# Plant Dip to kill snails and such?



## secuono (Nov 19, 2009)

What was the product or products that I can use to dip plants to kill any unwanted critters? Something safe for frail plants? 
Also, how long to leave them in the dip?



I found another thread about snails in a tank. 
Alum was listed, I have alum for the garden, pure alum. Could I make and use a dip from that?

Then found potassium permanganate, but it says not to use on Vals. Why?

1:19 bleach solution, works for snails n such?

Found this site, any experience using them?
http://www.plantedaquariumscentral.com/Information_on_Snail_Dip.html


Another forum a person said those above could damage plants, but a quick high salt bath might be the way to go.


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## cah925 (May 18, 2007)

My experience is that bleach really doesn't kill all the snails. Most aquatic plants are sensitive to bleach and you might kill the plants before the snails. 
I haven't had any experience with Potassium permanganate, but this is the method most recommended by other forum members for snail control.


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## Dina-Angel (Jun 20, 2013)

How about hydrogen peroxide? Have heard that several times to dip it in there for 5-15 seconds? Is it safe for the plants? Would it kill algae as well?


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## Monster Fish (Mar 15, 2011)

secuono said:


> What was the product or products that I can use to dip plants to kill any unwanted critters? Something safe for frail plants?
> Also, how long to leave them in the dip?
> 
> 
> ...


Salt works but if you leave the plants in for too long, their cell walls will burst due to the sudden shift in osmotic pressure. You're better off skipping the salt. I've used bleach before and it's effective but it's really harsh on plants and should only be used on hardy species like anubias and java ferns. Potassium permanganate is safer to use, even when leaving the plants in the dip for too long. Aim for a dip that's about 20-30 minutes and upto an hour for more robust species. I haven't used it on vals so I'd be cautious in using it. I've read that alum works but it requires a dip several hours long to a few days to be effective. Personally I haven't tried it.



Dina-Angel said:


> How about hydrogen peroxide? Have heard that several times to dip it in there for 5-15 seconds? Is it safe for the plants? Would it kill algae as well?


Hydrogen peroxide is my dip of choice for algae. It will melt some "clear" plants (subwassertang and elodea in my experience) and will cook almost all plants if left to dip for too long. Aim for a concentration of 1ml/gallon of water using a standard 3% H2O2 solution.


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## secuono (Nov 19, 2009)

Monster Fish said:


> Hydrogen peroxide is my dip of choice for algae. It will melt some "clear" plants (subwassertang and elodea in my experience) and will cook almost all plants if left to dip for too long. Aim for a concentration of 1ml/gallon of water using a standard 3% H2O2 solution.


I used a mix a bit higher for bba dip on crypts and boy did they ever melt!


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

algaefix is pretty straightforward and readily available.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

I have found only 2 ways that are effective to kill snails but do no harm to plants. The first is to slow down on feeding. Snails will go away with nothing to eat. The caveat to this is you will have to have an algae free tank. The second way is if you have CO2 and can move your fish out of the tank. Just up your CO2 well above what is safe for the fish, after you remove them. Snails won't last very long.

In my experience, snails will disappear in a balanced tank with no excess food or algae. If you have either, no mater how many go away, you always get them to come back in force.


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## andrewq (May 22, 2013)

I had a snail problem at one point. I tryed lettuce first. I put it in a glass container at the bottom of the tank. EVeryday for about a week i would pull out at least 20 snails. It worked but the snails were reproducing faster then i could catch them. So I bought some assassin snails and two dojo loaches and I havent seen another snail since. They cleaned my tank up in about 2 days.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

im a little confused. wasn't this thread more about plant dips and less about in tank treatment?


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## dmike1975 (Apr 22, 2013)

*Alum dip to get rid of snails.*

I think what's good about a long alum dip, before putting a questionable plant into a snail free tank, is that, it gives the snails too small to see a chance to get out (if it's not actually killing them). You know how the Malaysian Trumpet snails like to come up to the water surface at night from lack of oxygen? Have you ever seen a fish jump out of an aquarium because there was something toxic in the water? Yeah, that's the thing about a long alum dip. I think it's also required because unseen eggs would survive a short dip. Make sure to do a really good job getting the plants and their roots cleared of any snails/eggs you can see before the actual alum dip to help ensure success. You should use some sort of heavy metal detox to help the plants recover from the dip. I'm not sure what plants can handle what. I suspect stuff like Red Tiger Lotus, Jungle Val, Crypts, and Java Moss might kinda disintegrate in a dip, although, I wouldn't really know. I think I once remember even doing a quick one-two punch before the alum... http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/23-algae/203684-one-two-punch-whole-tank-algae-treatment.html http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/33-plants/950554-whats-alum-method-dip.html http://www.thatpetplace.com/Dipping-Plants-to-Eliminate-Snails


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