[greaser84]

So I got this beautiful java moss from evilbay, and it's full of snails, snail eggs & sand fleas and probably every other aquarium pest known to man. What can I do to get rid of them without hurting the moss? I have aquarium salt and bleach.

 

[Diana]

I understand Alum is a good snail treatment. I think this is a material from the grocery store used for pickling. You will have to do some research about dose and duration.

Not sure how to handle the rest of the pests.

 

[Sergeant Dude]

Bleach should work just fine. I bleached some java moss/fern I took from one of our show tanks (I work at a LFS) and did a ~20:1 bleach dip. There were probably 80 snails in the bunch and I haven't seen a single live one in my tank since then. If it is really bad, you could probably get away with a 15:1 solution. Java moss is basically impossible to kill.

 

[greaser84]

Bleach should work just fine. I bleached some java moss/fern I took from one of our show tanks (I work at a LFS) and did a ~20:1 bleach dip. There were probably 80 snails in the bunch and I haven't seen a single live one in my tank since then. If it is really bad, you could probably get away with a 15:1 solution. Java moss is basically impossible to kill.

I think I'm going to go with the bleach. I don't think its to bad of an infestation. About 90 seconds in the bleach bath sound about right?

 

[Sergeant Dude]

90 seconds and a good shake should be fine. Just make sure to rinse everything really well before it goes back in the tank.

 

[TekWarren]

I will generally soak new plants in a water/hydrogen peroxide mix before putting them in my tank now. Just make it stronger of a mix, you can also mix in some Excel (I use metricide). Not sure if Bleach will work faster or not but I like knowing that HP and metricide won't hurt anything in my tank if some travels in with the plants.

 

[PlantedRich]

For long term, I found a pair of clown loaches to be a big help when I got a terrible infestation of MTS snails. Since you have mentioned other pests, the dipping may leave other things still in the tank so fish may be the cure for the leftovers.