Getting rid of the "Freshwater Limpet - Acroloxus lacustris"?

[Adri.]

I seem to have some of these on plants that I want to bring into my LFS for store credit, but I don't want to indroduce these things to his tank. I looked through this thread:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...&highlight=bug
And it seems they are what's listed as "Freshwater Limpet - Acroloxus lacustris"

How do I get rid of them, so that I can trade in my plants?

[metallicanick78]

Copper will kill em. most people on tpt dont like to dose their actual tanks with cu for various reasons. so I would say, try to keep your clippings in a seperate container for a few days and treat them with a theraputic lvl of cu. Then maby keep them in a seperate container for a few days after that to make sure that a- your plants survived and b- the limpets diden't.

you might try picking them off and/or spraying the plants down in the sink if its a plant that will take it, just to jumpstart the cleaning process..

Ill stick around to hear what others suggests because I have these in my tank too and I dont want to does my whole tank with cu because I will eventually have shrimp in there...

[laqu]

i wouldn't dose with Cu, some people have shrimp and heaven forbid you kill them all...

get a betta throw it in there.. problem gone.

my betta thinks they are the tastest little snacks, well next to shrimpetts

[Adri.]

That would just get rid of the big ones, not eggs or little tiny baby ones.

[HD Blazingwolf]

No planaria. Works but has to be dosed over a 3 week span to be effective. Plants will get covered in slime,.
Copper will likely kill ur plants in high enough concentrations to kill a snail

[Adri.]

Originally Posted by HD Blazingwolf

No planaria. Works but has to be dosed over a 3 week span to be effective. Plants will get covered in slime,.
Copper will likely kill ur plants in high enough concentrations to kill a snail

What do you mean by no planaria? & What has to be dosed over a 3 week span?

[metallicanick78]

Originally Posted by HD Blazingwolf

No planaria. Works but has to be dosed over a 3 week span to be effective. Plants will get covered in slime,.
Copper will likely kill ur plants in high enough concentrations to kill a snail

From my experience, Mardel coopersafe (chelated copper) dosed at around .75-1ml per gallon worked well with no ill effects to my plants. It will remain at a theraputic lvl for over a month with no water changes. But I did a big waterchange 7 days in and another one 7 days after that... At the time that tank had HC, R. rotundifolia, fissidens, rotala vietnam narrow leaf java fern and 2 other stems I cant remember atm.

Everyone seems to dislike cu treatments for several reasons. But If you know the risks, it can work like a charm. After 3-4 months my limpets and other snails did come back, my hydra never re appeared, but I dident leave it in my tank as long as I should have, and I introduced other plants afterwords... I would still recomend cu treatment in a seperate container if they dont actually bother you in your tank. If your really worried, test it with one clipping.

[metallicanick78]

oh and no-planaria is the name of a product.

[kwheeler91]

Why? They are hardely noticable even when on the glass. They are very small and will probably due a lot of good for your tank. Algae eating fish will likely eat them along with loaches. They dont become a nuisance like pond snails, if you consider them as such anyway, becuase a) they are a fraction of the size and b) dont reproduce as quickly by a long shot.

As far as getting rid of then goes, good luck lol. A total breakdown including bleaching or drying everything out might do the trick. Isnt a whole lot that kills snails and not everything else along with it, besides some hungry loaches.

[HD Blazingwolf]

"no planaria" is a tree extract that apparently kills snails.
dosed every few days for three weeks, with regual water changes will remove them, and other snails as well
not sure if it works on trumpet snails.. bleach doesnt so i would assume this wont either

[rodcuda]

Assassin snails will wipe them out. And they do not get out of control. But they will not get rid of them entirely. Chances are nothing will get everyone and they will come back. And I think your LFS guy understands the risk of snails coming in on plants.

[Adri.]

What do they eat? Is it possible that I could just take away their food source?

[HD Blazingwolf]

nope, they happily much on biofilm, which is,
everywhere

[Adri.]

Of course!

What about Assassin Snails/Loaches?

[HD Blazingwolf]

they will snack on them, but never completely remove them.. you'll notice less