How to Soak Aquarium Plants for Snails

Aquatic snail populations can quickly get out of control.

Live aquarium plants enhance both the beauty and health of an aquarium by adding valuable oxygen to the water while soaking up harmful chemicals and ammonia. Unfortunately, aquatic pest snails, such as the common pond snail and Malaysian trumpet snail, often use live aquatic plants as a place to lay their eggs, which can then reach plague proportions in your tank. Once they are introduced, combating the problem can be difficult. It is best to soak aquarium plants for snails as soon as you get them home, before you place them into the tank.

Things You'll Need

• Bucket
• Aquarium salt

Instructions

1. Fill a large bucket or tub with enough warm (not hot) water to completely submerge the leaves and stems of your largest plants. Five-gallon buckets work well for this, as they allow enough extra room to "swish" the plants around a bit.

2. Add aquarium or kosher salt to the bucket at a ratio of 1 cup per gallon of water used and stir thoroughly until the salt is entirely dissolved into the water.

3. Remove any rock wool, clips or plant weights from your aquarium plants.

4. Dip each plant, one at a time, into the saltwater bath and swish vigorously around in the water for 15 to 20 seconds. Do not allow the rhizomes or roots of the plants to be submerged, as the delicate root structure can be damaged or killed. Do not allow the plants to remain submerged longer than 20 seconds or so, as the dehydrating effects of the salt can shrivel and dry the leaves.

5. Rinse each plant in clean, dechlorinated water before planting in the tank.

Tips & Warnings

• Other methods for soaking plants for snails include potassium permanganate or bleach baths, but both can be extremely harmful to your aquatic plants. If some snails or eggs still manage to get into your tank using the saltwater bath method, they can be either manually removed, or the addition of loaches or assassin snails can help keep populations from becoming out of control.

• Do not use table salt for the saltwater bath, as regular table salt contains other chemical additives that may harm your plants.

References

• AquaticCommunity: Snails in the Aquarium
• AquaArticles: Aquarium & Aquatic Snails