question from my sister

[shalafi04]

shes got an MTS outbreak in her 30g. When her betta tank when MTS crazy she said she just moved the betta and aired out the tank for a couple of days and it seems to be snail free. My question is this: can she do that with the 30g. or will that not work??? Does letting it dry out actually kill any eggs stuck around the tank or no? She already tossed her real plants and I told her to scrub down the artificial ones to get rid of eggs.

Any suggestions. She refused to bottle them, she just wants them all dead in one foul swoop :ssuprised:

[Halelorf]

If she isn't interested in keeping any other invertebrates in that tank in the future then I would recommend using a chemical product. "Had-A-Snail" i've used before does a decent job. She could also get a freshwater puffer fish and have a ready food supply for it or just keep them as they do help out in the tank.

[shalafi04]

thanks. Ummm as far as her stocking. She has a loach (the long eel thingy) 6 female bettas, and some black skirt tetra and panda cories. Oh and an apple snail that she loves which is bigger than a golf ball.

[Mvjnz]

She has one loach? Most loaches need to be kept in groups of at least 4-5.

[Jacko]

Airing it out won't kill the eggs, as there aren't any. MTS are a livebearing snail. The most efficient snail killer on the market these days is the Assassin snail-Anentome helena but these can be difficult to come by.

Since she has an apple snail and she really likes it, Had-A-Snail is out of the question, and I'm not sure how well it reacts with the scaleless fish (cories and loaches).

However, outbreaks of snails are often good indicators of overfeeding, cut back on feeding and increase tank maintainance and it should help knock down the population to a managable level.

[shalafi04]

thanks alex. I wasn't sure if the airing it out would matter. Beings thats out of the question. is it possible to put the stock in a seperate tank, nuke the tank with the hadasnail, and than do a complete water change. or would that still equal dead apple snail and unhappy cory?

[terrapin24h]

i think if you were to use had a snail, the tank would have to be totally broken down and cleaned/rinsed very well before any inverts could be put back in it. Another possible thing you could try is to pull all creatures out of the tank, then hit it with ammonia to get the ammonia up to 4 or 5ppm--much like you would to fishless cycle a tank. The snails should then head to the top of the water line where they can be removed. Then, your cycle in the tank will naturally metabolize the ammonia after a few days and it will be safe to return the critters. I've never tried this mind you, it's just an idea based on what i have read that mts will go to the top of the water if the quality drops. I think your sister though needs to think about how much feeds the fish, and how diligent her gravel vac is, as both can help mts proliferate.

--chris

[Lady Hobbs]

Snail will die out of the water so yes, she did fine.