How to kill snails in Java Moss?

[sarve]

My tank is full of snails, I've picked out what I could and I'm thinking of using the Alum method to disinfect my plants. What I'm really worried about is my Java Moss--right now I have beautiful mounds of it, but I know it's fragile (and a snail haven.)

How should I kill snails/their eggs in Java Moss?

Also, my plants are due to be fertilized--would you fert. before or after disinfecting?

Thanks

[Buck]

Unless the snails are damaging the plants , which is rare, I would just leave them to help you out. They are actually beneficial to have... they are a food source for fish, they are scavengers cleaning out the debris and they can be easily controlled weekly with the fingers...
Trying to "disinfect" the snails out of the tank is more harmful to the tanks balance then the snails are. I do not put anything in my tank's unless its a last resort. Disease needs disinfecting and snails are not a disease.
I look at it this way... each week I have to do a water change so each week I pull a couple snails while I am there, I walk past my tank all the time, if while I am walking past it I see a bigger snail... I grab it.

So in answer to your question...would you fert before or after disinfecting?
I would start up your fert dosing and enjoy plucking the snails

[Thanks]

its especially fun if you have a mag float
just line 'em up, attract the magnet and... splat.

snails really arent a problem, unless you dont like them. Get a few loaches and dont feed them for a few days; that should take care of your snail population. Also, they sometimes get into the filter, so check there too.

[Nolan W.]

Originally Posted by Thanks

its especially fun if you have a mag float
just line 'em up, attract the magnet and... splat.

LOL!

Sarve, what kind of snails do you have? I have small ramshorn snails, and they don't seem to do damage to my plants. I've seen them eat fish waste and dead fish. Imo, they're beneficial to have in a planted tank.

[sarve]

I think my tank might just be a little too small for to support tanks and loaches--it's only a 20 gal and I already have 9 fish in there (3 adult platys, 5 platy fry and an Oto.) I was going to keep the snails in there since they do such a bang-up job on algae & scavenging, but I've hand picked 75 snails so far and the bioload is much too much for such a small tank. I end up vacuuming out 6-8 gal of *black* water every week and my plants are getting very chewed up. I told myself that I wouldn't do anything with the snails unless they started having a negative effect on my fish and that time has finally come, the fish end up scratching just before a water change and clear up right after one. It's been a tough decision--snails are *so* interesting with how they can modulate the air in their shells to literally hover in water or how they can "walk" on the surface tension of water, but I think I probably have more waste coming from the snails right now than I do the fish. Plus, feeding my little Oto, Nila, has become harder because now she has to compete with both the platys *and* the snails for algae tabs.

But maybe I'm misguided (it wouldn't be the first time )-- is it possible that the plants are causing all the black, mulmy water?

I'm thinking that, bare minimum, I'm going to break down my tank, rinse the gravel in a very weak bleach solution (rinse well), dip most of the plants (SE. bolivianus, Ambulia, Hygrophilia polysperms, Rotatalla indica, Aponogentons, Dwarf Lilys) in alum and maybe, if I can find some, rinse the Java in Lime-it (I tried dipping Java in alum before and it never recovered, that's why I'm looking for an alternative solution.)

That's why I was hoping to find someone who'd successfully dipped Java before.

BTW--I love this smiley --if my fish could use it, I think they lovingly would!

[jhoetzl]

"Yummy snails", said the dwarf puffer (but not in my community tank...if I see them in the community tank, the loaches usually get to them first, but if not, I baster them out and they go in my little dp tank...much more fun watching them stalk one that watching them eat worms...