# Can you gas snails with CO2 to kill them?



## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Bladder Snails (Physidae)


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

KHuli Loaches love those.


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## Coralbandit (Feb 25, 2013)

Yes you can gas the snails,or maybe chase them out of the water?
The carbonated water in small tanks will probably drive the snails up and out pretty quick or stun/kill them in a day or less.
How big is your tank?
How much carbonated water do you plan on using?


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## MoreyFan (Jul 3, 2014)

Coralbandit said:


> Yes you can gas the snails,or maybe chase them out of the water?
> The carbonated water in small tanks will probably drive the snails up and out pretty quick or stun/kill them in a day or less.
> How big is your tank?
> How much carbonated water do you plan on using?


2 gallon tank. The only thing in the tank besides plants is RCS. I would remove them to another tank, probably a breeder box on another tank, and then dose whatever it takes. 

So I could add however much carbonated water would not disturb my plants, which I'm guessing could take a very high dose. Any suggestions? Chasing them out is better than killing in place.


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## Coralbandit (Feb 25, 2013)

The only risk to plants is the low pH.
Adding a quart of carbonated water to a 2 g tank would be enough IMO?
I just re read a thread and the snails will try to get out or die in less time then that!
You are talking about raising co2 instantly to very high levels.
Here is what I read;
trick number NINE
using seltzer water to nuke your tank.

sometimes, our tanks can become infected with bad little critters, like planaria, pest snails, or scuds. if we are running a planted shrimp tank, they can quickly overrun the tank and produce an appearance that is anything but what we want. so, what to do in these situations?

well, one route would be to use harsh chemicals. but, what if we have critters that would die from the residue left over by the harsh chemicals? what then? we could use bleach and then treat the tank with dechlor, but what about the plants? the bleach will kill them. we could use copper, but it could kill the shrimp after the treatment is done. what do you do when you just want to kill everything without removing the plants?

well, thats where seltzer water comes in. and by seltzer water, i mean regular carbonated water. think about it. we can gas out our shrimp pretty easily if we let the CO2 run too high. in order to do that, however, we have to dissolve the CO2 into the water. think about carbonated water... it already has the CO2 dissolved into it. 

if you take a two liter bottle of carbonated water(seltzer water or club soda) you can spike the CO2 levels in the tank instantaneously. normally, this would be extremely dangerous for fish and inverts, so you would have to remove them. but, its just as dangerous to the pest critters as it is to the fish and inverts that you actually want to keep. so, this means that you can dump a LOT of CO2 into the water, drop the ph below the chart in an instant, and start starving the little pest critters for oxygen. the plants will be ok as long as you leave on the lights. some might suffer from the low ph, but even if they do, the treatment lasts a very short time. once its done(after a few hours), the CO2 will have completely dissipated and the tank returns back to normal. 

im talking about raising the CO2 to well over 600 ppm instantaneously, before all those pest critters even have the slightest hope of being able to adjust. after they die, let the system go back to normal. the critters will be dead, the plants will still be alive, and you can add your fish and shrimp back into the tank.

personally, this is my favorite technique for getting rid of snails. the snails simply cannot handle a blast of carbonated water. as soon as i pour it into a tank, every one of them starts racing for the surface, or dies trying to get there. whatever does manage to escape gets scooped up and converted into shrimp food(crushed).

no residue, no harsh chemicals, and it doesn't kill the plants. 
whats not to love?


now if i can only find a specific dosage for each kind of pest critter...


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

^^ GENIUS.

I will have to try this technique.


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## Krispyplants (Apr 15, 2014)

Raymond S. said:


> KHuli Loaches love those.


 Had 10 khuli loaches in my 50 and bladder snails were everywhere. Never seen one touch a bladder snail and also never seen any empty shells with the khuli loaches. When I threw in 10 assassin snails... :icon_twis Haven't seen one since. Don't know why many say that khuli loaches eat snails. Is this even true?


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## Coralbandit (Feb 25, 2013)

I will say I have no info on any impact this may have on BB?
This was from a post of "tricks" many just don't think of.
Info came from auban
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=568466&highlight=


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## garfieldnfish (Sep 25, 2010)

Put in a lettuce leave, zucchini or cucumber and bait them. Manually remove as many as possible each day, may take a few days and you might miss a few. But it is the easiest and safest method there is.
I have tried the soda bottle thing to eliminate scuds in a 10 gal once. Did not do much to the scuds and the snails were not affected at all. Could be I did not use enough soda. I used a 2 liter bottle. If you gas them and it works I hope you find all the bodies so it won't cause an ammonia spike. BTW I find snails useful in a shrimp tank, they eat left over shrimp food. If you see that your snail population grows too much you can tell that you are overfeeding. I have MTSs in all my shrimp tanks and mini ramshorns as well and would not want to remove either.


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## inthepacific (Oct 21, 2012)

i don't know about kuhli loaches but other loaches tend to eat snails like yo yo loaches and panda loaches


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## MoreyFan (Jul 3, 2014)

garfieldnfish said:


> Put in a lettuce leave, zucchini or cucumber and bait them. Manually remove as many as possible each day, may take a few days and you might miss a few. But it is the easiest and safest method there is.
> I have tried the soda bottle thing to eliminate scuds in a 10 gal once. Did not do much to the scuds and the snails were not affected at all. Could be I did not use enough soda. I used a 2 liter bottle. If you gas them and it works I hope you find all the bodies so it won't cause an ammonia spike. BTW I find snails useful in a shrimp tank, they eat left over shrimp food. If you see that your snail population grows too much you can tell that you are overfeeding. I have MTSs in all my shrimp tanks and mini ramshorns as well and would not want to remove either.


So 2 liters in a 10 gallon does nothing. I guess in my 2 gallon I will start with 2 liters and see what happens. Not very worried about an ammonia spike because no shrimp will be in the tank and I dose nitrates everyday. Whatever the plants don't eat the filter will work out pretty quickly.


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## Krispyplants (Apr 15, 2014)

inthepacific said:


> i don't know about kuhli loaches but other loaches tend to eat snails like yo yo loaches and panda loaches


agreed :bounce:


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## DennisSingh (Nov 8, 2004)

You can also try an alternative where they're not getting enough calcium for their shells.


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

wouldn't you only need enough carbonated water to cover the substrate?






Krispyplants said:


> Had 10 khuli loaches in my 50 and bladder snails were everywhere. Never seen one touch a bladder snail and also never seen any empty shells with the khuli loaches. When I threw in 10 assassin snails... :icon_twis Haven't seen one since. Don't know why many say that khuli loaches eat snails. Is this even true?


yes they do, but they tend to eat the younger ones, whom have a weaker shell that they can crunch on .


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## Krispyplants (Apr 15, 2014)

Don't know if i can agree. If my khulis were eating the babie snails then their numbers would dramatically reduce per weekly water change because i was picking 15-20 every water change. If they do, then it'll be the extra small ones like salt grade. Which are experts at stealthing and will only stay that small for a week or so. Which is a very small window so khuli loaches should not be mention to control snails in my opinion. I think any fish would eat a baby snail if they come accross one and realize it as food.


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

not really. if your feeding the tank, then the kuhlis could be getting more than enough food from you feeding the rest of the tank, and are not interested in the snails. If you reduce feeding on the tank, i would bet you will see a reduction in snail numbers.


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## Krispyplants (Apr 15, 2014)

I have a bunch of small and fast fish that leaves nothing but crumbs for the loaches when I feed. My tank is not bottom overfed. I have to add NLS algae pallets twice a week only at night because the khulis never get a chance to eat and 3 done died from starvation. So your conclusion is irrelevant. They were skinny and "starving" while snails were multiplying.


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

could very well have been intestinal parasites causing your skinny loaches, but it is ever so apparent that your experience is far more true than hundreds of other people's experiences, including my own. so i will bow out of this.


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## Joeymozzer (Mar 23, 2014)

Krispyplants said:


> Had 10 khuli loaches in my 50 and bladder snails were everywhere. Never seen one touch a bladder snail and also never seen any empty shells with the khuli loaches. When I threw in 10 assassin snails... :icon_twis Haven't seen one since. Don't know why many say that khuli loaches eat snails. Is this even true?


I added 4 assassins to my 20L because im infested. They haven't really done any damage to the annoying snails. I have found 2 empty assassin shells. Don't know why they leave the shell and die?


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## Krispyplants (Apr 15, 2014)

Aquatic Delight said:


> could very well have been intestinal parasites causing your skinny loaches, but it is ever so apparent that your experience is far more true than hundreds of other people's experiences, including my own. so i will bow out of this.


That's what they all say when all loose ends are tied. Either way, they aren't accurate snail eaters as you of all many knows that they would rather choose a flake over a teeny tiny salt grain snail. Internal parasites when all was thick and rich in color til I stopped feeding frozen foods and hopped onto dry goods. Both sides are debatable but we both can agree that unless you cut down on feeding dramatically will only then they'll feed on salt grain snails.


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## Krispyplants (Apr 15, 2014)

Joeymozzer said:


> I added 4 assassins to my 20L because im infested. They haven't really done any damage to the annoying snails. I have found 2 empty assassin shells. Don't know why they leave the shell and die?


Be patient my friend. Wait two or more weeks and you'll see more and more empty shells. They're natural predators not like chemical tank nuking where you see them all drop in a few minutes. They gotta digest and poop too.. The dead snail can mean many things, 1st off they may already be old and was going to die regardless. 2ndly they may be too weak to catch any snails to eat after the starved shipment. Lastly they could've been starving for days without any food because most people that sell assassin snails can't provide enough live food for them and that's the reason why they sell them in the first place. Their tanks are cleared of pest snails so they started selling their assassins because they accidentally bought too many assassin snails. Starving them further into a few days of shipping.


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## MoreyFan (Jul 3, 2014)

Well after my lights turned off tonight I cleared out the RCS, took out ~65% of my water and nuked this sucker with 3 liters of cold carbonated water. Unfortunately I missed a RCS despite setting a trap, netting out several and being very patient. 

the level of carbonation was so high no snails even managed to try crawling out. I will see what effect this has on my plants but I hope not much. Looking forward to a snail free tank.


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

^^ Post back with results soon!


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## limz_777 (Jun 29, 2005)

inthepacific said:


> i don't know about kuhli loaches but other loaches tend to eat snails like yo yo loaches and panda loaches


not sure about panda loach , bought one , my tank has many tiny snails ,loach died off in a week time


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## Krispyplants (Apr 15, 2014)

limz_777 said:


> not sure about panda loach , bought one , my tank has many tiny snails ,loach died off in a week time


I've heard of clown and yoyos supposedly snail lovers but no one has ever proven this. In fact everyone is just spreading on what they've been told but maybe they do love snails? Never heard of Pandas getting jiggy with snails btw. One week is not really a good way to judge anything aquarium related.


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## mjryan2176 (Nov 11, 2014)

Have a spare 10 gallon laying around? Dwarf puffers really murder snails. Move your shrimp and fish. . Put a couple dwarf puffers in and guaranteed no more snails. When I bought my puffers I though I had an unlimited amount of snails. Within a couple weeks, I was going to the LFS and asking for snails. They are great fish. Probably not an option, although it is a very effective one. You would have to move the puffers out, because they are not community fish, and need to be angry all by themselves.


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## MoreyFan (Jul 3, 2014)

Turned my aquarium into sprite water for nothing. They LIVE!


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Bummer... and a little surprising. Oh, well, at least the one good thing about it is there is no harm done. And your plants probably enjoyed the co2 burst.


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## Coralbandit (Feb 25, 2013)

I am surprised also!
You added 3 liters of seltzer water to a half(less then 1/2) full 2 g tank and it didn't work!?


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## MoreyFan (Jul 3, 2014)

Coralbandit said:


> I am surprised also!
> You added 3 liters of seltzer water to a half(less then 1/2) full 2 g tank and it didn't work!?



I have thick substrate so they must have been buried deep under it. It instantly killed several large snails. 

But yeah the ratio was ridiculous. Probably 50/50 carbonated water and it fizzed for a solid 45 minutes.


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## limz_777 (Jun 29, 2005)

Krispyplants said:


> I've heard of clown and yoyos supposedly snail lovers but no one has ever proven this. In fact everyone is just spreading on what they've been told but maybe they do love snails? Never heard of Pandas getting jiggy with snails btw. One week is not really a good way to judge anything aquarium related.


its good enough to let me know not to buy one again next time , probably will buy more stable one if available , its not cheap to begin with , add another 5 bucks i could refill my co2 tank and gas the whole tank


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## Krispyplants (Apr 15, 2014)

limz_777 said:


> its good enough to let me know not to buy one again next time , probably will buy more stable one if available , its not cheap to begin with , add another 5 bucks i could refill my co2 tank and gas the whole tank


I used to think money wise on every little thing that I bought but let me tell you this. You will never be fully satisfied with what you went with but didn't want as much as the other. I spent more money buying something first because it was cheap(er) and at the end still bought the most expensive plant, fish or shrimp in my category. Now I only buy the high grades and quality stuff a little at a time so I can sleep better at night.


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## limz_777 (Jun 29, 2005)

What fish did you get?


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## Krispyplants (Apr 15, 2014)

limz_777 said:


> What fish did you get?


For fish, went from neon tetras to celestial pearl danio. From khuli loaches to hillstream loaches. From guppies to white cloud minnows. From gouramis to rainbow fish. Plants, from java fern to trident java fern, from anubias Nana petite to anubias Nana patite stardust. From java moss to fissidens moss. For shrimp, i went from ghost to amano. Then from sakura red cherry to bloody Mary cherry. In the process right now of keeping regular crystal red shrimps and will get some PRL soon to replace the current ones. I wanted the 2nd choice on all of them from the beginning but thought money wise. Then I started replacing everything one by one.


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

what kind of hillstreams?


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## Krispyplants (Apr 15, 2014)

Aquatic Delight said:


> What kind of hillstreams?


True Gastromyzon Ctenocephalus also known as the blue fin hillstream loach. Constantly being mistakin for the Gastromyzon scitulus but this fish has less colors. A hard to get loach indeed. If you do find it, the price can be a burden for just one fish.


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

i thought they were both the same other than a minor marking difference in the tails.


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## Krispyplants (Apr 15, 2014)

> Aquatic Delight;7501001]i thought they were both the same other than a minor marking difference in the tails.


No, they're different due to the fact that they have different scientific names. Colors are just a way to tell the difference though they are close relatives. They're dorsal fin is different in color marking and is key to initiate between the two. Their spot patterns are also different as the true has more bigger spots if I remember correctly and has deeper blue and yellow colors. Like a cardinal tetra compared to a neon tetra but both sharing the same demands for water conditions.


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

Krispyplants said:


> No, they're different due to the fact that they have different scientific names.


thats a given there.




Krispyplants said:


> Colors are just a way to tell the difference though they are close relatives. They're dorsal fin is different in color marking and is key to initiate between the two.


thats what i was referring to.




Krispyplants said:


> Their spot patterns are also different as the true has more bigger spots if I remember correctly and has deeper blue and yellow colors. Like a cardinal tetra compared to a neon tetra but both sharing the same demands for water conditions.


I've never seen anything about spot size, are you sure that is not just a difference from growth in the area collected? i've never had them with yellow, infact the only gastro i have seen with actual yellow is the viriosus. i do know their body colors will change based on mood and enviroment, but i said i've only seen the Cteno and scitulus with bodies colored tan or grey/black with yellow or whitish spots.

of course who knows, there is so much lost on translation between collectors, wholesalers, and the purchasers here. i've seen so many photos of Gastros that don't fit descriptions of actual named gastros, where people just make up a name. its pretty impressive. 

Have you flipped through dr. Tan's book? it will blow your mind if you have not.


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## Krispyplants (Apr 15, 2014)

Mines have yellow! The only time that I've seen them spots and dorsal fin tan is when the light just started kicking on. After a while it turns yellow. My camera shows no justice color wise. Let me find a link or two.

Bump: I can't find the exact source as to where the larger spots that I've mention came from. That seriouslyfish website crashed :hihi: Maybe gastro cten. has more spots or something like that because I sure remember reading something about it affiliating with telling the difference between the two. I haven't read anything about DR. Tan. got a direct link?


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## MoreyFan (Jul 3, 2014)

MoreyFan said:


> Well after my lights turned off tonight I cleared out the RCS, took out ~65% of my water and nuked this sucker with 3 liters of cold carbonated water. Unfortunately I missed a RCS despite setting a trap, netting out several and being very patient.
> 
> the level of carbonation was so high no snails even managed to try crawling out. I will see what effect this has on my plants but I hope not much. Looking forward to a snail free tank.


This thread has diverted but for anyone reading this later for reference I will update. 


The carbonated water killed anything that was visible in the water at the time I added it. Snails survived were the ones that were buried deep under the substrate. S. Repens was unaffected but rotala macandra changed color drastically and my HC carpet showed a 15% die off. As stated I did a 50/50 addition of carbonated water and it wasn't just carbonated it was COLD. If I try again I will use tank temperature water.


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

^^ That's still fairly promising. Let us know if your HC bounces back. Plants aren't usually especially temperature sensitive, from what I've seen, but if it was truly COLD seltzer water being poured on a heated tank perhaps the shock was too great.


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## MoreyFan (Jul 3, 2014)

kman said:


> ^^ That's still fairly promising. Let us know if your HC bounces back. Plants aren't usually especially temperature sensitive, from what I've seen, but if it was truly COLD seltzer water being poured on a heated tank perhaps the shock was too great.


It isn't heated, stays around 72F. I'm sure it will bounce back that stuff grows like crazy.


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