# quarantine plants



## APCRandall (Feb 2, 2007)

I have a 10 gallon quarantine tank with java moss and java fern. I see little eggs on my ferns and tiny snails in the moss.. I dont want them in my shrimp tank. How do I get rid of the little hitch hikers?


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

APCRandall said:


> I have a 10 gallon quarantine tank with java moss and java fern. I see little eggs on my ferns and tiny snails in the moss.. I dont want them in my shrimp tank. How do I get rid of the little hitch hikers?


Do you plan to make your quarantine tank your shrimp tank as well or are you talking of transferring the plants to a seperate shrimp tank in which you don't want to tranfer the snails and snail eggs.

If you are talking about getting rid of snail eggs and snails on the plants before transferiing the plants, then the solution is easy. Go to the spice section of your local food mart and purchase some Alum. Take the plants stick them in a one gallon bucket full of water and add one tablespoon alum. Mix well and wait 2 days, throughly rinse the plants with dechlorinated water and they will now be safe to transfer into another tank. If you don't want to wait 2 days get water clear by Jungle products(available at Wal-Mart). Fill a one gallon bucket with water and throw in one water clear tablet, throw in the infected plants and let them soak for 20 minutes. Throughly rinse the plants with dechlorinated water and they should be snail and snail egg free and safe to transfer into another tank.

If you are talking about eradicating the snail or snail eggs from an existing tank, then it may be more difficult. You can get a Raphael Cat fish(AKA: talking cat fish) which is known to eat snails whole and poop out the shells. The problem is that if you plan on putting shrimp in the same tank, then your shrimp may become food for Raphael. You can place lettuce, cucumber to bait the snails. In the morning the cucumber will be full of snails and you can discard the cucumber and snails. You will have to do this daily and while it won't eliminate the snails/snail eggs, it should help control their population. I would recommend against using chemicals to kill snails cause you may kill the snails and even your plants using these, not to mention the huge bioload you will create from all the dead snails which will throw your whole tank out of balance and make it uninhabitable for weeks/possibly months.


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## APCRandall (Feb 2, 2007)

ty


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

APCRandall said:


> ty


You're welcome  After having two of my tanks over run with snails(these things for the most part leave plants alone, but they reproduce like cockroaches) because I failed to disinfect store bought plants, I just disinfected some java moss that I bought using the "alum" method and placed it in another tank with no problems.

Some say that it is better to use Water Clear by Jungle products because it contains Potassium Permaganate which allegedly kills harmful bacteria, parasites, and algae(algae spores) in addition to the snail and snail eggs so this is an added bonus.


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## APCRandall (Feb 2, 2007)

If I dont manage to kill them all.. snails are shrimp safe?


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

APCRandall said:


> If I dont manage to kill them all.. snails are shrimp safe?


I have had shrimp with the snails and the snails seem to leave the shrimp alone unless they are dead, then the snails will feed off them. I am talking about adult shrimp here. I am not sure if the snails would bother baby shrimp if your shrimp were to breed and reproduce.

I also read(but am not sure if it is true) that Red Cherry Shrimp will actually feed off snail eggs.


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