# Aquarium Salt to Kill Snails



## AutumnSun (Jun 28, 2014)

My six month old 7.5 gallon cube has become overrun with a couple of hitch-hiking snails, and I'm desperate to get them out. I'd looked online and couldn't find any solutions, other than putting some veggies in the tank, which I tried and had no success with. So I went and asked at PetCo and was directed to the Aquarium Salt; I wanted something that was safe for my White Cloud Mountain Minnows, Betta and catfish. I just wanted to double check with you guys before I put it in the tank-will it actually work, and is it actually fish safe?
Thanks!


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## Bushkill (Feb 15, 2012)

2 snails in 7.5G cube is overrun?

Aquarium salt is safe, but not at the concentration that would kill two snails in 7 gallons of water.

Take a deep breath and simply watch how much you feed the fish, keep up with water changes and you'll love how the snails do the dirty job of keeping plants and glass clean for you.


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## AutumnSun (Jun 28, 2014)

Sorry, a couple species. There are dozens of snails.


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## greaser84 (Feb 2, 2014)

Aquarium salt will not kill snails. Assassin snails will fix your hitch hiker problem.


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## Cokeman (Nov 3, 2013)

Or puffers.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Puffers in a 7 gallon tank would be a worse problem than the snails!


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Puffers + betta= nipped fins. Diana, what about those dwarf indian puffers? Those should be sufficiently small enough to survive in a seven gallon tank.

OP, Bait out as many snailsas you can, then add in some assassin snails to get rid of eggs. Reduce feeding to reduce leftovers that the snails eat. By limiting the amount of food the snails get, you limit the amount of energy the snails have to reproduce with. Of course, if you do add aquarium salt, be prepared to get rid of as many snails as you see, and then some. You never specified which catfish, so I can only offer an iffy maybe, as catfish are a bit odd when it comes to salt. The betta and white cloud minnows will be okay with salt for now.


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## Cokeman (Nov 3, 2013)

Diana said:


> Puffers in a 7 gallon tank would be a worse problem than the snails!


Not dwarfs.


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Or, for another idea: Pull all of your fish out, in temporary holding bins.

Then pour seltzer water into the tank. The massive co2 flux will kill the snails... and won't hurt your plants. (or minorly, if at all)

Change the water and the carbonation is gone, no chemicals involved at all that could hurt your fish. All over in under an hour, the fish can go back in.

See: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=817801


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## Sluggo (Nov 6, 2010)

AutumnSun said:


> I went and asked at PetCo and was directed to the Aquarium Salt; I wanted something that was safe for my White Cloud Mountain Minnows, Betta and catfish.


Catfish are not salt tolerant. These people should know that.


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## Jcstank (Jan 3, 2015)

As Greaser84 said "Assassin snails will fix your hitch hiker problem". I can find them at my LFS usually for cheap.


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

What kind of catfish? Many are too large for a tank that size. Do you mean pygmy cories?
An assassin snail will take care of that issue. Or you can just leave them alone, they don't hurt anybody.


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## Bushkill (Feb 15, 2012)

Seriously. This is a 7.5 gallon tank. To put a puffer or an assasin or tear the tank down to get rid of a snail outbreak just seems like overkill at every level. You can simply bait them with an algae wafer and simply scoop them up. Doesn't get rid of them, but if you have that many, chances are you're overfeeding and their numbers will just rise and fall with how much food they have. The fact they consume and oxidize the excess food makes them little fertilizer factories in the long term, and you'll love how clean the plants' leaves and the tank glass will be. Just have some patience and find a number of them that will perform their intended purpose, and tailor your feeding regimen to find that balance point. If they get out of hand again, just give some thought to how much and how often you've been feeding.


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

^^ There is NOTHING wrong with assassin snails. They're quite pretty, in fact. If I didn't already have larger snails that I don't want them to mess with, I'd probably get a bunch of them.


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## Bushkill (Feb 15, 2012)

I didn't suggest there's anything wrong with assassins. Just that going that route to eliminate a pond / ramshorn snail bloom won't solve the problem of what caused the bloom. If there's a tendency to overfeed, the assassin does away with an organism that can only help maintain water quality.

The SW side of the hobby has a small industry centered around what are referred to as a "clean up crew". A mixture of snails and crabs that are suggested to the hilt to to everything from clear up hair algae to excess food. None of those people pushing those packages will tell you the crabs will kill each other, the snails are a cold water water species, etc, etc. All the while, the issue of what caused the nuisance algae is never addressed and the issue is perpetuated.

All I suggested is address the issue rather than introduce an organism to deal with it for you. I'll just add that I can't grow snails for beans, lol!


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## jsgardenia27 (May 23, 2021)

greaser84 said:


> Aquarium salt will not kill snails. Assassin snails will fix your hitch hiker problem.


We purchased 4 Assassin snails and they didn't do a thing for our snail problem!!


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