People often go to their local fish store and purchase a bunch of live aquarium plants! However, one day you might notice a bunch of tiny snails in your aquarium. First, you look for alternative ways to kill these snails in your aquarium. After trying many methods, the snails still aren’t gone, and you begin to question if you can get rid of them! You may conduct a google search and see that using salt is a way to kill these pests.
Some people debate about having a small level of salt in your aquarium at all times. Salt can also be used for diseases present in an aquarium. There are tons of health benefits when introducing salt to your aquarium! In this article, we will be discussing if aquarium salt kills snails!
What Does Salt do to an Aquarium?
Salt generally causes dehydration when you introduce it in an aquarium. When raising the salinity of a freshwater tank, water intake is decreased by every living organism in the aquarium. As a result, these organisms attempt to balance the intake of salt and water, which causes stress for every living thing in the aquarium.
Tiny organisms are the first ones to die, such as bacteria, fungus, and parasites. When introducing salt to an aquarium, fish are generally the ones that can survive the longest. However, salt can sometimes be more of a problem compared to a solution. Caution and research should always be conducted when deciding your aquarium.
Aquarium Salt Mixed With Snails
As mentioned above, when you place salt in a freshwater aquarium, this reduces the balance of salinity for everything in the aquarium. When you first put in salt, the smaller organisms tend to be hurt the most. However, fish are usually the last ones to react to the salt. This leads to the question, what happens to the snails when salt is introduced to a freshwater aquarium? Once you put in the salt, the snails will get very stressed out. They are smaller organisms, so their balance between salinity and water is harder to be ideal. Therefore, when you put the salt in the aquarium, the snails will die relatively fast. Even just a teaspoon of salt can kill all the snails in your aquarium! Their bodies can only handle so much when massive changes are being made to the aquarium.
Many aquarium experts debate if the salt will even harm the snails. However, I have experienced it first hand. My 16-gallon aquarium had a pesky snail problem, so I introduced a couple of teaspoons of salt! Within several days all the tiny snails died off, and I could buy normal plants again! Be careful when buying plants that are in aquariums. Usually, these pests come from plants that are uncared for and have a whole colony in them.
When to Avoid Using Salt in a Freshwater Tank
Avoid using salt in a freshwater aquarium when you have live plants present. When you have live plants, the salt will infect the roots with salt and kill them. If you want to use salt in an aquarium with plants, transfer the plants to a different aquarium. Before introducing the live plants back to the aquarium, test the water salinity before putting them back. If the salt content doesn’t disappear, conduct water changes until all of the salt is gone. After doing this, your aquarium will be free of salt and snails!
Secondly, avoid using salt when you have inverts present in your aquarium. The salt will begin to kill them because of no protection from the scales. Keep this in mind when debating about getting salt. If you make this mistake, all of your shrimp and crabs will die.
Other Treatments With Salt
Ich
Ich is when the fish in your aquarium gets a disease! You can usually see a bunch of white dots on your fish when the disease is present. There are a bunch of chemicals that are possible cures for your fish. However, these chemicals usually have negative side effects. Some chemicals manage to kill all of your inverts in the aquarium because of how harsh it is. Some of these chemicals also kill all of your plants and corals. Salt is another method for curing the disease, ich! When you slowly implement salt, the microorganisms and diseases will die. This method results in the salt removing the algae in your aquarium!
Fin Rot
Fin rot is considered a disease and impacts the fish in a harmful way. The name describes this disease well. The fish’s fins slowly develop a rotten appearance. If nothing is done to prevent further damage, it is more than likely that the fish will die. Just like ich, there is a ton of chemical options for your aquarium. However, these chemicals can harm the aquarium and the plants inside of it. Instead, you can slowly add salt to remove and kill the micro-disease. When you add the salt, the disease and terrible bacteria will go away. Make sure to do your research and speak with your local fish store before doing this treatment. If you don’t do research and add salt, many terrible things can happen!
Nitrites
Sometimes aquariums can gain an excessive amount of nitrites due to poor water conditions. These parameters can cause your aquarium fish to get sick and die. However, using salt to prevent nitrite conditions can be useful in a freshwater aquarium. There is a condition called nitrite poisoning. The disease is harmful to everything in your aquarium. When nitrate poisoning is present, your fish will tend to twitch and act differently. However, if you add some salt to your freshwater aquarium, the cure can be found.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, salt can be effective when attempting to get rid of snails from your freshwater aquarium. Be cautious when purchasing live plants from pet stores. These stray snails tend to rid of and end up taking over your home aquarium. When the snails end up in your home aquarium, everything will soon be eaten alive. I have heard of snails even eating the other freshwater plants. If you use the salt method, make sure to measure everything as effectively as possible. If you add too much salt to your aquarium, all of the livestock will die. When unsure how to complete something, reach out to your local fish store for help. The local fish store will be happy to help, and they might even provide free advice!
