DE88ROX

Are the snails hard to spot. I was going to pick up a plant (or two) for my 29g. Is there a trick to finding them so you dont bring home any stow-aways?

Nate McFin

you wont be able to see them. You will most likely be bringing home eggs.
You can do a soak in potassium permanganate(prefered) or bleach water to help sterilize. I will never ever skip that step again.

Lucy

Just so we don't take over the nitrate thread with snail questions, you post has been moved to a thread of it's own.

hkirchen

I was told to immerse the plant in icy cold water for a couple of minutes before placing it in the tank. It is supposed to kill the snails. I have not tried it yet though. I got sails from the java moss that turned out to be more of a pain than the snails!

Balashark76

What is so wrong with the snails are they a pest or are they dirty or something

hkirchen

Some people do not like them, they are grossed out by them. Also, if you have a tendency to over feed the population can get way out of control and spike your nitrates.

Aside from that there is nothing wrong with them, and I actually like mine. I am down to one because my yo yo loaches took care of the others. I would love to get a mystery snail, but I do not want to take a chance that the loaches would leave it alone.

Balashark76

Oh so it is basically like buying a snail for ur LFS

Nate McFin

Personally it depends on the snail. Pond snails are pests. They multiply faster than you can imagine and are impossible to remove.
They also take up a portion of the precious bioload meaning we cant stock as many of the fish we want in the tank.

Balashark76

OHH kk gotcha