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lately i have noticed a lot of snails in my tank, but they only come out when the lights are shut. some of them are the malaysian snails, which i dont relly mind that much, but the total snail population has gone crazy!!! meanwhile, i noticed that some of my amazon sword leaves are getting yellow and has holes in them, looks like that lace plant sort of, but it is obviously sick. my other plants are all very healthy, including brazilian pennywort, crypt wendti, and vals

i currently have a yoyo loach and a clown loach, both are about 3 inches, but i dont see them eating any snails, even after starving them a little for 3 days.

is my amazon sword sick because of the snails? what can i do now to get rid of the snails? i want to stay away from the chemicals if possible.

at night when i turn my room light on, i can see at least 200+ baby snails on my glass, and some are floating on top of the water, and there are some malaysian snails too

Hi,
The snails should be eating the dead/dying plant material.
That's what they do. They don't "attack" the healthy
leaves.

If the sword has been in the tank for a while, then it
probably has used up the nutrients in the area around its
root system and is starving.

This is a site that helps you interpret what your plants
are telling you by their leaves:
[link=http:// www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm]http:// www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm" style="COLOR: #FF00FF[/link]
And another site:
[link=http://www.otoaquatic.com/nutrient_deficiency.asp]http://www.otoaquatic.com/nutrient_deficiency.asp" style="COLOR: #FF00FF[/link]

As far as the snails are concerned, you should see the
snails during the day as well. The MTS are the ones who
burrow into the gravel during the daylight hours and appear
shortly after lights out. I don't know of any others that
would be able to hide during the day and appear suddenly
at night. If the quantity bothers you, you can always
vacuum the gravel in the unplanted sections and put them
down the drain. Others bait them by placing something
such as a piece of zucchini in a small mouth bottle and
setting it on its side into the gravel so the mouth is
almost even with the surface and the snails will migrate
into the bottle during the night. In the morning, before
the lights come on, take the bottle full of snails out
and throw the snails away. Use a bottle with a small enough
mouth to keep the fish out and allow the snails in.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I agree with Frank re the A Sword plant it sounds like it is starving for a good feed. What type of substrate do you have and how deep is it. Also what type of lighting do you have and how old is it. The water peramiters might help to solve the problem as well.

Snails depending how big the tank is get more CLs if possible and dont feed them for a week at least they could be too well fed and have become lazy.

How big are these snails. If they come out at night catch as many as you can and let the Clowns eat their eggs or the young snails.

Have a look in [link=My Profile]http://
www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/profile.asp?userid=6741" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link] for my tank info

[link=Betta 11Gal Desktop &amp; Placidity 5ft Community Tanks]http://photobucket.com/albums/b209/keithgh/Betta%20desktop%20tank/" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

i use eco-complete, about 2.5 overall 3 inches deep around the sword area... i cannot really deep vacuum to get the snails out because of the eco sand.... right? or am i mistaking?

water parameters... 81 degrees, ph 7.6, with co2, half the lights are over one year one now, half are 6 months old, roughly 3.7wpg, lights are on 9.5 hours a day. anything else?

and i dose flourish twice a month or so. no root tablets

i tried to pick out the snails at night, but they are less than 1mm in size, shells are kinda clear, so it takes a while to squish hundreds of snails.

so i guess i have a bunch of MTS than? since they only come out at night?? in that case, i should feel safe right? but it creeps me out to see that many snails on the glass when i turn on my lights at night...

Last edited by greenfootball at 04-Dec-2005 04:17

Frank and Keith say it all,

I would just like to add one more question for you (if you don't mind):

Besides what substrate you have etc., do you add any fertilizer to the water column?

To me it seems there is a major lack of nutrients, I would have to look up the details but holes usually are from a lack of Potassium while yellowing and transparency are from other "food" deficiencies.

Ingo

EDIT: Posted while you replied, sorry

EDIT2: Oh yes, you lack nutrients - high light and CO2 -- you have to add ferts more often, and all the required ones.

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 04-Dec-2005 04:21

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

thanks for the fast reply... i am just reading the flourish label, and it doesnt have any potasium included? i thought it included a bit of everything, i'll stop by the lfs and get some root tablets and more liquid stuff.

if only my swords are having problems and my vals are blooming, is there anything i need to do? like if i add more nutrients, will it just boost the vals to grow like crazy and leave the swords again dying?

so i am hoping if i fix the nutrient deficiency, it'll cut the food supply for snails, and decrease their population?

greenfootball,

And Hand-Picking is a good idea as well. The more you get our by hand the faster the population will decline. I actually don&#8217;t mind a small group of snails at all, they help me keeping my tank clean.

About the ferts, don&#8217;t go out and buy random stuff now. Read up on requirements first. You will need to have in your tank a good balance of Macro and Micro Fertilizers.

Macro: Nitrate and Phosphates (could be there already via fish and tab water), Potassium
Micro: All the other trace elements, for example Iron, usually added as a complete mix, for example Flourish Trace, Tropica Master Grow, Plantex

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

hmmm hand picking, i get the chills when i see that many snails, i used to hand pick them when there are like less than 20, but now its 200+ so its kinda creepy, and when i get my hand out of the tank, there are usually snails stuck to my arm...

sounds like i need macro because my nitrates really low, and no potasium nor phosphates... but all the stuff i have seen dont include nitrates or phosphates.. how do i increase them? just dont change my water as often??

greenfootball,

&#8220;just dont change my water as often??&#8221;

Noooooooooooooo

You will have to add the fertilizers. There are various products out on the market, for example the entire line of Flourish products, like Flourish Potassium, Flourish Nitrate, Flourish Phosphorus. Or the powders that you can buy via the web and in stores, like the ones I use in my 125G (just look at my log in this forum, the first view pages talk about my fertilizing procedures as well).

The amount that you need to add depend heavily on your plant mass. If you add too much you might risk algae ( do you have any now? ).

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

no algae right now, but couple months before it was algae fiesta
i will go out to the stores today after work, find some tablets and of course some of that potassium stuff

alright, just bought and planted some black tablets in my tank... when the package of fertilizers say its 1-2-3, what do the numbers mean??

the tablets i bought have potassium chloride, is that the same potassium?

these tablets are seachem flourish tabs, 0.26-0.17-0.16 ... are those good numbers?

i dont think i need liquid ferts since swords take their nutrients mainly thru roots, or do i need liquids too?

EDIT: nevermind, the seachem flourish has some potassium is &lt; 0.06% is that enough?

Last edited by greenfootball at 04-Dec-2005 21:06

Am I also correct in saying you have a "Sand" substrate. This one will be for the plant growers who grow A Swords. I would think that the sand "could" be too fine for the plant also I would like to see at least a 2-3mm substrate and 4ins deep for a plant that can grow to that size.

Have a look in [link=My Profile]http://
www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/profile.asp?userid=6741" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link] for my tank info

[link=Betta 11Gal Desktop &amp; Placidity 5ft Community Tanks]http://photobucket.com/albums/b209/keithgh/Betta%20desktop%20tank/" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Hi,
The numbers are the ratio of components in percentages.

The first number is the percent Nitrogen
The second number is the percent Phosphorus P2O5
The third number is the percent Potassium K2O

Which is best, is determined by your tank conditions.
For instance, if you are e to Algae and have potassium
in your tap water, then you would not want the last number
(Potassium) to be very high, and probably "0".
Likewise if your nitrogen is already high, a 0 in the first
would be a good idea.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

yeah i do have sand, its the eco-complete sand, does that make any difference? all my other plants are growing fine, especially the jungle vals are growing like nuts