aquariumbeginner32 Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 I read online that apple snails don't tolerate Malachite Green or Methylene Blue... can't remember which one. I want to put Wunder Tonic in my tank. I just got a couple of apple snails recently. Has anyone here used Wunder Tonic with apple snails before? I didn't think they'd tolerate the tonic salt but they are fine.... I mean I thought about what happens if you put salt on a garden snail.... and was very apprehensive about using tonic salt in the tank but online it said you could. Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 I have no idea how apple snails handle salt but wunder tonic contains malachite green and methylene blue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 http://www.applesnail.net is a great source of information. They say snails can only tolerate a very small amount of salt, if the concentration has been built up slowly. They also say... Apple snails are very sensitive to certain chemicals and compounds. Unfortunately some of these chemicals are used to treat fish diseases as fungi and parasites. The basic principle in combating a fish disease is to use chemical compounds that kill the disease, while having no adverse effects on the fish, due to neurological/metabolistic differences between the organisms. However, snails have more in common with many parasites then with fish in the way they react to chemical substances. It's thus advised to isolate the snails in a separate tank during treatment of the fish unless you are absolutely sure that the product you use doesn't contain snail-toxic chemicals. And as many disease causing organisms do not survive outside the fish during a few days, together with repeated water changes in the isolation tank, the risk of reinfection through the snail reintroduction can be minimised. Exceptions to this rule are parasites that have a life cycle with snails and fish as intermediate hosts (mainly the case with wild-caught fish/snails). See also here. A short list with chemicals that are/could be toxic to snails in therapeutic doses: -Malachite Green (used to treat Ich or white spot, fungi and Velvet or Oodinium). -Various organophosphorous pesticides like formaldehyde, metriphonate, trichlorphon (= dylox, masoten, metriphonate, neguvon, trichlorophon), dichlorvos and others used to treat infections with flukes, worms, crustaceans and lice. -metaldehyde used as molluscicide. -Various copper containing drugs to treat protozoa and fungus infections. -Parricide D (Di-N-Butyl Tin Oxide) used to eliminate helminthes, acanthocephala, trematodes, cestoda and worms. A list of fish phamaceutics of several manufacturers with the active ingredients is available on http://www.pubnix.net/~spond/product/medicine.html. Many of the preparation listed here could harm your snails! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquariumbeginner32 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Thanks Caryl. Ok I guess I'll put the two apple snails into the little 15L tank which has nothing in it.... it's only for a short time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquariumbeginner32 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 I used 4 3/4 tablespoons of salt in the tank (of course dissolved in tank water first) in the tank recently and the snails seem fine. It's a 95L tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 I gather from the info that a snail's first line of defence, if something is wrong, is to get out of the water so if that happens you know there is a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 I read online that apple snails don't tolerate Malachite Green or Methylene Blue... can't remember which one. I want to put Wunder Tonic in my tank. I just got a couple of apple snails recently. Has anyone here used Wunder Tonic with apple snails before? I didn't think they'd tolerate the tonic salt but they are fine.... I mean I thought about what happens if you put salt on a garden snail.... and was very apprehensive about using tonic salt in the tank but online it said you could. Thanks for your help. They're both copper based medications. Snails(And most invertebrates) are very sensitive to copper. Hence why things like snail rid are copper solutions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquariumbeginner32 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Ah ok lol well I haven't seen them attempt to escape lol They could get out of the water but not out of the tank as it's got a fully enclosed lid. But no, they haven't been anywhere near the surface of the water... they're happily moving around and eating the oxygen weed.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquariumbeginner32 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Thanks for that info Ira Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Actually they are both organic dyes and neither contains copper. Most fish that are sensitive to copper are also sensitive to malachite green (the dye is named after the copper ore malachite because they are the same colour). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopper Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 In most cases medicines made for fish are toxic to inverts. I used to be an aquarist at a public aquarium and if a fish was sick it was either quarantined (common sense of course) or its tank locked off from the others so it could be treated. Periodically someone would treat a fish or tank and forget about the other critters unfortunately many would be wiped out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquariumbeginner32 Posted April 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 Well I didn't end up using anything else and whatever the problem was it has eliminated itself. The salt must have been enough and the weekly water changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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