Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: typojinx on December 10, 2013, 08:43:22 PM
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Hi All,
Currently doing a fishless cycle with plants that seems to be going well, but I came across a problem with snails that came in on one of the plants.
I removed all the snails that I could see and they seem to be under control, just growing which i'm not too bothered about.
The problem is, after soaking the bogwood (not for long enough as I got yellowing to the water, but that's another issue!) and putting it in, a couple of days later, I noticed that the snails had made a beeline for it and laid eggs all over it - small almost translucent snails all over it!
The bogwood came out as soon as I noticed the snails and is now in an uncovered bucket outside.
So, my question is this - Will the eggs have survived the trip to the outdoors?
It's been out there a tad under 2 weeks, while I tried to figure out what to do and keep an eye on the snails that were left and it has rained and been rather cold!
Also, how can I stop the snails that are left from making a beeline straight for it again, once I add it back in?
Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated!
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That's the trouble with snails! I have nerite snails in 2 of my tanks, one has bogwood, the other has mangrove root (which looks like a chunk of wood). The nerites have laid eggs on the wood in both tanks - and nerite eggs look like sesame seeds which don't come off or hatch as nerites need salt water to reproduce successfully. Snails seem attracted to wood.
What type are your snails? I have little flat spiral ones (ramshorns) that came with plants, other people get pond/tadpole/bladder snails (different names, same snails). I have given up trying to remove the ramshorns from my tank and just live with them. I do crush them against the glass when I see them and the fish enjoy the snack.
Have you scrubbed the snails eggs off your piece of wood? That would be the easiest thing to do. Whenever you see them, take the wood out of the tank and scrub it. While you are cycling, if you leave the wood in the bucket, any eggs that do survive being outside will hatch, then you can give the wood a good rinse to get rid of the baby snails.
When you say you are fishless cycling with plants, do you mean you have plants in while doing a fishless cycle by adding ammonia or that you are doing a silent cycle? The latter involves planting the tank very heavily, then when they are growing add fish fish very slowly.
If you are using ammonia, it is probably a good idea to leave the wood out till the cycle has finished simply because bogwood lowers the pH, but the filter bacteria grow better at higher pH.
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Hi Sue,
I'm not sure what type of snails they are as I'm currently at work, but thanks for the names to google!
I've not scrubbed the eggs off the wood as I wasn't sure whether they'd just die anyway being outside, but I did notice some snails in the bottom of the bucket last time I looked.
I'm doing a fishless cycle with plants in the tank using ammonia. At the time, it appeared to be the easier option and least disruptive to the substrate.
Also, thanks for the tip of the bogwood lowering the pH. Does the same apply to mangrove root?
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I'm not sure about mangrove root as I haven't checked the pH of my tank since I got it. Since I do large weekly water changes, the pH probably wouldn't have chance to drop much anyway. The only thing I know for sure about mangrove root is that it doesn't turn the water brown. The woman in the shop told me that but I still put it in a bucket of water when I got it home - and she was right.