snails helping or hurting?

[skjl47]

Hello; First is that allowing the dead plant leaves and parts to either decay or be eaten by snails pretty much keeps the nitrates that are bound up in the plants to be released back into the tank. I harvest damaged or dead leaves by removing them.

I believe the plants in question are called java fern. I have some and find it grows slowly and does better when shaded or in low light.
Were the plants with dead leaves mine I would trim the dead bits away and hope to save the rest.

I have kept snails in tanks for decades. The ramshorn and MTS snails seem to be more of a benefit, I have noted that when ramshorn get to be large ( say over the diameter of a nickel) they can do some damage to more delicate plant leaves such as amazon sword. This is not usually much of an issue as they tend not to get this big very often.

As to the pond snails. I had some in a tank a while back along with some Ramshorn and MTS as well as a kuhli loach. I am pretty sure the pond snails have either been out competed by the other snails or are more easily taken by the kuhli.

One last note. It has been my experience if a tank had a lot of snails that I have been overfeeding.

 

[BIG-G]

The easiest way I have found to remove pond snails is to bait them with a slice of zucchini. Then every evening just pull them out. I have clown loaches in another tank that loves to eat snails, I just throw them in there.
But I find the pond snails don't really bother anything. I have heard some people complain that they get into the filter and jam up the impeller but this has not happened to me so far.

 

[Yohanon]

Maybe I should rip all the patches apart so there is more root exosure? HELP LOL those stupid patches were not that cheap and I have a bunch of dying ones

Make sure the rhysome is not buried. If it is, the plant will slowly die.

 

[GamerChick5567]

Pruning the dead leaves from them should help the plants recover. I remember reading somewhere that plants still try to send nutrients to their dead leaves, which makes the healthy leaves not grow as fast or something. Oh and yeah, you want part of the rhizome to show. You should also pick up some root tab fertilizers to jam under them, they are heavy root feeders.

On java ferns and crypts it should be easy to just pinch them off the plant gently with your hands, never had an issue doing that. You can use a regular pair of scissors or metal tweezers too as long as they are clean.