Can Snails Speed Up Cycling?

[joshjames]

so im cycling a new 25 litre and have my live plants arriving tomorrow hopefully
because sometimes they contain pest snails i was going to boil the plants and hopefully clear them off
but then i was thinking ... even tiny snails produce waste and in a new tank being cycled would they help cycle it quicker
then when it is fully cycled and when i get my assasin snails they will kill them off
is it a wise move to make or foolish letting the snails stay alive???

 

[Truck]

so im cycling a new 25 litre and have my live plants arriving tomorrow hopefully
because sometimes they contain pest snails i was going to boil the plants and hopefully clear them off
but then i was thinking ... even tiny snails produce waste and in a new tank being cycled would they help cycle it quicker
then when it is fully cycled and when i get my assasin snails they will kill them off
is it a wise move to make or foolish letting the snails stay alive???

if you boil plants they will turn to mush, snails wont help the cycle bacs can grow at a given rate and no quicker.

 

[saltynay]

Also assassin snails should be used to control a population of snails not eradicate them

 

[Truck]

assassin snails eat about 2 snails a week each.

 

[joshjames]

well i like assasin snails so was going to get some anyway
i thought you put plants in hot water to kill the snail eggs... obviously wrong there
wat do you do to make sure the snails dont get into your tank
wash them in coldwater i suppose???

 

[WILDER]

Boil live plants lol. I agree it will kill them.

 

[nmonks]

If you want to remove snails from new plants, use a snail-killing dip such as potassium permanganate. These are sold in aquarium shops. You're supposed to add these potions to the water, but that's usually a bad idea; used as a 10 minute dip though, at 10 mg/l, potassium permanganate is safe and effective.

Yes, snails will speed up cycling. Assassin snails could be used, but you'd have to feed them something like catfish pellets (not too much, though!) since they won't eat algae and can starve to death. All animals, even snails, produce ammonia, and by breaking down the food they feed the heterotrophic bacteria that you need for a balanced aquarium. (Fishless cycling using ammonia skips this key stage, feeding only the nitrifying bacteria, potentially causing problems.) Adding plants speeds up cycling too, because they "inoculate" the aquarium with useful bacteria.

Cheers, Neale

so im cycling a new 25 litre and have my live plants arriving tomorrow hopefully
because sometimes they contain pest snails i was going to boil the plants and hopefully clear them off
but then i was thinking ... even tiny snails produce waste and in a new tank being cycled would they help cycle it quicker
then when it is fully cycled and when i get my assasin snails they will kill them off
is it a wise move to make or foolish letting the snails stay alive???

 

[saltynay]

assassin snails eat about 2 snails a week each.

Dependent on size of said snail of course my biggest eats one large pond snail every 2 days or 3 smaller pond snails over 2 days from what I have observed. The PS ofcourse breed at such a rate that it is very unlikely there will be a severe dent in the population plus I have one pond snail now whom is too large for a lone assassin snail to kill.