# My gravel is alive!!!



## flyingfishgirl (Oct 14, 2011)

Hi all,

This might be a dumb question  but can you change the substrate in a stocked tank? You see I have a enormous snail problem, mainly due to the contaminated drift wood I put in the tank. I have tried everything I can think of to get rid of them, but now it looks like the gravel is alive and moving along the bottom. I would like to get rid of all of the decor in the tank and start fresh with white sand, but I don't want to wreck the biological filter. I have a working canister filter under the tank, would that be enough to keep the bio fiter going in the tank if I saved half of the water currently in the tank or am I just playing with fire? *Please help I don't want to kill my fish.*


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## cdavitt (Apr 4, 2011)

You should be able to swap out the substrate of a stocked tank no problem. I've done it and I know others have as well. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve seen posts of people removing everything and swapping substrate. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve even seen posts of people who swap the substrate with the water ad fish still in it (decor removed).

You can re-use water but it isnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t necessary. You are basically just doing a HUGE water change (up to 100%) The beneficial bacterial live on the glass, decor, and in filter. As long as this was done in a day I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t see any issue, and your bacteria wonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t die off that quickly. You might lose a little BB from removing the gravel but hopefully the colony in your canister will do. I'd check ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate at least daily for the first few days after the switch.

You might also want to soak or treat your decor (especially the driftwood) while you are converting the substrate. This will make sure no snail clutches survive and hatch after the substrate is changed and start the problem all over again.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Sorry for your pain! But then it is a good example of why I recommend bleaching all the stuff that goes in the tank. Snails are a pain once they get out of control.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You will want to treat the glass too, for egg cases. I use hydrogen peroxide because it becomes oxgen and water and breaks down pretty quickly.

And, pick as many snails out of your filter and media as possible.


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## flyingfishgirl (Oct 14, 2011)

*THANK YOU* You can't believe how relieved I am that this is possible!! It will be a long day, but I can go down to my LFS tomorrow and do the swap on Sunday. I'll let you know how it goes. Fingers crossed. :wink:


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Something to keep in mind is there is a good chance there are snails and/or eggs in the filter as well.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Absolutely they are in the filter. This is not 100%. But it is 99% and you have to be ruthless to avoid overfeeding (which causes overpopulation of snails...they cannot do it alone) for months after to be successful.


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

When i had a snail infestation, I cut down on feeding and put a leaf of lettuce in every night. In the morning, there would be hundreds of snails on the leaf, and I simply took the leaf out, with all the snails on it. Problem went away after a month or so, since the population was culled constantly, and food was scarce.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I looked at several options for getting the snails out when they took over my tank but did not like any of those, so started shifting fish around. At some point, I was able to get a group of fish into that tank which seems to be getting the snails back in order. I suspect they are eating the eggs as they find them and harassing the larger snails so they are not active. It is now a 75 with 38-40 Bristlenose at 1" and 23 Hap Ahli fry at 3/4 to 1". Lack of food is not doing it as I feed the BN zucchini and it stays in the tank full time. Whether it ever gets all the snails out is still open but at least the gravel has stopped shifting!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The lettuce leaf thing worked for me but it takes days/weeks and I was not good at religiously doing it every day. :thumb:


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## jkozolan (Jul 27, 2011)

I have a beautiful pair of apple snails in one of my tanks. They did reproduce but none survived my 2 yoyo loaches. I do have 2 rather fat loaches now but they are still active and seem happy.


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## Cichfish (Jul 15, 2003)

get some clown loaches for your snail issue


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## flyingfishgirl (Oct 14, 2011)

I've tried lettuce, and loaches, I've even drastically cut back on feeding, none of that has worked. My husband is now convinced that we just need to get rid of everything and start from over from scratch. I think he might be right.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

That was my decision as well but then I thought some more about where to put fish and decided to try letting the fish deal with the problem. I assume when you say the gravel is moving it is trumpet snails burrowing under the gravel? They seem to be somewhat harder to kill out as the fish don't get to them as well. I added two yo-yo loachs to a 20 and there are now lots of dead shells piled in corners but I did not spot any snails moving last check. My next move may be to swap the loachs over to a 75 with the trumpet snails and see if they will finish them off that well.


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## football mom (Feb 19, 2006)

I've tried clown loaches and yo yo's. The clown loaches seem much more effecient at snail patrol, and they are always out and about and interesting to watch. The clown loaches hid a lot, maybe
came out at night.


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## Pizzle (May 24, 2011)

I love my trumpet snails.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Take mine, take mine!


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## londonloco (Mar 31, 2011)

DJRansome said:


> Take mine, take mine!


lol


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## south amarican ciclids (Oct 20, 2011)

ciclids they ate all of my tromets =D>[/code]


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