Best way to de-snail Java Moss

[crazydaz]

Asthetics, fuzzy. Most people don't like them because they will reproduce out of control and you end up having a mass of black/brown shells running around your tank. Of course, when they die, they leave their shell behind which can mix into your substrate and start impacting pH and hardness values after some time. Mostly, they are just ugly and annoying to deal with.

But, they have plenty of benefits as well which you allude to. In fact, I feel that their benefits outweigh any negative values. Especially if you are putting plants into a cichlid tank, the snail population will be kept under control as the they'll get picked off from time to time by the fish. At least, that has been my experience.

I have never had a problem using copper on my plants, Bama. A few minutes is all you need to kill the snails and their eggs, and if you wash them in tepid water after the treatment(s), you are golden. Some of your finer leaved species (cabombas or needle leaf ludwigias) may get annoyed, but snails do not usually target these types of plants to lay their eggs, and the plants should bounce back quickly if they are placed under bright light with CO2.

[bamaplants]

bath technique will work without making many plants melt...
"had a Snail" is/was ( not exactly sure if it is still even for sale) a tank treatment that was " Safe For Fish"
It is NOT safe for fish it just doesn't kill them quickly and it is not safe for Plants for the long term exposure that is intended
I somehow missed the "Bath" part My apologies... and without even reading back the bath part would be a logical assumption..

[crazydaz]

Bama-NEVER doubt me again! :-) Just kidding....no apologies necessary Buddy! I probably could have been more clear.

I used to make a dip using Nox Ich back in the day, which was pretty effective. Usually did a bath of that of about 25mL to about 5 gallons of water for about 4-5 minutes, followed by a bath in 50% hydrogen peroxide for a minute, followed by a steady rinse of cool water for about five minutes. Worked pretty well for me, and I did not lose a plant, and had no snails. Some of my fine-leaved species discolored for about 1-2 days, but were fine after that.

Again, I don't do it anymore. I find snails to be more helpful than deleterious to a planted system. And, as most cichlid owners that I know use heavy calcium carbonate, the pH of cichlid tanks are usually in the high 7's or low 8's which is usually enough to kill snails after a while anyhow. Most of the tiny snails I am aware of (ramshorns, etc.) only really thrive in neutral to acidic (pH of a bit higher that 6.0) conditions with slightly soft water. Try upping your pH; java moss and java fern all do well in tanks where the pH is around 8.0-ish.....should be high enough to kill the snails or at least make them sterile.