Snails vs. Iron

[robt18]

I've heard from a couple sources that at somewhat high doeses, iron can can toxic/fatal to certain species of snails. Has anyone ever tried/experienced this before?

My 15gal bristlenose breeding tank is unbelievable overrun with pond snails. However, dude to mass pleco presence as well, copper is not an option to kill the snails off. I'm also sort of opposed to putting loaches in due to tank size and possibility of eating eggs.

This being said, I have a lot of pond snails (for now) if anyone is interested.

Anyone tried the iron method or another method that would be toxic to snails but not plecos?

Thanks...

Rob

[Cbellehumeur]

assassin snails maybe??

[ottawa_fry22]

Yes I just read about the Assassin snails the other day.  That is why they have those torpedo things.  They will go after the pond snails right away from the reviews I've found.  They stay 1 inch in size.  I might pick up some for my sand tank.  Try some Rob.

[robt18]

I frequently remove as many of the pond snails as possible from the tank, usually a couple hundred at a time. There are 4 assassin snails in there but there are waaay too many snails for them to keep up with, even when there aren't many in there. So either they aren't as phenominal as everyone makes them out to be OR I got some defective ones OR my snail population is ridiculous and too much for less than 50 assassins too handle (most likely).

[Cbellehumeur]

I don't think that there is a chemical solution that won't harm your pleco's. I've never heard of iron killing pond snails. So you might have to going the fish route like loach or gouramis but i know your tank is small, and yes they will probably eat your eggs. Other than that all i can say is tear-down.

Maybe you can get a couple small loach for a couple of weeks get them to clean your tank and move them to a different tank after. Your signature says you never a bunch of different fish and tanks are any of them loach friendly? Or just sell the loaches after.

I heard skunk botia loach are great for that...0.99 cent at big al's west this weekend

[Melody]

Heavy metals can kill snails, but iron toxicity damages fish gills, so I'd stay away from that. 

Any of the Botia Loaches are good snailers, but not all are suitable for a passive tank.  Striata and Almorhae stay reasonably small and have about the best temperament, albeit unpredictable based on what others have experienced.  Groups seem to be less aggressive towards other fish than a fish or two.  My first heavy infestation was cleared very quickly by young Almorhae.  I was very surprised at how efficient they were, in fact. 

Skunk Loaches are no longer Botia, they're Yasuhikotakia (reclassed from Botia).  I've never tried them as snailers but they very well could be good at it.  They can be quite aggressive, unfortunately.

I have found that a lot of Assassins are needed to clean up a tank.  They also have a taste for eggs, but probably not much more than pest snails.  BN Pleco's are attentive parents that manage to keep pests away, it seems.  I've seen them unceremoniously shove Ramshorns out of their cave.  You'll be trading one issue for another though - Assassins breed very easily.  Not as well as pest snails, but reasonably quickly.  They'd be easier to rehome, at least until the market is saturated (which shouldn't take long with their prolific ways).

Because I have to feed 'good' snails, I have this issue quite often.  If it gets too bad, I usually tear the tank down and disinfect everything (including the equipment).  That is largely because my options are limited by the presence of the aforementioned 'good' snails though.