Reptile Dewormers For Snails?

[barnaclesnail]

Has anyone tried reptile dewormers for their snails?

I'm considering using Nature Zone Worm Guard for a very serious problem with worms in my baby tank that I doubt are ordinary, gastrointestinal parasites When I fed the babies around 7pm last night, all was well, but this morning around 7am, noticed quite a few were dead, mostly 1-2 week old ones, and one or two that were actually in the process of hatching while they died. I thought maybe contagious disease, because I'd lost most of a half dozen or so strong clutch from last month due to a mysterious and seemingly contagious affliction, but when I took a closer look, not only were the little guys dead, their bodies were practically gone. That seemed far too quick for normal decomposition when they were all alive the evening before, and on closer look I spotted a small worm in one of the shells. I filled the shell with water to coax it out... and that is when I realized there were close to a dozen worms in there, eating the snail's flesh

They were very small worms, translucent with a brownish inner body, if that makes any sense, and did not look like any intestinal worm I've ever seen in a snail. Those have all been similar to roundworms. However, even though they were small, these worms were definitely too large to have been inside the GI tract of a week old baby snail. So apparently, there is an evil snail eating worm in my substrate. I've cleaned out the tank, but just as a precaution, I definitely want to deworm my entire population of snails.


I have heard pumpkin seeds are excellent for this, and have already bought them some, although not everybody seems to be interested in actually eating them. Since I've had excellent results with reptile/herp specific products before, thought i might give Nature Zone Worm Guard a try.

It's specifically formulated for reptiles (I'm assuming if tortoises can have it, it might be appropriate for snails), and ingredients are:


Pumpkin seed, black walnut, cloves, wormwood, black cumin, thyme, kieselghur, papain


Are any of these ingredients known to be toxic to molluscs?

[kookosmeloni]

Are you sure they're not gnats tho?

[HazelSnail]

They sound like either nematodes or possibly just flower pot worms, though those usually seem to be larger than nematodes. I had a nematode infestation not long ago... at night, they would come to the surface of the soil, stand on end, and wave about. It was very strange, but they didn't seem to physically harm the snails, but it did seem that the snails didn't like to crawl across them when they were doing their "dance". As a precautionary measure, I baked the substrate and decorations, and rinsed the tank. I never saw them again after that.
I am not sure on the ingredients list, though, as I don't have experience with any sort of de-worming product before.

[Liguus]

Idk about the reptile products, but those ingredients don't seem too toxic for snails. I used my extra absinthe wormwood to kill nematodes before... just made a strong tea and soaked the substrate.

[barnaclesnail]

These things were definitely not gnats - we've had fungus gnats annoying the living daylights out of humans and snails for a few years now, and while snails actually have gotten ill from being bitten/stung before, this is definitely a different organism altogether.

@ HazelSnail - after doing some quick research, I think it may be nematodes, as well, and apparently some gardeners purchase them to keep down snails and slugs naturally. I'm wondering if they only bother the babies, since the older ones would be too large for them to attack??? But it makes sense, because I recently transferred a handful of eggs from my 20gal adult tank to the affected tank, and in the spot those hatchlings were, the adults suddenly started avoiding, even though they'd been laying eggs in that corner for the past few weeks.

@ helixPomatia - Thank you VERY MUCH for the wormwood tea tip... can't believe I forgot it was a component of absinthe. Bad former goth, here

[Liguus]

Oh I forgot, I fed my H. pomatia a mix of 50/50 oats and dry wormwood as well to "purge their intestines". I'm not sure if it did anything, but I haven't seen anymore worms for months and the snails are fine.