# snails and co2 question



## hellbent72 (Jan 28, 2006)

i bought a few plants from my local fish store and didnt notice any snails when i looked them over and know I have snail what is the best way to get rid of them before they get out of control and also If I am using co2 and my ph and hardness( ph 6.3 and kh gh 1-2) is low to begin with. how will that affect co2 in my tank and what needs to be done to get my tank up to par. and also my father has a planted 125 that he has neglected and it has about a million snails can I use a product to kill snails or will that stay in his substrate? he has no plants in tank now but would like to if he can get risd of snails. thanks everyone for your help in the past


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Snails are not a bad thing to have. They help clean up dieing plant matter, eat algae and keep substrate stirred up. If you don't over feed the fish then the snail population will not get out of control. 

By all means do not use any products that kill snails. If you are just bent on removing the snails then simply drop in a lettuce leaf and remove it after about two hours with the snails attached. You could also add loaches which eat snails.

Injecting C02 will lower your PH even more. To keep the PH more stable, add baking soda to the water to raise the KH. Higher Kh will keep the Ph more stable. 1 teaspoon of baking soda will raise 13 gallons by 4 degrees.


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## Hashbaz (Apr 23, 2006)

Adding chemicals (like snail killers) is rarely a good idea - especially in a planted tank. Like Trenac said, your best bet to fight snails is manual removal, loaches, and not overfeeding your fish.

I REALLY like MTS. They eat algae, clean up gunk, keep the substrate stirred up, hide underground durring the day, and compete for food with the "pest" snails. What more could you want from a "tank janitor"?


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## rahamen (May 6, 2006)

Add chemicals to kill snails is not a good idea, it could be a disaster for your plants. Snails are not so bad, (if they are not a plague).

In the other hand injecting CO2 with a very low Kh makes pH very unstable and it can fall down suddenly. Rise your kH up to 3 or 4º before add CO2.

:hat: 
Rgds


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## hellbent72 (Jan 28, 2006)

thanks for everyones help


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