|
Post by feelahthetigress on Sept 19, 2013 0:48:45 GMT
I had a bunch of mites/gnats in the tank that were driving me insane, and I got them all away by freezing the soil. Not seen them since. Yeah, I can't do that since I have a worm population and live plants...
|
|
inky
Achatina immaculata
Posts: 260
|
Post by inky on Sept 21, 2013 1:33:15 GMT
I haven't been able to get one, but as Tsrebel said, geckoes can be a useful buddy in the tank. Although, when the gnats and bugs run out, you're gonna have to pay to feed it too most likely.
|
|
|
Post by crucify on Sept 21, 2013 18:40:25 GMT
Probably a weirder suggestion, but I had a lot of success with sundews and butterworts in the same room. They were absolutely coated in flies after no time at all, unfortunately they're both dead now but I'd definitely buy another. Makes a nice decoration for your snail room too.
|
|
|
Post by feelahthetigress on Oct 25, 2013 21:07:08 GMT
Hey guys, I'm back with another update. As you may or may not know, I've been continuing to struggle with the fungus gnats. I've found that the cinnamon doesn't work for me - and while I could increase it to an amount that might work, this would also harm my snails and worms. So, I moved my snails to a temporary large jar, and have been conducting gnatrol drenches over the past month. This doesn't seem to have worked at all on the gnats (possibly I have a different species of gnat), and even worse than that, the added wetness has resulted in an infestation of pot worms. These are tiny white worms that I first mistook for baby red wigglers, but after some internet research I've found out they are just pot worms (named for having been found in flower pots). They are technically harmless to other animals and are a species of composting worm as well, but they aren't as efficient as red wigglers and can outcompete those worms in the right conditions. Basically, I caused their outbreak via creating too much moisture from the gnatrol drenches. I found out that the pot worms love high acidity soil that's overly wet, so now I'm going to treat for them (and the gnats) by letting the soil dry out considerably, and mixing in a goodly quantity of calcium carbonate to get those PH levels more basic. This should help my red wigglers reestablish dominance, and hopefully dry out those gnat larva, wherever they are. If my plan doesn't work, then I'm going to have to scrap the whole tank (again!), save a few carefully selected red wigglers and just try again. Sigh, things can be irritating sometimes...
|
|
Cashell
Archachatina puylaerti
Posts: 1,124
|
Post by Cashell on Oct 26, 2013 17:57:45 GMT
How many times have you had to completely change the soil before?
|
|
|
Post by feelahthetigress on Oct 26, 2013 18:21:32 GMT
How many times have you had to completely change the soil before? At least once before... I might have to give up on letting the soil dry out, I think I made it far too wet. There's even standing pools of water! It might dry out on it's own, but it's gonna take ages...
|
|
Cashell
Archachatina puylaerti
Posts: 1,124
|
Post by Cashell on Oct 26, 2013 18:28:40 GMT
How many times have you had to completely change the soil before? At least once before... I might have to give up on letting the soil dry out, I think I made it far too wet. There's even standing pools of water! It might dry out on it's own, but it's gonna take ages... Be careful not to breed mosquitoes! XD Ok! Just ignore that silly remark, but wow! That's pretty bad.
|
|
|
Post by feelahthetigress on Oct 26, 2013 18:49:14 GMT
At least once before... I might have to give up on letting the soil dry out, I think I made it far too wet. There's even standing pools of water! It might dry out on it's own, but it's gonna take ages... Be careful not to breed mosquitoes! XD Ok! Just ignore that silly remark, but wow! That's pretty bad. I know! I feel like an idiot for adding so much water and not noticing how much was building up in the bottom! Eh, you live and learn...
|
|
Zorst
Achatina tincta
Posts: 734
|
Post by Zorst on Nov 3, 2013 8:40:19 GMT
I found that when my snails had an infestation the of both mites and gnats that I bathed the snails in several luke warm green tea baths over several days and moved them to a temp tank. At the same time I caught the large woodlice that lived in there tank and released them outside back in the garden. I also removed the plants in the tanks which i also replanted outside.
Then to clean the soil I part filled the tank with hot water and made a lovely muddy mess which my kids thought was great fun, drained this off by pouring the mixture through a sieve and washing out the now dead larva and eggs away. This left a very wet mass of soil that I then put in a tray on the range to dry out.
The end result for about half an hours work was clean drying soil with no larva or eggs in it that i could find. This soil I then stored in a dry place for a few days and kept an eye on it to check nothing was living in it then put in the freezer when I was happy for re use later.
In the mean time I thoroughly scolded out the snail tank with hot water with a tea spoon of bicarbonate of soda in it as its a natural disinfectant to clean it and kill any eggs or mites that I couldn't see. Then rinsed the tank with hot water again. I allowed the tank to dry out then refilled it with new peat that id previously heat treated and frozen. Where I live I have natural peat soil which I mix with a bark mulch that I make then heat treat n store for the snails. I then planted in there new plants and replaced the now clean flower pot, coconut shell, new piece of bark and stick. The flower pot and coconut shell also went through the same heat water n bicarbonate soda treatment as the tank. The bark and stick were some new ones I'd collected and treated previously.
I reassembled the snail tank. and left it empty whilst carrying on with the snail baths to clear the mite problem for a couple more days. Then I damped down the soil n turned the heat mat back on under the tank, and reintroduced the snails and later some new woodlice.
Ok it took a few days for this to happen, but it solved the problem and touch wood its not happened again since. Outside of the tanks in the same room I also have sun dews, they grow wild here so I just dig up a few and potted them up. This has also kept any of the flying gnats at bay.
Old food I always change every 48 hrs,and the mites I'm sure came in with a new snails that though id kept it in isolation for over a week and didn't seem to have any I guess had some. Anyway Ive since always bathed new snails in a few green tea baths to make sure that they are clear of them.
Anyhow that was a few months ago and I keep up with the green tea baths for all the snails every few weeks, which they love and as I said there hasn't been an out break since, but I'll keep that jar trap in mind if it happens again.
Zorst
|
|
|
Post by morningcoffee on Nov 3, 2013 8:57:57 GMT
This is a great step-by-step description of a thorough deep tank clean, Zorst - thanks for posting it I also agree that a few sundews placed outside the tank will catch an amazing number of fungus gnats - I have an aliciae sundew that seems to be able to almost hoover them up from my houseplants and stop them flying around the room annoying me. Sundews seem to be much more efficent at catching fungus gnats than other types of carnivorous plant in my experience. EDIT - ironically about 30 seconds after posting this, a fungus gnat tried to fly up my nose
|
|
|
Post by feelahthetigress on Nov 3, 2013 15:44:59 GMT
This is a great step-by-step description of a thorough deep tank clean, Zorst - thanks for posting it I also agree that a few sundews placed outside the tank will catch an amazing number of fungus gnats - I have an aliciae sundew that seems to be able to almost hoover them up from my houseplants and stop them flying around the room annoying me. Sundews seem to be much more efficent at catching fungus gnats than other types of carnivorous plant in my experience. EDIT - ironically about 30 seconds after posting this, a fungus gnat tried to fly up my nose If you have a brown thumb and not much luck keeping plants (like a sundew) alive, I've found that a small wine-trap can greatly cut their numbers in your home. Ever since I put them out for a couple weeks, I haven't had annoying gnats flying around my head. In fact, I have so effectively eradicated their numbers that I don't even have to keep the traps out anymore because I just don't seem to have gnats in my face anymore! Sigh, didn't help me much with the ones in my snail tank (which is currently still slowly drying out - if anyone out there recalls my disaster with that).
|
|
Zorst
Achatina tincta
Posts: 734
|
Post by Zorst on Nov 6, 2013 16:11:38 GMT
lol @ Morning coffee. Thats the kinda thing that always happens to me so nice to know I'm not the only one who gets it. (Grin) Zorst
|
|
betty
Achatina fulica
Yay a whole bunch of people who like snails as much as I do.
Posts: 8
|
Post by betty on Nov 26, 2013 14:43:37 GMT
I just stick the end of the hoover hose in the top of the tank and give the sides a bang to get the little flies excited and flying around. Presto no more flies
|
|
|
Post by feelahthetigress on Nov 29, 2013 16:30:22 GMT
Hey guys, well, I couldn't get the soil to dry out so I replaced it all with fresh soil. I haven't seen any fungus gnats so far, so I can presume that the drier soil is discouraging them. We'll see...
|
|
|
Post by snailboat on May 14, 2014 21:20:35 GMT
I think I have fungus gnats. I haven't ever seen more than one at a time, but I've seen them more than once, so I assume there's a population I mostly haven't seen.
What exactly do they do? Do they bother the snails?
|
|
Zorst
Achatina tincta
Posts: 734
|
Post by Zorst on Jun 7, 2014 6:24:59 GMT
If they get to bad just change the soil n really deep clean the tank to kill any pests n larvae. Then I replace with new clean fresh soil that's dry and just keep it damp not to wet.
I always change the soil in my snails tanks regularly anyway as they seem better when I do, the old stuff go's into a big tub in the polytunnle and I let it dry out n use it for potting plants. ( Note I do make sure no snails or eggs are in the old soil first).
Zorst
|
|