Completely Restarting 40gal Tank-mts

Hey Fishlore!
I'm currently in the process of completely tearing down my 40 gallon tank and restarting it! I've been wanting to do a full re-scape for a while now and the mass infestation of MTS in the tank finally prompted me to do it. I've tried basically every other trick in the book for getting rid of these snails but due to my substrate (1inch of potting soil under Flora-Maxx substrate) these snails have enough food and room to breed that this is really my only option. I have a 20 gal breeder set-up and fully cycled atm and I'm going to do a bleach solution dip for my live plants in order to get all the eggs and snails off before moving them to the 20 gal. When rebuilding the 40 gal I'm not using potting soil (lesson learned, although it worked wonders for a low-tech planted tank) and only using the Flora-Maxx. My question is does anyone have any effective ways of getting rid of the MTS in the substrate I have now? My plan was to fully rinse it out, separate and discard the potting soil and let the Flora-Maxx dry out for a few days before mixing it with a brand new bag I have set aside. Any other tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

nah..u need overall new stuff..the egg will survive even u make them dry..I put MTS in tank without substrate,but they lively spawn..I'm using pot soil in other tank too..I get mts from amazon sword and driftwood buy at store..do you try assassin snail?salad?u need long twister to collect them..

 

nah..u need overall new stuff..the egg will survive even u make them dry..I put MTS in tank without substrate,but they lively spawn..I'm using pot soil in other tank too..I get mts from amazon sword and driftwood buy at store..do you try assassin snail?salad?u need long twister to collect them..

Yeah I've tried assassins and the salad traps, both worked to an extent but overall didn't even put a dent in the total mts population. I'm currently draining the tank, the bleach treatment seemed to work great for the plants and my 2 angels are in the 20 gal now. What about doing a similar bleach treatment on the substrate?

 

bleach is last solution..sure kill pest snail..for substrate bleach,I don't have experience on that..u can try but make sure u wash it a lot of water..cure it..good luck..

 

Hey Fishlore!
I'm currently in the process of completely tearing down my 40 gallon tank and restarting it! I've been wanting to do a full re-scape for a while now and the mass infestation of MTS in the tank finally prompted me to do it. I've tried basically every other trick in the book for getting rid of these snails but due to my substrate (1inch of potting soil under Flora-Maxx substrate) these snails have enough food and room to breed that this is really my only option. I have a 20 gal breeder set-up and fully cycled atm and I'm going to do a bleach solution dip for my live plants in order to get all the eggs and snails off before moving them to the 20 gal. When rebuilding the 40 gal I'm not using potting soil (lesson learned, although it worked wonders for a low-tech planted tank) and only using the Flora-Maxx. My question is does anyone have any effective ways of getting rid of the MTS in the substrate I have now? My plan was to fully rinse it out, separate and discard the potting soil and let the Flora-Maxx dry out for a few days before mixing it with a brand new bag I have set aside. Any other tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated

WAIT! Aaaaah! Clown loaches LOVE to eat snails! I had BILLIONS of the little scumsuckers in my 150 gallon! One night I got up, turned on the light and the 'herd of millions' were migrating to the top for air. They covered one entire corner of the tank, top to bottom, six inches wide and an inch deep in some places! This was a 24" tall tank! I bought 5 juvenile clown loaches and within a week there were very few visible snails and in 6 months there was not a snail left in the tank! Uh...but if you have other snails that you LIKE in there....then never mind! The loaches will pester any snail to death, even giants, trying to flip 'em over to get to those delicious underparts!

 

Yeah I've tried assassins and the salad traps, both worked to an extent but overall didn't even put a dent in the total mts population. I'm currently draining the tank, the bleach treatment seemed to work great for the plants and my 2 angels are in the 20 gal now. What about doing a similar bleach treatment on the substrate?

I wouldn't put bleach in any tank. I'd rather soak my stuff in white vinegar than laundry bleach (I bet white vinegar would kill the little slimeballs just by eating up their shells). Laundry bleach has a lot of other stuff besides just chlorine in it and I'd be afraid it wouldn't all rinse out.

 

WAIT! Aaaaah! Clown loaches LOVE to eat snails! I had BILLIONS of the little scumsuckers in my 150 gallon! One night I got up, turned on the light and the 'herd of millions' were migrating to the top for air. They covered one entire corner of the tank, top to bottom, six inches wide and an inch deep in some places! This was a 24" tall tank! I bought 5 juvenile clown loaches and within a week there were very few visible snails and in 6 months there was not a snail left in the tank! Uh...but if you have other snails that you LIKE in there....then never mind! The loaches will pester any snail to death, even giants, trying to flip 'em over to get to those delicious underparts!

I'd LOVE to get clown loaches (they've always been on of my favorite fish) but it's only a 40gal tank and they'd get way too big or stunted in it. I've heard Yoyo loaches love to eat snails too so I'm keeping them on my radar.

 

There are definitely a lot of loaches from the botia family that will eat snails just as well as clown loaches but are smaller. Dwarf chain loaches, zebra loaches, yo-yo loaches and burmese loaches are some options. Just make sure you keep a group of them since they are social.

 

Thanks for the advice guys! I'm pausing the process atm due to some holiday stuff but I will continue to update this thread as I go, and I'll be sure to post a pic of the finished tank when I'm done

 

Hey all! Over the last few days I was able to re-setup my tank, I decided against bleaching the substrate and instead rinsed it out thoroughly and left it outside for 3-4 nights. Where I live it's consistently below freezing at night and basically I ended up freezing out all the mts in the substrate. So far I haven't seen any live snails, just some empty shells here and there. Right now I'm just waiting for the tank to cycle and I can put my angels back in their home. Thanks to everyone for the advice!! I put the before/after pics of the tank in too

 

Well, good that you didn't actually bleach your substrate but your tank may (probably will) have to completely re-cycle.

 

Next time just borrow a yoyo loach or a few clown loaches...just sayin.

 

Next time just borrow a yoyo loach or a few clown loaches...just sayin.

I was debating getting loaches but the tank itself is used as a breeding tank for my angel pair and they won't lay eggs with any other inhabitants in the tank

 

I was debating getting loaches but the tank itself is used as a breeding tank for my angel pair and they won't lay eggs with any other inhabitants in the tank

You could have just used seachem cupramine

 

The tank looks really nice
How are you going about re-cycling it? I assume you have another tank for the angels to be in currently, so you could use some media from that tank's filter to get the cycle kick started and often even instantly cycled.

 

The tank looks really nice
How are you going about re-cycling it? I assume you have another tank for the angels to be in currently, so you could use some media from that tank's filter to get the cycle kick started and often even instantly cycled.

Thanks! and that's exactly what my plan was, I normally use 2 HOB filters so when I first moved the angels to a smaller tank I just moved one of the filters over, I'm going to let this one run for another day or two before I switch the established media back over to the "new" tank

 

Thanks! and that's exactly what my plan was, I normally use 2 HOB filters so when I first moved the angels to a smaller tank I just moved one of the filters over, I'm going to let this one run for another day or two before I switch the established media back over to the "new" tank

Sounds like you've got it covered! I just thought I would throw that out there in case you hadn't considered it.

 

Hey all! Over the last few days I was able to re-setup my tank, I decided against bleaching the substrate and instead rinsed it out thoroughly and left it outside for 3-4 nights. Where I live it's consistently below freezing at night and basically I ended up freezing out all the mts in the substrate. So far I haven't seen any live snails, just some empty shells here and there. Right now I'm just waiting for the tank to cycle and I can put my angels back in their home. Thanks to everyone for the advice!! I put the before/after pics of the tank in too
View attachment 513475
View attachment 513474

In my best Ahnold Schwarzenegger voice, they'll "be back." I just redid my tank for the bladder snails. I bought new substrate, soaked all ornaments in bleach for a few hours, took off my canister (this is an incubator for them) and had it soak in bleach for a month), did not have any plants in tan because of this snail problem, and tore apart and bleached both hang on back filters for a few hours put all new media in, killed my cycle, still waiting for it to return and quite sick of cloudy water to be honest. I will never put another plant in the tank w/o an Alum soak, but probably never will trust any plants in this tank.

Thanks! and that's exactly what my plan was, I normally use 2 HOB filters so when I first moved the angels to a smaller tank I just moved one of the filters over, I'm going to let this one run for another day or two before I switch the established media back over to the "new" tank

The snails are in the media too. They are in the canister tubes if you have a canister. They are everywhere.

 

For anyone still following this thread, I (seemingly) was able to rid the tank of my snails. Hopefully I don't jinx myself here, but here's the final product after cycling and adding my angels back into their new home. Thanks for all the help/advice as I went through this process!!

 

Ooh! Really nice tank! Angel's are gorgeous!