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I bought one of these('cause it looks cool) and it works great "sera snail collect". before i got that i just weighted a piece of zucchini, put it on a plate in the tank, turned off the lights and waited till the next day. You wont get them all in one shot but it gets alot of them. Moss balls I clean just like sponges, gently squeeze them in some tank water.

Oh i re-read you post, you just want the plants clean... just pick off what you can and soak 'em in a Potassium Permanganate solution

Last edited by inignought (2010-07-23 17:23:09)

Condy's Crystals (Potassium Permanganate), bleach or salt water.  And when you still find the critters popping up weeks/months down the track there's a product they sell in China (we have a guy here who imports it for a forum's members) called "No Planaria" - it obviously kills planaria but snails as well yet is safe has houses for shrimp, go figure!

Over here ALL pharmacies carry it in small bottles that will last a lifetime and local pet/fish stores carry it (1lb $9 which would last 100 ppl 100 lifetimes).

I had at one time actually rid all my tanks of snails and "micro" duckweed (all 100)...it took a while, but here is the long scoop:

1stly nothing I'm aware of kills MTS except long exposure to cold temps...if someone has an update, plz post

Potassium Permanganate: works on live snails and to a lesser degree on eggs from least toxic to most: MTS, pond & ramshorns
-Won't phase Anubia & Crypts at dosages lethal to snails
-Can "Set back" VAL, hygrophilia, bacopa, watersprite
-will defoliate old growth on: Anacharis & hornwort
-will outright kill najas grass
I won't be liable for posting dosages, but there are plenty on the web

bleach: I've tried it like 1dz times and killed every plant exposed to it (except anubias and some crypts)...if someone has a safe dosage or method, I'm all ears...I can't personally endorse it but heard it works

Alum: allegedly works...I never could get it to kill anything but ramshorns

salt: all it did was give my snails high blood pressure

Copper (had-a-snail, et) : works but the side effects and it's persistence make it not worth it IMHO

Anyway, there is no "one shot" method I've ever tried that works...the problem is nothing short of freezing all your equip & gravel will rid you of MTS's...I've had gravel sit 1yr is a Arizona garage that hit 110F and MTS's lived through it ...the other issue is pond snails & ramshorns have different toxicity tolerances...you will kill the more beneficial rams quicker than the pond snails...
Best thing to do IMHO is:
Use pott perm to rid you plants of "most snails" ...bleach equip & glass, then watch the tank (manually remove egg sacks & snails)...keep the fish hungry or get loaches (esp. killies, livebearers, cichlids and loaches) ...it will take a few weeks...

...and BTW, I've since learned to live with ramshorns at least...to be honest the plants actually do better, thing is: plecos & otto can't clean hornwort & other floaters as efficiently...snails are also invaluable with fry...pondsnails are pest...I can't stand them, but hungry fish do keep them in  check

Last edited by doctorgori (2010-07-27 07:22:49)

BettaBetta wrote:

lotsoffish wrote:

BettaBetta wrote:

there's a product they sell in China (we have a guy here who imports it for a forum's members) called "No Planaria" - it obviously kills planaria but snails as well yet is safe has houses for shrimp, go figure!

What's the active ingredient in that stuff?

LOF, I'm tucked up in bed suffering from winter blues, will check tomorrow, but I suspect it's all going to be written in Chinese.  If I get really adventurous I'll take photos & try to post 'em up for you so maybe someone can translate for us - there's an Aussie planted forum where most members have used this stuff & absolutely swear by it, especially for leaving their CRS happily alive & breeding.  It's more expensive than gold to buy though - he charges $35 for a few grams of the stuff!

its From China huh? I'm guessing all they did was go down to the local lake and bottle up some water...
edited to add...
or just used some "baby formula" destined for export to the USA
oh wait...
perhaps it "Water colors" for kindergardeners

Naw, it's probably just distilled Dog Food...

Last edited by doctorgori (2010-07-27 07:50:41)

beth wrote:

Purchasing and using anything without knowing what is in it is just a bad idea.  Yet seems so common with some.

Well thank you for your concern Beth, BUT when dozens & dozens of fellow forum members, many of whom compete in and win prizes in International Planted Tank Comps & who sell shrimp for $600 ea, swear by a particular product and its ability to kill snails without damaging plants or shrimp one iota, I don't need to investigate diddly squat - I snap it up before everyone else does because as soon as he gets it in stock he runs out and I got some at long last.

Hahaha Doc, ur just as cynical as me when it comes to Chinese products I see, is it any wonder, melamine in baby milk, lead paint all over baby toys, electronics that go boomba's the second the power plug goes in - well this stuff is an exception apparently.

LotsOfFish - My mistake, t'wasn't all in Chinese at all, here's the website & manufacturer's name for you:

Genchem Biotechnology Co. Ltd. (They're in Taiwan)

www.genchem.com.tw/ .... I'm a baaaaaad fishmother, I can't even be bothered checking out their website to see if I can get it cheaper and knowing my luck some efficious little pr$ck at Customs would pounce on it anyways - yep it's a given they would, it has no ingredient list printed on the pack which is illegal entryhere. 

As I said, our "club" guy here does it for $35 for a 50gm foil ziplock type bag.  Dosage per 50 liters is 1.75 spoonfuls (and it's a teeny, weeny measuring spoon by the feel of it) so it should go an awful long way.

Last edited by BettaBetta (2010-07-27 18:36:22)

ok, i have the tank now with just the gravel in it. I put clorox and water and let it set. Now to remove the clorox and  neturalize  it with prime. Will that work?

Put a couple of sunfish in the tank for a few days. I put 2 in a 30, took them 2 days. They get eggs too.

doctorgori wrote:

I wonder whats in it...could be copper or some other metal...but whatever, I'd certainly be interested in anything that kills pond snails

Doc, couldn't possibly be copper or the shrimp would be dead as DoDo's!

If "Clorox" is chlorine bleach, then yes certainly Prime will work.  When re-charging Purigen we use 1:1 Bleach and then have to neutralise it by using 2 TABLESPOONS of Prime to every 1 cup of water - even after doing that I can still smell bleach but have never had an issue.

Last edited by BettaBetta (2010-07-31 22:27:26)

yada wrote:

Put a couple of sunfish in the tank for a few days. I put 2 in a 30, took them 2 days. They get eggs too.

where do i get them? do you mean perch?