Loaches are great fun but they require more space than you might think, so read up on that before you get any, and most (all?) like to be in groups. Also, in my experience, not all loaches eat all kinds of snails (in particular, none of my queen, java, or kuhli loaches would eat Malaysian trumpet snails that were beyond baby size, but feasted on the other type of invasive snail I had).
So basically, as with anything, do your research. If you don't want to get rid of snails but just keep them under control (as some can be good for the tank), hand-picking and not overfeeding your fish can be a good strategy. Also some snails will be attracted to certain vegetables overnight (lettuce and parboiled zucchini come to mind, though I'm not sure) and you can supposedly just pull out the veg with snails all over it in the morning. This only worked mediocrely for me with the MTS, but others have had great success with this method.
Re bleach (adapted from
Jake’s Planted Aquarium Pages | Disinfecting Plants – Before or After): Common household bleach, mixed with water in a ratio of 19 parts water to 1 part bleach ( 5% bleach). mix the bleach and water (outside the tank!!!), place the plants into that water, soak for 2 – 3 minutes (big, meaty plants for 3 minutes, fragile smaller plants for 2 minutes) and then remove the bleach water and replace with fresh water, adding a bunch of dechlorinator to the new water. swish the plants a bit and make sure the dechlorinator gets to all of it. Rinse it again with fresh water.
Do not use “ultra” bleaches or any other kind except plain old ” bleach”. No gels, no bleach powder, etc.
Pros – It kills algae very well, as well as bacteria and little critters, snails, snail eggs.
Cons – It can easily kill the plant as well. Some plants are more sensitive then others, like Anacharis, which will just plain old die if dipped in bleach water. If not careful, can bleach carpeting, clothing, etc.
Good luck!
Dirty snails
