# has anyone tried snail zap or other additives to kill snails



## John Simpson (Mar 14, 2013)

I've heard about some liquid additives that are supposed to kill snails, big als online carries one called snail zap and I have seen some foreign brands too. 

Has anyone used these? 

What are the side effects if any? 

is it possible to dip plants in a solution to kill snails before adding them into a tank?


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Don't know about snail zap, but almost anything that kills snails will take out your shrimp, too. They are both inverts.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

John,

Algaefix has worked for me on pond snails. Its going to affect all inverts so net out anything you want to keep.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Algaefix did not do a thing to snails in any tank I've seen yet. 

Copper is the standard snail killer. Or a pack of _Botia striata_. Those are the best snail eaters I've ever seen.


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## John Simpson (Mar 14, 2013)

thanks for the input, its for some quarantine tanks, I'm usually bleaching all my plants anyway but sometimes I get scared to do a full on bleach dip for some types.

as far as copper, I found a useful article about using copper sulfate to kill snails, it says some types of plants are sensitive to it like sag http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/snail/coppersnail.php


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## brogan (Jan 16, 2012)

Assassin snails and manual removal got rid of a pretty nasty pond snail infestation I had a while back.


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## Bettafins (Apr 9, 2013)

+1 on assassin snails. Small and effective.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Assassins do NOT kill pond snails and sidewinders, MTS, they might knock off a few, but they do not eradicate snails. Even a 10X Excel dose does not kill pond snail eggs. Copper does, but.........toast plants really well. Generally for algae and inverts, 0.4 ppm will work. 1.0 ppm will kill most any plant.


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## Dolfan (Apr 8, 2005)

Here is a link to some info on various plant dips....

http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatfishblog/2011/07/20/dipping-plants-to-eliminate-snails/

I use the alum dip and it works well and does not adversely effect plants. 

Like others said any chemical that is made to kill snails is usually copper based which also kills shrimp. A good safe method for snail removal is the lettuce method. Put a piece of wilted lettuce in your tank on the bottom overnight. In the morning snails should be on it feeding. Pull the lettuce out, remove any snails, then do the same thing the next night. You may have to do this for a week or so, but it will get most of them out and all without any chemicals.


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## Guest (Apr 4, 2014)

I have been using snail zap from big Al's for years in my discus aquarium. I mention discus because they are REALLY finicky fish and I have had no negative effects in my tank. It comes as a light blue liquid and you had a drop per gallon. Within 3-4 days your glass is usually snail free. If you have an infestation it might take two rounds of the stuff. I always did water changes in between before adding the second round. Because the snail zap only kills the snails and not the eggs (I haven't found anything that kills the eggs.) once you have snails I found you always will. At best you can just keep them to a minimum which I accept as they are actually healthy for the tank in certain quantities. I don't like them eating all my plant life. About the solution and water and submerging plants in there before adding to your aquarium, I tried many efforts there but I do believe the solutions kill the snails on the plants not the eggs! And so was the answer I got from several fish stores. So it doesn't hurt to try, and at least you can keep their numbers down but it's not a guarantee that you won't still end up with snails. I also found zero side effects on my biological filtration. Hope this helps


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