Most effective snail for plant decay

[momsspaghett]

Hello. My tank is heavily planted and I have a lot of decaying leaves and plant matter in the tank and I have been picking out the dead leaves every week/every few days. Does anyone have recommendations of snails that would be good for my tank? I am only really planning on getting one or two and possibly an assassin snail if I see anymore ramshorn or bladder snails. Only have seen a few small babies so far, but they can always repopulate pretty well and I do not want an infestation once again. I only have a male betta in the tank. Thanks.

 

[Geordie Paul]

Hello. My tank is heavily planted and I have a lot of decaying leaves and plant matter in the tank and I have been picking out the dead leaves every week/every few days. Does anyone have recommendations of snails that would be good for my tank? I am only really planning on getting one or two and possibly an assassin snail if I see anymore ramshorn or bladder snails. Only have seen a few small babies so far, but they can always repopulate pretty well and I do not want an infestation once again. I only have a male betta in the tank. Thanks.

What I do for my dead leaves is usually just stuck them out with my gravel vac. I do have Bladder snails but they don't eat that much because they are pretty small. But they will eat small amounts of decaying plants.

 

[Sgooosh]

in my opinion, mystery snails are good. My mystery snail shreds some of the plants but just takes a bite out of others.... some like some things and some like other things, my other mystery snail barely moves or wakes up and he hides when he has the chance... depends on the snail

 

[Colin_T]

if you are losing plant leaves every day, then don't waste your time with snails because you will need hundreds to clean up the dead leaves.

you need to find out why the plants are losing leaves.

 

[Sgooosh]

if you are losing plant leaves every day, then don't waste your time with snails because you will need hundreds to clean up the dead leaves.

you need to find out why the plants are losing leaves.

O yea my snails only munch on certain leaves at certain times, sometimes they prefer the live leaves...?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

The snails will make more of a mess than they will clean up. Just remove the dead leaves with your fingers or aquascaping tweezers.

 

[momsspaghett]

What I do for my dead leaves is usually just stuck them out with my gravel vac. I do have Bladder snails but they don't eat that much because they are pretty small. But they will eat small amounts of decaying plants.

Yeah I only have some small bladders I'm seeing around the tank so I am thinking of leaving them and hope that they clean up the dead leaves. If the population gets too high, I'll just get an assassin snail. So far so good.

 

[momsspaghett]

The snails will make more of a mess than they will clean up. Just remove the dead leaves with your fingers or aquascaping tweezers.

Yeah that's what I've been doing so far. New plants so the dead leaves are bound to happen. Thanks.

 

[momsspaghett]

if you are losing plant leaves every day, then don't waste your time with snails because you will need hundreds to clean up the dead leaves.

you need to find out why the plants are losing leaves.

I already know why they are xD hundreds? wow.

 

[StevenF]

The most likely cause of your problem is a nutrient deficiency. Otherthan light CO2and water plants need nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphate, sulfate, chloride, iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, and molybdenum. If you are missing just one plants won't grow and sometimes theyrapidly loose their leaves. You probably need to use a comprehensive fertilizer with all of the nutrients above.

Other thing you should do is to check your water GH. The GH test detects the pressence of calcium and magnesium. Most fertilizers don't have enough calcium or magnesium. If it is zero you need a GH booster. Also verify your nitrate level IS NOT ZERO.. Plants need nitrogen to grow. If your nitrate is zero your plants will not grow. You don't need a lot of nitrate. A level of 5ppm would be sufficient. Also do a water change once a week. This removes the waste from the dead leaves and helps keep nutrient levels in the water stable. I replace 50% of my tanks water once a week.

 

[momsspaghett]

The most likely cause of your problem is a nutrient deficiency. Otherthan light CO2and water plants need nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphate, sulfate, chloride, iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, and molybdenum. If you are missing just one plants won't grow and sometimes theyrapidly loose their leaves. You probably need to use a comprehensive fertilizer with all of the nutrients above.

Other thing you should do is to check your water GH. The GH test detects the pressence of calcium and magnesium. Most fertilizers don't have enough calcium or magnesium. If it is zero you need a GH booster. Also verify your nitrate level IS NOT ZERO.. Plants need nitrogen to grow. If your nitrate is zero your plants will not grow. You don't need a lot of nitrate. A level of 5ppm would be sufficient. Also do a water change once a week. This removes the waste from the dead leaves and helps keep nutrient levels in the water stable. I replace 50% of my tanks water once a week.

I have flourish liquid which I put in the tank about every week or two. Do you know any other good fertilizers? My substrate is CaribSea Eco-Complete 20-Pound Planted Aquarium and I have about 5ppm everytime I check my nitrate. Most of the new plants I add lose leaves but my established plants are doing well. I don't do a 50% water change every week, maybe 2-3 weeks when there is a lot of build up decay. Thanks for the info.

 

[Sgooosh]

The most likely cause of your problem is a nutrient deficiency. Otherthan light CO2and water plants need nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphate, sulfate, chloride, iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, and molybdenum. If you are missing just one plants won't grow and sometimes theyrapidly loose their leaves. You probably need to use a comprehensive fertilizer with all of the nutrients above.

Other thing you should do is to check your water GH. The GH test detects the pressence of calcium and magnesium. Most fertilizers don't have enough calcium or magnesium. If it is zero you need a GH booster. Also verify your nitrate level IS NOT ZERO.. Plants need nitrogen to grow. If your nitrate is zero your plants will not grow. You don't need a lot of nitrate. A level of 5ppm would be sufficient. Also do a water change once a week. This removes the waste from the dead leaves and helps keep nutrient levels in the water stable. I replace 50% of my tanks water once a week.

hello! does seachem have a calcium supplement?

 

[StevenF]

Sorry it looks like some of what I wrote didn't make it into the post. A Gh booster such as Seachem equilibrium is the easiest way to resolve a Ca/Mg deficiency. Equilibrium also has potassium ellliminating those possible issues.
As to a better fertilizer the one I would recommend is TNC but it is only available in europe. I couldn't find one that would work in my own tank which had unique challenges. So I made my own. But your could try easy green fertilizer. It doesn't have copper but if your home has copper pipes you should have enough. It also doesn't have Molybdenum but so little Mo is needed it is very likely your tape water has enough.

 

[Sgooosh]

Sorry it looks like some of what I wrote didn't make it into the post. A Gh booster such as Seachem equilibrium is the easiest way to resolve a Ca/Mg deficiency. Equilibrium also has potassium ellliminating those possible issues.
As to a better fertilizer the one I would recommend is TNC but it is only available in europe. I couldn't find one that would work in my own tank which had unique challenges. So I made my own. But your could try easy green fertilizer. It doesn't have copper but if your home has copper pipes you should have enough. It also doesn't have Molybdenum but so little Mo is needed it is very likely your tape water has enough.

thanks. will coral work as a slow alternative as i am a little hesitant to put too much equilibrium in?

 

[StevenF]

thanks. will coral work as a slow alternative as i am a little hesitant to put too much equilibrium in?

It will dissolve but not fast. So I have no way of knowing if it will be enough for your tank. I however have a sea shell in my filter and it sonly there to prevent my water from going acidic. I get about a year out of one one before I have to add a second. its' great for keeping the PH stable but as a source of Calcium for plants it is not the best solution.

The big advantage of a GH boosters that you get calcium and magneium at a known ratio. The problem with coral and sea shellsisthat it is mostly calcium and may not have much if any magnesium. So with coral or sea shells it is still possible to run out of Magnesium. If you follow the directions of GH booster bottle and only add a enough to increase your GH by 2 degrees harness you hsould have enough calcium andmagneisum without doing any harm. Also get a GH test kit. That way you can determine how hard or soft your tap water actaally is. And you can use it to verify your are dosing correctly. In my opinion the risk of overdosing is very low.