Alternatives To Clown Loaches For Eating Snails?

[SandJ]

Hello, I am new here and I have a problem with snails in my tank which we have had for two years now. I have read many sites and discussions where people don't seem to think they are a problem but I was told they can make the water quality bad and we NEVER had any problems with sick fish or uneaten algae until we had an infestation of snails which hitchiked from our plants. We had fish die of dropsy (despite treating them) and algae we couldn't get rid of the first time we had snails, then we moved house gave the tank and really good clean and bought new gravel which really helped and got new plants which we washed in saltwater as advised by our local aquarium place but now, after a second lot of plants and three months into the move, have more snails although nowhere near as many as before but our fish are slowly getting sick and dying again and our loach doesn't seem to be able to keep back the algae anymore!

I have read that snails can be a sign of overfeeding so I will cut down the amount of food the fish are given but I also read that clown loaches are good for eating snails however we only have a 70litre tank and I know this isn't big enough for clown loaches really (I am so disappointed about because they sound great!) so I wonder if there's any other snail-eating fish we could try?

We currently have:
Mollies x 5
Danio x1
Cardinal tetra x 4
Glowlight tetra x5
Yellow Loach (no idea what type sadly about 18mths old and 2" long) x1

Thanks for any help you can give us.

 

[tom_os]

not sure about fish. i think there are treatments to get rid of snails, i have never used them however

just when you see one take it out. if you see eggs remove them. try and keep it under conrol. and yeah cut down on feeding. they are more likely to reproduce when they know there is plenty of food about

 

[bagu]

dwarf chain loach?

your tank may still be a tad small =/


could try assassin snails, they are meant to be brill at knocking out snails, and they looks great!

 

[Smoothy]

I just crush them when I see them on the glass then drop them down in the tank ... the cories love them!

Cutting down on feeding certainly helps though ... Asassin snails on the other hand ... useless in my opinion

 

[Inchworm]

Hi SandJ

Welcome to the forum!

I have a problem with snails too. Once they get into a tank, they can be very hard to get rid of. Try to pick out as many as you can by hand. Overfeeding can make your fish sick, so if that's a possibility, give your tank a good water change and gravel vacuuming. It would probably be best if you didn't add any new fish until you get that problem sorted out.

How long has your tank been set up again? Did you replace the filter media when you cleaned out your tank? If you didn't, there might have been snail eggs in it. If you did, you might be having a cycling problem. If your fish are sick because of this, the members will be happy to help you get your tank on the right track.

If you know the test results for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate it will help if you posted them. If not, let us know and we will help you understand what that is all about.

 

[thefubar]

I have read that you can put a piece of meat in the tank(overnight i think) and this attracts the snails. (bit like the beer trap for snails) and in the morning you can lift the out and put them on your toast with marmalade!

Also ilooked at zebra loach as they don't grow as large as clowns.

I have also read about the assasin snails already mentioned, as being effective.

I was mis-sold clowns for my 80l tank and have recently sold them.

Welcome and Good luck

 

[saltynay]

Its not meat you put in your tank to catch snails its lettuce leaf or cucumber is said to be more effective. You can try a combination of no feeding, picking them out and eggs whenever you see them, using a piece of cucumber to lure them for 3 hours and black out the tank during this time, then after 3-4 days do a chemical treatment and finally run some carbon in your tank 3 days after that. That should kill all the snails in your tank.

could try assassin snails, they are meant to be brill at knocking out snails, and they looks great!

Can people please stop spreading this depending on the species of "pest" snail and size assassins can kill entire populations of very small snails eventually as they eat multiple snails per day, however with larger "pest" snails they will only eat 1 or 2 per day. The "pest" snails will reproduce so quickly that assassin snails do not eradicate populations merely act as a buffer so that numbers do not increase as rapidly. Once the population is eradicated you also have to provide assassin's with their own food otherwise they will starve and die.