Sand?

[Greylady]

I haven't had an issue yet. I know there are a lot under the substrate because if I watch closely I can see it moving. There will usually be three or four out on plants eating the algae off the leaves (they only eat the dead leaves or rotting stems, they leave the healthy part of the plant alone.) Or wandering around cleaning the rocks and the log, even the substrate.

I've read that they will only multiply up to the amount the tank can support, once the supply of food is diminished, the snails will stop reproducing, supply and demand in nature is very common. But I've also read were people have stated their tanks are "overrun" with them. I don't know what they mean by overrun, perhaps they have an algae problem and that's the reason.

Anyway, I like them and don't mind seeing them in the tank, they're fun to watch and they keep my betta entertained also, he watches them but doesn't try to eat them.

But if you do find you end up with too many there are several options I've read. You can get a Assassin snail, they will eat the MTS, but you may end up with no MTS at all, then you have to find something else for the assassin snail to eat. Or they say you can just cook them, like you would a lobster, then throw them away. You can also buy a spice called Alum. You mix 3 tbls Alum per gallon of water, let it sit over night and drop in the snails, this is suppose to kill them instantly. You can also use this mixture to "clean" your plants to make sure you have no hitchhikers when you bring home your plants. When using the Alum for this purpose, keep the plants in the water mixture for three hours as it will take that long to penetrate and kill the eggs. MTS are live bearers, not egg bearers but this will kill any other types of snails that may be on your plants. They also say you can just quickly and humanely "smash" them with a hammer, then feed them to your fish...sushi! Lol

I haven't had to "dispose" of any yet so I haven't attempted any of these options. Like I said, I put them I my tank intentionally due to the sand substrate and trying to have a "natural" tank with live plants etc. But I have heard that once have you them, you pretty much have them, it is very difficult to completely eradicate them once they are in your tank without breaking down the whole thing and doing a through cleaning with salt water and or bleach.

[ravenwinds]

At first, you don't have to do anything special, and they do seem to be slower to grow beyond your needs. When you get a big pile of them in one tank and you have no other tank that needs some, you have a few options:

*****pick them out by hand, or put a piece of lettuce out right before turning off light for the night and then collect the lettuce with snails on it (cucumber slices work well, too)...you will probably need to wake up late, late night or very early before dawn as these snails do most of their burrowing in the day time; they are more nocturnal than some aquatic snails which means you'll possibly only see a few during the day :)

1. You just throw the snails away while still lettuce.
2. Set them in a dry cup and alone for the day. They will be long dead after an hour or 2.
3. You could give them away to friends or acquaintances.
4. You could sell them on aquabid.

Honestly, I think after about 6mos or longer, your population might need to be thinned, so don't worry about it being too much trouble. MTS are helpful little buggers and the only snails I would suggest to anyone.
If you periodically remove snail egg nests from leaves and glass, you should have no issues keeping population under control.

[ravenwinds]

My bad! I was thinking of ramshorn snails and their egg nest all over leaves and glass. Ramshorns are almost as bad as the bane of all aquatic gardeners everywhere: pond snails! Ramshorns sometimes attack a stem plant (a cutting from a plant, usually sold in bunches) and start to eat it, which weakens it, sometimes fatally.
Assassin snails are great, and they work slowly to eradicate every snail in the tank.

I, too, intentionally added MTS to my tanks for a healthier substrate for my plants and fish. I also have not had to eradicate any MTS; with 16+ NPTs, I always have a tank that "could use a few more MTS,"

[aokashi]

:/ what kind of ramshorns did you get??? mine never touches a plant unless it's already dying... if you clean the tank regularly... they dont reproduce all that fast.

[ravenwinds]

All my tanks get water changes, which probably screws up the plant ecosystem since I NPTs, for the most part, Walstad method. I just don't trust my "fishies to a tank where water is frequently changed!
Except for my assassin snails, all my other snails infiltrated my aquariums by tagging along with some plants I didn't quarantine long enough with alum.
My ramshorns are plain, dark brown and a red sunburst color. I can't comment on other types of snails, but my ramshorns are extremely prolific and despite others' experience, I have had new plant cuttings eaten tp point of death with ramshorns crawling all over it.
I have had no issues with my MTS as they did/do what is expected of them and they seem to leave my plants alone...but due to my experience with the ramshorns, I won't necessarily trust them to leave my plants alone completely.

[MyRainbowBettaFish]

definetely subscribing to this thread! Cany anyone offer ay opinions? In my 10 gallon tank i have this rainbow gravel and now i want more natural looking. I will be switching the substrate in the cycled 10 gallon tank with my 2 yr VT. I was going to buy pool filter sand, but couldnt get it, so i really am thinking about PETCO's WHITE or BLACK sand? How many inches? Opinions? Thoughts?

Thanks, and share pics!

also, how often should i stir it becasue of gas bubbles?

[LebronTheBetta]

Want black sand? It's by Caribsea and I'm using it for my 20L. :D I'll tell you how it goes, I'm cleaning it later today.

[MyRainbowBettaFish]

thanks lebron!

Could you post a pic?

i thought carribsea altered your water chemistry..

[LebronTheBetta]

Well, I'll get you a link. I thought it was Petco sand that altered the pH.. Who knows?

[MyRainbowBettaFish]

gahhh... i have such hard water and a high ph i dont want it to alter it!

has yours altered your parameters?