General Care Discussion :: cleaning

[melnez]

how do I clean my tank with the snails? Should I put them in another container while I clean or can they stay out of water for a short time?

[cam722]

I'd put them in a small container with water, just like you do any fish that are in the tank with the turtles.

[melnez]

thanks. I just cleaned my turtle tank. I put 17 small snails and 8 middle snails down the drain..i feel bad. But they were everywhere. I kept 5 middle snails. Da Vinci still hasn't found then unfortunetly.. Hopefully he will soon.

[sarah]

wow...that's a lot of snails. lol

I take my snails out when I clean the tank and put them in with some of the tank water. They usually stay in the container for a few hours, until the water cools back down to 78 (my snails are suposse to be in 75-78 degree temps.)

[cam722]

wow...that's a lot of snails. lol

I take my snails out when I clean the tank and put them in with some of the tank water. They usually stay in the container for a few hours, until the water cools back down to 78 (my snails are suppose to be in 75-78 degree temps.)

What do you mean but until the water cools down to 75/78? How warm is your water because it shouldn't be any warmer than that for your turtles either.

[missibsu]

I think she meant the clean water that she put in the tank...

I leave my snails, turtles, and fish in the tank when I do a partial cleaning. If I am doing a complete clean, I will leave just about 2 inches of water and leave the fish and snails. The turtles come out. I on the other hand have guppies breeding because my turtles have stopped eating them, so there are too many to mess with. Easier just to leave them. The snails are so small that I have a hard time finding them.

[melnez]

When I cleaned my tank there were all these clear bloobs all over my rocks. I think they might have been eggs...anybody know? That's really scary because they covered this one rock. I already killed a bunch of snails..i don't want to kill more. I cleaned the rocks though, so if they are eggs, no babies for a while.

[marisa]

Yes, the snail eggs (tiny dots) would have been in the clear blobs on the rocks. Sounds like the snails had laid a lot of them...

[melnez]

I hope Da Vinci starts eating the snails soon...

[missibsu]

I moved an algea covered rock to my breeding tank the other day for the snails to check out. The next morning I went to move it back and it was covered with eggs. Just overnight. So I left it alone. I may move it back to the turtle tank though and let them be born in that tank...the turtles will eat them after they are born. I wasn't sure if the move to the other tank would distrupt them though.

I read on one site where someone had so many snails that they just couldn't get rid of them. They boiled all of their rocks and gravel, and cleaned the tank with hot water and the snails still came back...or survived. So, good luck with the snails.

[melnez]

oh...that's bad. I hope I don't get that bad...

[missibsu]

Do your turtles eat them? Mine don't last long in the turtle tank...I breed mine and throw a few over in the turtle tank every so often. If you need to get rid of them though, I offer mine of freecycle.org. People went nuts over them!

[melnez]

no, Da Vinci hasn't found them yet. It's probably because he's getting over a RI and still floats. So he doesn't really get to the bottom for long enough to explore the cracks where the snails dwell. He's getting better though. He's eating again which is really good

[missibsu]

Best of luck with the RI and finding the snails. Hopefully he'll find an interest in them, for your sake, lol!