36 replies to this topic

[al10]

Peroxide killed my hornwort when I had bba, what you should do is, do a salt bath, 2 times, and then let sit in freshwater for a week, and if you have it, inject co2 heavily to kill off small thing.

[littlen]

A bit late chiming in here, but I set my newly acquired plants up in their own tank and let the bugs or any attached eggs 'blossom'. The damselfly nymphs grew quickly and were easily removed by hand over the course of a couple months. Eventually there weren't any more and nothing else showed up. Of course the biggest issue with this approach is the amount of time it takes. On the other hand there was minimal stress to the plants other than replanting. This really worked in my favor in the long run as I ended up spawning and rearing Bluespotted sunfish in this tank later down the road. The fry fed well on the microfauna living on the wild plants for the first few weeks.

[al10]

Oh I would like to add that peroxide kills rotala/ludwigia, most mosses, marimo moss balls, algaes good and bad, hornwort, and moneywort, this is just from my exp but I know their are a lot more.

[mikez]

Chiming back in on this as I'm actively attempting to create a snail free planted tank. I am using a single banded sunfish to eat eggs and small snails. Each strand of plant added gets a good going over visually by me then is added to the tank with the hungry sunnie [who currently gets no other food]. It has been a few weeks since I have seen an adult snail. I'm getting ready to remove the sunnie and add the flagfins for another try at saving fry. They spawn all over my display tank but too many hungry mouths in there.

Regarding hydrogen peroxide, I recently used it to clean the large water dish/pool in my tree frog tank. First time I used it, thinking the bleach I prefer might be harsh for frogs. After I cleaned and thoroughly rinsed the dish, I refilled it with clean water and dropped a branch of hornwort as I always do. Even though I felt I rinsed the plastic dish very well, all the fronds dropped off the hornwort in hours.
Seems to me peroxide and hornwort are not compatable.

[al10]

I have said that, hornwort, rotal/ludwigia, moss, marimo balls, and alotof others but this is only what I have have expeirence with, but the bleach can kill fish it u use it in a tank even if its completly empty and u wash good, it can leave residues on stuff, and your method is good, but most dint have that time or space.

[mikez]

the best pet store I ever worked for, they broke down every bird and animal cage every day and bleached everything. Everything would soak in fresh water to get rid of the bleach. We used to whine about all the work but they always had the healthiest animals. I never knew of any health issues for the animals when their cages were bleached.

I don't normally use peroxide to clean my cages but I use it a lot for first aid, always have it on hand. Tried it that one time and when the hornwort fell apart, it reminded me of this thread so I came back here to mention it.

[al10]

I wasn't saying talking about land animals, I am saying aquatics animals.

If u go to www.aquaticenthusiasts.com (doesn't even have a section for coldwater or natives so don't worry) and contact wayhilc he can tell u loads of stuff on peroxide, its basicaly all he uses for algae and parasites, dips, basicaly everything.

[gzeiger]

I always marvel at these threads. I throw damselfly larvae in my tanks on purpose and they're gone in minutes if introduced on plants, seconds otherwise. I work hard to get snails going and I've never really succeeded with any native species.

Sunfish, crayfish or darters will eliminate these problems.

[mikez]

al10, I knew you meant fish vs bleach, I threw in my pet shop comments to show bleach is safe used right - that would not include adding to water containing live aquatic organisms.

gzeiger, I marvel at the wide range of experiences we all share. I've heard others complain they couldn't keep snails - I've always believed it was the water chemistry, mostly lack of the minerals needed to form shells. My H2O is hard and full of carbonates [same thing?] and other minerals, some from the ground, some added by the town. I can't keep freshwater planted tanks free of snails - without going through the efforts described above. My heavily planted tanks are swarmed with snails that came in on local plants - I'll call them native though I don't really ID them. They keep planted tanks free of rotting plants and food and in my case, provide a great calcium rich food for my aquatic turtles. They crunch 'em up like hard candy and swallow shell and all.

In community tanks I let nature take it's course. Everything from damselflies to crayfish to giant water bugs have been allowed to live in my community tanks. Not until I felt snails ate too many eggs and damsal larva ate too many fry in a breeding attempt did I look for ways to keep them out.

[don212]

I always marvel at these threads. I throw damselfly larvae in my tanks on purpose and they're gone in minutes if introduced on plants, seconds otherwise. I work hard to get snails going and I've never really succeeded with any native species.

Sunfish, crayfish or darters will eliminate these problems.

i have 4 native aquariums in my with same tapwater similar species , similar light, one is algae free, almost snail free wild val flourishing , one directly below it with same planting, is a veritable algae farm, i have 1 tank planted with java fern it's a snail farm, there must be hundreds in that little 10 gal tank, i can't pull them out fast enough, the one below it is relatively snail free but turns green periodically, strange that they are so different. i will try some of these control techniques but it is a puzzlement to me

[gzeiger]

I add hardwater minerals for the reason Mikez said, and for the plants. Separate tanks which are tap water only (and Walmart Special Kitty litter of course) breed snails fine when fed only flake food and clippings from the big tank, so I really do think it's predation.

I have had snails breed prolifically in an Elassoma-only tank, a molly growout tank, and a few fish-free setups designed for the purpose, but never with darters or sunfish or crayfish.

[mikez]

I add hardwater minerals for the reason Mikez said, and for the plants. Separate tanks which are tap water only (and Walmart Special Kitty litter of course) breed snails fine when fed only flake food and clippings from the big tank, so I really do think it's predation.

I have had snails breed prolifically in an Elassoma-only tank, a molly growout tank, and a few fish-free setups designed for the purpose, but never with darters or sunfish or crayfish.

I agree - predation. The three groups you named are all snail eater.

BTW, if anyone's interested, if I'm allowed to mention tropical, I recently discovered bettas are avid snail predators eating egg masses and pecking relentlessly at even large adult snails. My 2.5 gallon tank is losing its snail population in front of my eyes.

[gzeiger]

A nice pickerel will solve that problem for you. Might need more than the 2.5 gallons when grown though.