# How to kill snails, nematodes, water fleas...



## Urkevitz (Jan 12, 2004)

Maybe you should feed your fish less so that they eat the bugs in your tank.


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

There are no fish.


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## Urkevitz (Jan 12, 2004)

Oh I see


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## jcgd (Feb 18, 2004)

Do you have any you could stick in there for a bit?


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

I want to get rid of the problem entirely, and I don't think fish will be the answer. I don't even know if the fish will eat the water fleas and nematodes. These two are VERY tiny and transparent. Nematodes are about 3mm long and MUCH thinner than hair. The water fleas (?) are almost unoticable; you could fit a couple on the tip of a needle. And then of course there are the eggs which I bet cannot even be seen.

Urkevits - sorry, should have mentioned that there were no fish. Well since the only plants added to this tank were from you: do you have the same problem? How do you deal with it?

I still would like any feed back on bleach, hydrogen peroxide, or salt solutions.


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## g8wayg8r (Dec 24, 2003)

I've got some snails and their number seem to stay about the same. They eat mostly rotting leaves now because my algae is on short supply. Of course, some people may consider my tank infested because I probably have several dozen of the little buggars and one big golden mystery snail.

I used to kill every snail I saw and was constantly frustrated that I would see one on a leaf or on the glass. I've had a change in heart and expectations lately. They seem to do a lot of good and only populate as much as the food supply allows. If I lose a few when I prune or see some on a leaf, that's just fate.

Peroxide kills bacteria. I don't think it will work on snails. Be careful. Peroxide is great stuff but you could wipe out your substrate and you will be back at square one.


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## GDominy (Jul 30, 2002)

If this is a fishless planted tank you will always have an assortment of small fauna that will live in there... Why do you want to get rid of them?


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## pauline29 (May 2, 2004)

You can try to kill any existing snail eggs by bleaching yr plants. One part of bleach to 19 parts of water. Soak for 5 mins. Won't kill yr plants but will stunt their growth a while. After that they should grow fine.

As for existing snails, best way is using yr hands to remove!


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

g8wayg8r said:


> I've got some snails and their number seem to stay about the same. They eat mostly rotting leaves now because my algae is on short supply. Of course, some people may consider my tank infested because I probably have several dozen of the little buggars and one big golden mystery snail.
> 
> I used to kill every snail I saw and was constantly frustrated that I would see one on a leaf or on the glass. I've had a change in heart and expectations lately. They seem to do a lot of good and only populate as much as the food supply allows. If I lose a few when I prune or see some on a leaf, that's just fate.
> 
> Peroxide kills bacteria. I don't think it will work on snails. Be careful. Peroxide is great stuff but you could wipe out your substrate and you will be back at square one.


Thanks for the suggestion. I wish I could just learn to enjoy these snails, but their population has been exponentially increasing in the past few weeks, and now have become really unsightly. I ended up just tossing the substrate and I will buy a new one - don't worry it was really cheap.



GDominy said:


> If this is a fishless planted tank you will always have an assortment of small fauna that will live in there... Why do you want to get rid of them?


There is alot more than a small assortment, and thier quick appearence with water fleas and nematodes makes the tank look really infested. I was planning on adding fish to it in a few weeks.



pauline29 said:


> You can try to kill any existing snail eggs by bleaching yr plants. One part of bleach to 19 parts of water. Soak for 5 mins. Won't kill yr plants but will stunt their growth a while. After that they should grow fine.
> 
> As for existing snails, best way is using yr hands to remove!


Thanks, this is what I was looking for. There are no more existing snails since I completely emptied the tank and only have the eggs to worry about. 

So anyone else know how to kill nematodes and waterfleas?


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

I don't understand why you want to kill water fleas. I think they are great! Most fish I know think about them the same way. This is the quickest way to get rid of them... add some fish. How about a pair of Rams?

Regarding the nematodes, I would try to filter them out if they get out of hand.


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

I'm still not sure if they were water fleas. I mean, these things were TINY! The only way I could describe them is that they had a round head, and a small little tail, like a micro tadpole, but transparent. Perhapes they were just babies but I already emptied everything so they never got their chance to grow up.

Well I need to let the tank recycle and replant everything. If the waterfleas come back again I'll just let them be and let the fish hopefully take care of them.

So that only leaves nematodes left. Filtering simply won't work, trust me. How do I kill these and their eggs?


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Are they floating in the water?


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

If you have had nematodes yourself, you will understand that it is impossible to filter them out. They mostly worm around on the glass, and probably the plants too. Sometimes they leave the glass and swim in a very erratic squirming motion; they do it very fast for their size and even swim well against currents. Anyway, if they were to be filtered, they are so small they would probably make a way out again.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Not through a diatom filter!

I had tiny little critters floating in the water, I think something related to paramecium, and filtered them out that way. 

But you are right, if they stay close to surfaces, you can probably not get rid of them via filtration.

UV sterilization might be an option... but kinda expensive.

If there are no fishies in the tank, you can probably find some chemical that will kill them, along with the snails. Perhaps something copper based? Anti-protozoal med, like Metronidazole? I am sure there is something...


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## 2la (Aug 18, 2002)

I'm wondering where the snails' food source is coming from if this is a fishless tank. Simple starvation should control their numbers. Are you removing as much dead tissue as possible?


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

None of the plants were dieing, neither were the snails eating the plants. I had a pretty nice aglae bloom in the first week of setting up the tank, so that was their major food souce. Then as the snail population grew, all the algea dissapeared. This is when I completely emptied the tank out last night and clean/treated/replaced everything. So I guess they would have started to die out if I kept going longer.

Anyway, the snails will be taken care of becuase I'll be doing the bleach solution. If the water fleas come back I'll just hope the fish eat them as wasserpest said they should.

My only concern left is what to do about the nematodes.


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## AW0L (Jan 15, 2004)

you could put some dwarf puffers in there. they are hardley noticeable. and will take care of water fleas, snails, and what ever nematoads they find.


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

Again, please no more fish suggestions. I do not believe fish are the answer to COMPLETE irradication of nematodes. These things are very tiny, and their eggs are still an issue. 

Sorry AWOL, dwarf puffers wouldn't be compatible with the other fish I plan on keeping.


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## GDominy (Jul 30, 2002)

What exactly is your concern with the nematodes? Are you worried they are going to cause some harm to your system?


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## wellbiz (Aug 6, 2003)

Rolo said:


> Again, please no more fish suggestions. I do not believe fish are the answer to COMPLETE irradication of nematodes. These things are very tiny, and their eggs are still an issue.
> 
> Sorry AWOL, dwarf puffers wouldn't be compatible with the other fish I plan on keeping.


Rolo,

A bleach solution should work on the plants, however I suspect you will not be able to rid yourself 100% of them without completely disinfecting everything. Probably replacing the substrate, any driftwood and filter material. Also these creatures can come in mixed with live food, not that there are fish in there, but FYI.... 

I suspect in a average situation the fish make short work of them... When I set up my 120gallon and planted it 2 weeks before adding any real fish I had worms, water fleas/mites and creepy crawlers everywhere... One week after adding the fish I have never seen another uninvited guest.. Other then a pond snail here and there, which dont last with my hungry loaches. :twisted: 

As they say nature loves a vacuum... No predators and the prey will get out of hand :wink: 

Jason


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## Urkevitz (Jan 12, 2004)

I never seen nematodes in my tank or water fleas, the fish must eat them. I would think that no matter how small they are any fish would be able to find them and eat them. If I am not mistaken fish have extremely good vision. I know you don't want fish suggestions, but my cherry barbs are constantly on the hunt, and probably eating things that I can't even see.


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

GDominy said:


> What exactly is your concern with the nematodes? Are you worried they are going to cause some harm to your system?


No, they are actually harmless and a good sign that things are healthy. However, the sight of hundreds of these squirming on the glass are not exactly aesthetically pleasing (In the picture they look much bigger than they really are). LOL, I hope they don't reach this size. :lol: 



wellbiz said:


> Rolo,
> 
> A bleach solution should work on the plants, however I suspect you will not be able to rid yourself 100% of them without completely disinfecting everything. Probably replacing the substrate, any driftwood and filter material. Also these creatures can come in mixed with live food, not that there are fish in there, but FYI....
> 
> ...


Well I just completed the overhaul on everything. Tank was scrubbed inside out. Replaced substrate, filter media, had no drift wood, bleached all the plants...This should probably work now. 

Since everyone keeps insisting on fish, I'll get them right away so nothing gets out of hand again. I guess they do a really good job since urkevits hasn't seen any of these buggers around in his tank (plants were from him). I couldn't imagine any other way of these things getting into the tank.

Thanks for all the help! 
Chris


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## SueNH (Feb 25, 2004)

Sounds like a job for a gaggle of guppies and a loach or two.


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## Urkevitz (Jan 12, 2004)

I have a nasty habit of taking plants from outside and just rinsing them off before putting them into the tank :evil: I just set up a 2.5 fishless tank, I am going to be keeping an eye out for nematodes. Just yesterday I was picked up some millfoil while kayaking, inside the bag with the plants there were a hundred little worms.


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## nightowl (Apr 23, 2004)

hi, thought I'd share my experiences - those worms look to me like they may be plenaria worms. I see these in my tank from time to time. When water quality starts to deteriorate they show up (crawling on the glass and floating around). When my water quality improves they disappear. They were introduced into my current tank I'm sure via plants. When I got a new plant I put it in a quarantine vase and saw some of these little worms. I tried everything to kill them : bleach, metronidazole (clout tablets), allum. None of those things killed them. I have yet to find a fish that eats them (in the past I've tried platys, gouramis, and corys), they are too small for a fish to notice. If I took the plant and rinsed it really well, and put it back in the quarantine vase, the worms would eventually reappear. I decided to give up and just live with them in my tank. Keeping the tank clean with frequent water changes keeps their numbers down so they are hard if not impossible to find. But I know there are some in there somewhere because if water quality degrades, they increase in number and become noticable again. If you are intent an eradicating them I wish you luck, because it isn't easy. Even if you succeed in getting rid of them all now, chances are you will get them again in the future when you add more plants or fish. I've been keeping fish tanks for about 20 years now and have had them in past tanks too - even in fish only tanks with no plants I've always seen some plenaria worms from time to time if the water quality degraded and I looked hard enough (and I always rinse my new fish before adding them to the tank). They especially seem to show up in numbers in new tanks that are not yet in a good balance/cycled. I seem to remember when I was young totally taking a tank down, cleaning everything and setting it back up only to have them reappear. I think they are inevitable. I just wanted to warn you.


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## martygreene (Apr 30, 2004)

If, perchance, your snails DO come back, I will gladly take them off your hands. I wish I'd seen this thread prior to your having killed all the snails.


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