MTS prevention

[Nyx]

Hubby is taking apart my 30g Endler tank. We are starting from scratch with plants, water and substrate because I want to be totally rid of MTS snails. The only thing going back into the tank are my Endlers, cherry shrimp and orange dwarf cray as well as the driftwood.

Will baking the driftwood in the oven kill any eggs/snails so that I can put it back? Also, once the tank is "clean", what is the best way to prevent MTS from getting back into the tank again? Thanks.

[karjean]

Baking it will help, or leaving it under the sun for a few days so it is good and dry. For the plants make sure you rinse them well under a good flow of water.

[Nyx]

Thank you.

[sas]

To keep snails out make sure you dip anything that goes into the new setup.
Here you have three options.......
potassium permanganate dip, fill a bucket half full of water and add
just enough of the P. permanganate to color water dark pink, a 10 to 20
minute dip will do. I use this dip also for nets and other tools.
Google this and read the precautions, there are a few.

Second is a bleach dip, 5% solution,  19 parts water and 1 part bleach. I
don't like using this one because you have to rinse very well and also use
a dechlor to be safe.

The third is to use Alum, which I like the best.
Mix 3 tablespoons in a gallon of water and soak for 2-3 hours.
I do a lot of pickling so I always have Alum in the cupboard,
and it's cheap too.

For the driftwood I'd bake it or use the alum.
Hope that's of some help and good luck with the new setup.

[Nyx]

Thanks Sue

[Fishnut]

Hmmm...I'm not going to disagree with that solution, but that sounds like A LOT of work to get rid of these snails, not to mention that's a lot of chemicals! 

What about Assassin snails?  My group of 12 Assassins obliterated the entire population of MTS's in my 72 gallon tank, then when I changed the substrate, the assassins had multiplied to a group of almost 40! I never would have known that if I hadn't changed substrate either.  They breed so slowly compared to MTS's that I never saw more than a few at a time!  They don't eat shrimp either.

As a word of caution, just because you're starting out with new plants, doesn't mean you're going to be snail free.  Often you'll get those little round pest snails on new plants.  If there's no actual snails on the new plants, there's a good chance there's going to be snail eggs.  You could also dip new plants but it's a lot of work and a lot of chemicals.

I find that snails' populations are related to the amount of excess food that's put into a tank.  If there's lots of excess food, there's going to be lots of snails.  If there's not a lot of excess food, there's not going to be a lot of snails.

[karjean]

That is how i did get my snails, thru the plants. but i do agree with Fishnut.  By reducing the amount of food, the population is now stable to a controllable amount.

[Nyx]

See, that's the thing. I have reduced feeding, almost to the point of starving the livestock. I have assassin snails, over 6 in a 30g, but they don't eat enough of them. Okay, I don't have a disgusting infestation. I get a few on the glass at night and they're mostly very small. So I can't really complain. I just want Scotty to beam all of the suckers out of there, once and for all, despite many people saying they are actually better for the tank.

[JetJumper]

And here I kept thinking you were talking about Multiple Tank Syndrome... DOH!

[Nyx]