snails and sea fleas: what plants are safe?

[shellzone]

Hi,

I just removed a bunch of snails from my planted aquarium because they were munching on the plants. This aquarium has sea fleas, leftovers from my failed sea monkey experiment. Despite their tiny size, they seem to survive even with 90% water changes. Is there an easy way to get rid of them, or do I need to do a 100% water change and thoroughly clean everything?

I've also added a shrimp-safe fertilizer, but the plant still looks unhealthy. I've heard people can grow plants in non-soil mediums like stones or sand, but is that really feasible?

Edit: just looked up sea fleas and they're supposed to be 5mm to 1cm, but the ones I have are ridiculously small - they could fit on the tip of a needle.

[coltin]

To get a better idea of what's going on, can you post a photo and a short video of the aquarium, specifically the area where you're seeing these tiny creatures? If the pics are too large for the site, try taking them with a lower camera resolution - that should make them smaller and more manageable. Check the photos on your computer and pick out a few clear ones that show the issue, then post them here. Just remember to switch the resolution back up afterwards so all your future photos aren't tiny.

If the video is too big to upload here, consider posting it on YouTube and sharing the link with us - we can take a look that way. When recording the video, try to keep your phone horizontal so the video fills the whole screen; if you hold it vertically, you'll end up with black bars on either side.

[shellzone]

Hi, there's no fish in the tank, I was mistaken about the sea fleas when I looked into the sea monkeys. These are tiny, pin dot sized organisms, they jump around a few millimetres at a time. To be honest, I don't think it's possible to photograph them, they're just too small.

[shellzone]

I also had another aquarium with short hair grass, but those snails I put in there ended up eating that too.

[shellzone]

To get a better idea of what's going on, can you post a photo and a short video of the aquarium, specifically the area where you're seeing these tiny creatures? If the pics are too large for the site, try taking them with a lower camera resolution - that should make them smaller and more manageable. Check the photos on your computer and pick out a few clear ones that show the issue, then post them here. Just remember to switch the resolution back up afterwards so all your future photos aren't tiny.

If the video is too big to upload here, consider posting it on YouTube and sharing the link with us - we can take a look that way. When recording the video, try to keep your phone horizontal so the video fills the whole screen; if you hold it vertically, you'll end up with black bars on either side.

I've uploaded a video to YouTube, no fish in sight, just the tiny critters I'm trying to get rid of.

[coltin]

You're unlikely to be dealing with actual sea fleas, and it's probably not related to the sea monkeys either. I'm guessing these tiny critters are more likely to be cyclops or copepods.

[oldraider]

I feel for you, my golden mystery snails wreaked havoc on my seveflake plants too. I ended up separating them to save the plants. One's still in my 55 gallon tank and it's been leaving the plants alone, so far so good. The other one's in a new 40 gallon tank I just set up, solitary confinement, no plants or fish to bother.