What can I drop inside a tank to kill all invertebrates?

[hedge_fund]

Originally Posted by acitydweller

Hedge,
Algaefix kills all inverts while not disturbing the tank cycle. Its also safe for fish.

Great, thanks for the suggestion. I hope I can find it at Petco tomorrow.

Originally Posted by ravensgate

But wouldn't killing all the shrimp and snails cause a colossal ammonia spike where you'd have to pull the endlers out anyway?

I'll do some water changes and suck the dead ones out with a hose. It's still much easier than trying to catch all the shrimp/scuds. I actually think it's impossible unless I'd rip out all the moss.

[hedge_fund]

Originally Posted by angelsword

It would make way more sense to trap them. You'll end up with an ammonia spike plus you'll have to find all the dead things in the moss.

Not sure if you've ever had scuds but they are impossible to get rid of....I'm sure others can chime in.

The only way to get them out is to tear down the tank or nuke it with something that kills them.

[DogFish]

Plug in your toaster, start it up and toss it in.

Sorry, couldn't resist

[Beer]

I'd try to trap as many of the snails and shrimp as possible before killing them off. The ammonia spike from them decaying, if there are as many as you are saying, would cause issues for the Endlers.
The Endlers should take care of the scuds and baby shrimp.
I could swing by on my way from Philly later in the week and net/trap most of the shrimp and haul them away for you ;D
I used a few pennies in a 2 gallon bucket to rid plants of the snails I couldn't find before transferring them to my tank. Wasn't a couple hour deal, but it worked. I don't see the pipe being an issue. Soak it in hot vinegar to clean it, then give it a cold water rinse and you should be fine.

But if you plan mass genocide, I would seriously consider placing the Endlers in another container and doing water changes daily or every other day. If you have filter media in the container (even with no circulation), every other day should be okay. Just keep it bare bottom and vac the bottom to minimize ammonia spikes. Small cheap plastic containers, paint mixing containers ($1-$2), will work temporarily. I would vacuum the tank as well as you can every couple of days to remove as many bodies and decaying matter as you can until everything stabilizes before putting the Endlers back in.

I will come over with a bucket and remove as many shrimp and snails as possible. I'm heading to Philly tomorrow and coming back sometime next week, my schedule is a little flexible.

[plamski]

H2o2 3-4 ml/gal will "fix" everything + bacteria.

[DarkCobra]

Nothing reliably kills inverts while leaving plants and fish untouched. This is especially true when that's what you want to happen.

[Dany08fa]

Trap as much as you can then algae fix seems to be the solution. You said you had all day.... Lol

[Rob in Puyallup]

Originally Posted by ravensgate

But wouldn't killing all the shrimp and snails cause a colossal ammonia spike where you'd have to pull the endlers out anyway?

Exactly what I was thinking, Jaime. Doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

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[wicca27]

ive seen "had a snail" and its a copper med but when i tried it it only killed ramshorns and not the "pond" snails. what about a loach to eat the snails/shrimp

[R.sok]

Take out the fish & use a stun gun

[angelsword]

Originally Posted by hedge_fund

Not sure if you've ever had scuds but they are impossible to get rid of....I'm sure others can chime in.

The only way to get them out is to tear down the tank or nuke it with something that kills them.

True, I've seen pictures and they look horrifying. I might throw out the whole tank lol

[steven p]

Originally Posted by R.sok

Take out the fish & use a stun gun

Remove your filters/heaters first.. but this might be the smartest idea.. I've tazed myself.. not that bad.. prolly won't kill much... If you're grounded and feeling frisky, plug some severed wires into a grounded circuit breaker and put the + and - in either end of the tank. It should bubble and realease hydrogen and oxygen gas on either lead if I remember 7th grade science class correctly.

Don't tell game and parks.. electro-fishing is illegal.

[tunatime]

Just put fish that eat shimp it will be fun to watch and the shimp will keep the fish will feed

[acitydweller]

Lol, it doesn't seem like anyone besides hedge and i have dealt with scuds before. These guys are like to cockroaches of the shrimp world. Netted and even scooped up all the gravel in a tank and still have nearly a hundred in the bare bottom tank two weeks later. I refused to do a tank teardown due to a CBS so near to term.

You all my be after the shrimp in the tank but you are playing with fire trying to net them in a scud infested tank. Adult scuds will outrun most fish so don't think that is a viable fall back plan. The only way fish could be effective is you place a betta, (plakats make proficient hunters due to their short fins) in a 2.5 gallon tank. Anything larger would give the fish a run for their money and give up. Various small cichlids may work but again the adults burrow quicker than anything so a sandy substrate would be an alternative. Just fair warning as so many people are so quick to jump on the idea of netting. Just the accidental two or three that hitchhike into you tank will provide over a hundred scuds in a few short weeks.

[hedge_fund]

Originally Posted by acitydweller

Lol, it doesn't seem like anyone besides hedge and i have dealt with scuds before. These guys are like to cockroaches of the shrimp world. Netted and even scooped up all the gravel in a tank and still have nearly a hundred in the bare bottom tank two weeks later. I refused to do a tank teardown due to a CBS so near to term.

You all my be after the shrimp in the tank but you are playing with fire trying to net them in a scud infested tank. Adult scuds will outrun most fish so don't think that is a viable fall back plan. The only way fish could be effective is you place a betta, (plakats make proficient hunters due to their short fins) in a 2.5 gallon tank. Anything larger would give the fish a run for their money and give up. Various small cichlids may work but again the adults burrow quicker than anything so a sandy substrate would be an alternative. Just fair warning as so many people are so quick to jump on the idea of netting. Just the accidental two or three that hitchhike into you tank will provide over a hundred scuds in a few short weeks.

Good post.

To add:
Scuds will also eat certain types of mosses to the point that only little fiber twigs are left. They don't touch my fissidens nor Christmas moss but they will devour my Singapore moss.

Heck, even if I tore down this tank completely, I would probably have to buy everything brand new including gravel. Scuds are impossible to eliminate when shrimp/plants are present. The only way to get them out is to nuke the tank with something that kills inverts. I once had 10 adult swordtails in a 15 gallon tank with just ecocomplete and floating plants. Not other objects nor plants were on the bottom...just the ecocomplete. Guess what? I had to tear this tank down since the swordtails couldn't solve the scud problem. If a fish was chasing a scud, it would just bury itself in the substrate. I tore the tank down and threw out the gravel with the fish tank.

I am inclined to believe that scuds would survive a real nuclear blast. There would at least be a few survivors for sure.