plant or the frogs.
-David

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Homer

· #5 · Nov 9, 2004

I agree with Brian, as I have used a 4 parts water to 1 part bleach solution to soak java moss for 5-15 minutes. However, like David suggests, you need to be cautious about this by thoroughly rinsing the moss under running water and letting it sit in several bowls of fresh water for at least overnight. I rinse the bowl and refil it with fresh RO water about 5-8 times after the rinse/bleach/rinse cycle I do, and I have not had any problems. Just be careful.

Additionally, be careful how long you soak the stuff in the bleach solution. I have forgotten about a plant cutting in bleach solution before, and in 25 minutes it was mush. :?

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· #6 · Nov 9, 2004

Snails love beer. If you have them in your garden, you can cut the top off a can of beer and just place it on the ground or in a bush and you will collect a bunch of them. They climb in and can't get out (kinda like my friday nights

). I wonder if we could do something like this, while keeping our frogs from binge drinking.

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Homer

· #7 · Nov 9, 2004

hicksonj said:
Snails love beer. If you have them in your garden, you can cut the top off a can of beer and just place it on the ground or in a bush and you will collect a bunch of them. They climb in and can't get out (kinda like my friday nights ). I wonder if we could do something like this, while keeping our frogs from binge drinking.

LMAO!! Joe, too much info about your weekends. I have actually tried this in my vent tank (made the mistake of not bleach/rinsing off 1 orchid I bought from a nursery. :?

I used a film canister with a hole or two drilled in the side that was large enough for the snails to get into, but too small for the vents to get into. Of course, I filled the bottom with some beer, and waited for the little buggers to have a ******* snailfight and drown one another. It did a decent job at lowering the population of snails, but it was not as effective as I would have liked. Plus, the snails tend to get a little rowdy and loud when they're drunk--it really put my vents out of the mood for a while.

I also tried wine once and warm water with active yeast. Beer worked the best. However, the snails won out, and I just took out my vulnerable plants. :?

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Dancing frogs

· #8 · Nov 9, 2004

If you decide to use the "fish safe" stuff, make sure you check out what it actually is. I think I've seen a similar product that uses some form of copper as it's active ingredient. Copper is toxic to bromeliads (if I remember right) if you don't have bromeliads, you might be ok though.

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snmreptiles

· #9 · Nov 9, 2004

Has anyone ever heard of using honey? I had someone tell me to put a shallow dish with just a thin layer on honey in the tank over night and that in the morning you would be amazed at how many snails were in the dish! He said that he thought he had a few snails in a tank and after doing that he had over 100 snails in the dish. My only concern is that the frogs would get into the honey. So I haven't tried this yet. Any input on this method??

-Shelley

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Dancing frogs

· #10 · Nov 10, 2004

snmreptiles said:
Has anyone ever heard of using honey? I had someone tell me to put a shallow dish with just a thin layer on honey in the tank over night and that in the morning you would be amazed at how many snails were in the dish! He said that he thought he had a few snails in a tank and after doing that he had over 100 snails in the dish. My only concern is that the frogs would get into the honey. So I haven't tried this yet. Any input on this method??

-Shelley

Come to think of it, in one of my tanks, I had snails in it, so I put a day gecko instead of frogs in there. A few times a week I give my day geckos some fruit mush, which consists of overripe fruit(s) or fruit babyfood, honey, calcium and vitamins. In mentioned tank, I noticed in the little cup that I put the mush in, that the snails would collect in there. It took a while, but I don't see any snails anymore.
I still think prevention is the best medicine, though. If you really want to play it safe, take you're moss, treat it with whatever you think will work best, rinse it, then rinse it some more, then rinse it again, then let it grow in a container for a week or two, rinse it again, (if you're still worried about it at this point) then put it in you're tank

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· #11 · Nov 10, 2004

Not to be critical, as Im sure some of these posts will help someone someday, but were getting off-target. Pastorjosh doesnt have a problem with snails inside the vivarium, but instead is trying to kill off any snails on the moss before he puts it in the vivarium so he can avoid the very things you guys are talking about :lol: He's planning ahead so he doent have to make beer & honey snail traps later. Hehe.

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bluetip

· #12 · Nov 10, 2004

What about using a table salt and water solution? Snails will disintegrate in salt, I don't know why or how though but I think salt water solution is far safer than using bleach...

bluetip

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· #13 · Nov 10, 2004

What I would like to know is will the same snails that live IN the water, UNDER water with the java moss infest the terrarium as land snails? Aren't they two different species? I'm asking because I have the same issue. I have a tank which I grow the java moss in, use for tadpole water, etc. and it has snails but I've not seen them transfer over into the one terrarium I've used the java moss as a ground cover.

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