# New order of Riccia + SNAILS= unhappy frogger



## titansfever83 (Jan 10, 2011)

I ordered some Riccia from a vendor here and the shipping/packaging/delivery time was all great, the size of the clumps of Riccia are much larger than his site says they are..... BUT..... FULL OF SNAILS!!


How do I get rid of these little buggers?

BTW, I've tried the "had-a-snail" stuff in my fish tanks and it doesn't work. The instructions on the back said your water has to be VERY hard in order for the product to work. And I have somewhat soft water. 

Also, this Riccia is going in my vivarium along with several other plants, not in a fish tank.


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## boombotty (Oct 12, 2005)

Man, that sucks. I had the same issue but with snail eggs awhile back. I ended up removing the frogs and putting a clown loach into the water section. That took care of the problem but was still a mess.


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## Mitch (Jun 18, 2010)

Are they aquatic snails?... Won't they die out of the water? A mild bleach solution should take care of them anyways.


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## therizman2 (Jul 20, 2008)

Ive always had good luck with just putting a piece of lettuce in their tank each night, in the morning pull it out with all the snails feeding on it. The issue you will have is if they have already laid eggs in it.


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

I usually bleach all my plants before putting them in the viv. I tried that with riccia and promptly killed it. It's the only thing that couldn't take the bleach 

You could put it in a container and toss a bit of dry ice in a deli cup in it, maybe?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

titansfever83 said:


> I ordered some Riccia from a vendor here and the shipping/packaging/delivery time was all great, the size of the clumps of Riccia are much larger than his site says they are..... BUT..... FULL OF SNAILS!!
> 
> 
> How do I get rid of these little buggers?
> ...


If these are aquatic snails and you don't plan on having a pool or stream in your tank then why worry? 

If you place the ricca on a wet substrate under bright indirect light (no free water) the snails should have a hard time rewetting thier gills and should suffocate over several weeks. You need to do this long enough that all eggs hatch and suffocate. 

Many of the OTC snail treatments are copper which is only really effective if the hardness is over 50 ppm. As an alternative you can look into using potassium permanganate (but be careful with it as depending on the concentration can access it can be hazardous). You can look in some of the old fish books for the treatment (I'm sure someone has it online somewhere as well).


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

If they are fully aquatic snails then there probably isn't much reason to worry.

I have snails in all my fish tanks and they don't cause any trouble.


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## Freeradical53 (Jan 25, 2008)

Snails are a menace! I got some free duckweed, fortunately I did not put it in the viv and it was full of snails. Snails eat green stuff (vivs are green) so very bad for vivs. As for getting rid of them, I haven't a clue, the things are bulletproof...I would suggest eliminating all unnecessary water. Stop waterfall, bg drip and only mist when necessary to boost humidity...Good Luck


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## Taron (Sep 23, 2009)

Copper will kill any type of snail

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk


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## littlefrog (Sep 13, 2005)

I like sluggo (or iron phosphate in one of its many brand incarnations). Seems to be frog safe.

Rob


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

littlefrog said:


> I like sluggo (or iron phosphate in one of its many brand incarnations). Seems to be frog safe.
> 
> Rob


It is also incrediably effective at eliminating the isopod and springtail population in the tank. 

Ed


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## titansfever83 (Jan 10, 2011)

Mitch said:


> Are they aquatic snails?... Won't they die out of the water? A mild bleach solution should take care of them anyways.


I'm not sure at the moment, all the snails where extremely tiny so I assume they just hatched. I didn't find any large ones to get a better look at what kind they are.



frogface said:


> I usually bleach all my plants before putting them in the viv. I tried that with riccia and promptly killed it. It's the only thing that couldn't take the bleach
> 
> You could put it in a container and toss a bit of dry ice in a deli cup in it, maybe?


Thanks for the experience frogface(sorry about your riccia though) That was the first treatment that I was considering. I may take a small portion of it and try the dry ice. BTW where can you get a small amount of dry ice??



Ed said:


> It is also incrediably effective at eliminating the isopod and springtail population in the tank.
> 
> Ed


Ed, you think it would be safe if done outside of the viv, and rinsed thoroughly once the snails are gone before introducing it to the viv?



Thanks to everyone who replied. I will do a few google searches and try some of the ideas you all have posted. Though I'm gonna cut off smaller portions of the riccia for my experiments and see what works and so I don't kill off all of it.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

titansfever83 said:


> I'm not sure at the moment, all the snails where extremely tiny so I assume they just hatched. I didn't find any large ones to get a better look at what kind they are.


If the ricca was grown aquatically, they won't be terrestrial snails.. those would have drowned... 



titansfever83 said:


> Ed, you think it would be safe if done outside of the viv, and rinsed thoroughly once the snails are gone before introducing it to the viv?


Outside the enclosure it would be fine.. another alternative would be just to get some African Cichlid buffer bring the hardness of the water up above 50 ppm and dose it with rid snail or other snail killing product of your choice.. 

Ed


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## poison beauties (Mar 1, 2010)

Anyone consider CO2? The riccia loves it. the more the better in water or out.

Michael


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## titansfever83 (Jan 10, 2011)

Ed said:


> If the ricca was grown aquatically, they won't be terrestrial snails.. those would have drowned...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



they are aquatic snails Ed. I have the riccia in a nursery flat in about 1 inch of water for now. The snails are crawling everywhere and I have seen about 50 or more. And my viv does have a pond feature with a few guppies in it.

I never thought of using the buffer, that may actually work and plus I have no fish to worry about in the nursery flat when changing the water's hardness. though the buffer tends to run a little high at pet stores(about $7-12) for the Seachems brand. A 10-15 dollar fix for $10 worth of riccia

I may also look into the sluggo stuff that 'littlefrog' mentioned at my local HD or Lowes and try that as well on a small portion of it.

I really haven't found anything on google that hasn't been mentioned already. Some folks suggested adding loaches since snails are a part of their diet but I don't have a fish tank setup at the moment and my pond in my viv has a false bottom so the snails could possibly get under there and the loaches would not be able to access them.

I'll keep searching and experimenting and see what works.


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## titansfever83 (Jan 10, 2011)

I did find this, BUT...... read the last sentence

_
Aluminum. This is an old standby for the aquarist, which you can buy at drug or grocery stores. Use 1 tablespoon of alum per gallon of water. Soak the plants a minimum of 20 minutes, up to a maximum of 2 hours. A two-day soak will kill snails and their eggs. Avoid using this method on extremely fragile plants._


anyone try this?


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## BOOSHIFIED (Jun 23, 2009)

littlefrog said:


> I like sluggo (or iron phosphate in one of its many brand incarnations). Seems to be frog safe.
> 
> Rob


Do you use it in tanks that your frogs are in?

My lamasi tank has a snail problem and getting my lamasi out without destroying the tank seems almost impossible.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

titansfever83 said:


> they are aquatic snails Ed. I have the riccia in a nursery flat in about 1 inch of water for now. The snails are crawling everywhere and I have seen about 50 or more. And my viv does have a pond feature with a few guppies in it.
> 
> I never thought of using the buffer, that may actually work and plus I have no fish to worry about in the nursery flat when changing the water's hardness. though the buffer tends to run a little high at pet stores(about $7-12) for the Seachems brand. A 10-15 dollar fix for $10 worth of riccia
> 
> ...


If you think that is the only order of aquatic plants you may get then it may not be worth $10 for the buffer but as it is unlikely you are going to use a lot of the buffer, it will be available for future use. 

Ed


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## titansfever83 (Jan 10, 2011)

I am thinking of trashing it. I have another order of Riccia coming next week and this other person says his is snail free. So I will hold onto what I already have until this other order gets here. (fingers-crossed)


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## dart666 (Sep 18, 2010)

there is a local frogger down the street from me that breeds I wont name him just outa respect but his tanks all have snails in them but there so F-ing over grown they don't even show a dent in the plants and there some of the best looking tanks I've seen no joke! I could see if you had little to no plants this could be horrible but in my case it seems the slugs I had in my cobalt tank which I removed using the lettuce method only targeted my softer figs and bog plants that grew so fast it really didn't matter! they left all me high priced broms and earth stars alone...


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

titansfever83 said:


> I am thinking of trashing it. I have another order of Riccia coming next week and this other person says his is snail free. So I will hold onto what I already have until this other order gets here. (fingers-crossed)


Any incoming plants should be quarantined as snails etc are not the only potential unwanted introductions... search nemerteans.. as an example. 

Ed


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## AaronAcker (Aug 15, 2007)

Being aquatic snails, I'd take Ed' advice. Put it in a terrestrial environment for a period of time. If you haven't put it into the viv yet, would be quite simple to place it in a Tupperware container and let the snails die. And as mentioned, if its not going into a pond area, then pretty simple to let them die.


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

ReptilesEtcetera said:


> Copper will kill any type of snail
> 
> Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk


Take care using copper as it is toxic to plants, esp. those with root systems, if they are exposed to it for long. Along with any other treatment, wash very thoroughly before introducing to a viv.


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## littlefrog (Sep 13, 2005)

BOOSHIFIED said:


> Do you use it in tanks that your frogs are in?
> 
> My lamasi tank has a snail problem and getting my lamasi out without destroying the tank seems almost impossible.


I have used it in many tanks with frogs in them... Fair warning, it gets moldy and looks nasty. But the slugs like it. I'd say about a tablespoon per tank, repeat every couple weeks for a month.

Hadn't noticed a problem with other fauna in the tank, but I don't go out of my way to add springtails. They just kind of show up. 

Rob


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## tim13 (Feb 1, 2011)

I have heard of putting plants in a tupperware container and filling it with water, then adding a shiny copper penny to the water for a few hours. Never tried this myself, but it's cheap to try!


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## habubak (Jun 7, 2008)

Instead of the African Cichlid buffer solution, why not go to a health food store and get a 2 small jars of powdered calcium carbonate and powdered magnesium carbonate?

I used to live in an area with incredibly soft water, so to harden it I used these powders mixed with carbonated water (the dissolved CO2 made the water slightly acidic, causing it to dissolve the powdered minerals - make sure you get carbonated water without any sugars or minerals or seltzers added, just water and CO2)... Be sure to watch out when putting the powder into the carbonated water! HELLO!!! WHOOOSH!!!! 

Re-seal the 2-liter bottle, sop up the mess, shake remainder thoroughly, pour into nursery, add your copper-snail-killer-elixir...

I used the brand that looked like the stuff pictured here: 
Magnesium Carbonate by Now Foods 

I used a 2:1 ratio calcium to magnesium.

An alternative I learned... pour some of the carbonated water into your favorite drink of choice. Once you've shaken the stuff thoroughly and added to your tank (you'll prolly have to dissolve the shaken solution with plain ole dechlorinated tap water, as you'll likely end up with liquid rock...) then you have a nice fizzly drink waiting to reward you!

Cheers, y'all!
-Steve
1.1.0 azureus
1.1.4 galacs - red&black


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## BOOSHIFIED (Jun 23, 2009)

littlefrog said:


> I have used it in many tanks with frogs in them... Fair warning, it gets moldy and looks nasty. But the slugs like it. I'd say about a tablespoon per tank, repeat every couple weeks for a month.
> 
> Hadn't noticed a problem with other fauna in the tank, but I don't go out of my way to add springtails. They just kind of show up.
> 
> Rob


I might have to try it.

Is this just a control measure or will it eventually wipe em out?


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## titansfever83 (Jan 10, 2011)

still experimenting but so far, I poured table salt in the water and on the riccia itself for about half a day(riccia is in a nursery flat with 1 inch of water) and then I removed the riccia and placed it in a plastic container(no lid) for the rest of the day. The following morning, I put the riccia back into the flat with fresh water. I cannot see any signs of movement from the snails. 

As a precaution, I will give it a week or so before introducing into my viv to make sure of no future hatching eggs.


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## pronz56m (Sep 21, 2012)

how did the salt work?


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## titansfever83 (Jan 10, 2011)

I had to do a second (weaker) treatment to kill all the snails. It almost killed the Riccia but it eventually come back. I may have used too much salt on the first treatment, not sure. 

On a side note(about Riccia).... I had a very small viv(12x12x18) that had Riccia growing on my background with a dripwall and I basically neglected it and ended up turning off all lights and pumps for about 2 months due to my job sending me out of town. I recently restarted the tank, just adding a LED from Light Your Reptiles and a single mist nozzle from Mist King. Two weeks later and the old, dead, dried up Riccia is coming back to life!!!! First for me!


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