salt safe for otos?

[otoguppylover]

i have a tadpole snail infestation in my 30 gallon tank and my dad said that salt will kill the snails. i was wondering if any one could tell me if it is safe to put salt in a tank with 8 otos and how much it would take to kill the snails with out killing the otos.

[andywoolloo]

I do not know re salt and otos but can't you just manually remove them? put a piece of lettuce weighed down under a rock or sink some zuchinni and then manually remove them a few hours later when they all swarm all over it? ? Do those type of snails eat veg?

[Mike_Noren]

The salt will at least kill your plants.

Why do you want to kill the snails? Physa snails do no harm, they do not touch plants. Use the lettuce-leaf-trap-trick if you want to reduce them.

[andywoolloo]

I like snails also.

[otoguppylover]

well first these snails r devil snails the have in the past killed 5 of my guppies and my first pleco. second i dont keep live plants that what gave me the dam snails. dam petsmart

[otoguppylover]

and these r TADPOLE SNAILS not the harmless ones
i have tried the trick and many others things but they never worked
and these things r even more iritating cuz they only get to a max of 1 cm in length

[Mike_Noren]

and these r TADPOLE SNAILS not the harmless ones

Tadpole snail is another name for Physa. Physa looks like this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ta_001.JPG
http://www.aquaportail.com/uploads/aqua ... morata.jpg

Typically grow to about 1 cm, does not harm plants, eats only rotting vegetation, leftover fishfood, and algae.

[otoguppylover]

well mine r not harmless but will the salt affect the snails and not kill my otos(PS i just got another tank setup for breeding just in case:) the reason i need to rid of them is that the eat all my algae

[Mike_Noren]

well mine r not harmless

Well, Physas don't eat plants. They do indeed eat algae, though.

but will the salt affect the snails and not kill my otos

The snails probably have a lower tolerance for salt, but the plants will have lower tolerance still. It would not be my choice for killing the snails, and there is risk of damage to the kidneys of the otos.

If you want algae, increase light without adding more nutrients instead. However, if you're going to breed the otos I'd suggest not relying on algae, but target feed them with rotting vegetables and high protein fish feed. Partly because it's more efficient, partly because you're likely to get the wrong algae anyway - otos are pretty picky about which kinds they eat.

[Dave Rinaldo]

well first these snails r devil snails the have in the past killed 5 of my guppies and my first pl*co.

They certainly did not 'kill' your fish.

They are scavengers.

[otoguppylover]

i used to have the guppies i called couch potatoes. they where always touching the bottom. they where doing fine until i added a plant that had snails on it and they KILLED my beloved misfits and is there any thing i can do to rid of them with out hurting my otos( i also have ghost shrimp and 2 guppies)

[otoguppylover]

and dont say the fish where dead eather cuz the little snails covered them when they where ALIVE true story
me and my fish have gone threw alot, my guppies come from a family that has lived in temps of 100F due to heater failur and around 50 f due to heater also( thank god i got rid of it after that cuz it electicuted my dads salt water fish )

[andywoolloo]

whoa, easy turbo! I think you can trust the people who have responded to you, they are very knowledgable fish people. (Dave & Mike are who I reference ) IMHO.

Maybe you can post a pic of these murderous snails so someone can i.d. them for you. In case we are thinking of diff snails.

[otoguppylover]

i have fixed prob last night i got the last big snail out and i think there is one remaining but ill get u a pic and if any of u what the snails , go to the pet smart in Granville, MI

[Mike_Noren]

and dont say the fish where dead eather cuz the little snails covered them when they where ALIVE true story

Well, then it isn't Physa. They will eat corpses, and a dying fish unable to swim might get walked upon, but not eaten. The only common aquarium snails I know which will attack and eat dying fish (and fish eggs and larvae) are Colombian Ramshorn and the Assassin snail. And even they aren't really predatory, just opportunistic.

[otoguppylover]

they r tadpole snails i looked them up and found several pic that looked like they came from my tank. and i also found out y my they attacked the fish. the fish WHERE dieing and couldnt move due to the very limited amout of food they scavenged off from( the snails ate it) and where starving so the snails thought they where dead but i am soon going to get a 50 gal. tank and im going to add my otos and my guppies to it along with some cories. will the cories eat the snails? and i found an egg patch on Oto's (thats big otos name) plant and i was wondering how to remove the eggs with out killing them ( i want some if the cories will eat them)

[otoguppylover]

oh and thanks for the help i now know i just have to keep the pop. down

[otoguppylover]

and for the breeding tank would it be safe to put a internal filter in or should i put some snails and "The Bubbler" by pen-plax in the tank?