Arrrgg! Snails!

[caino]

My tank is still cycling and i have made my first newbie error!! I didnt wash the plants befor i put them in the tank. This morining i woke up and saw several white dots on the tank i think there snail eggs but i dont no, i have a pic

and i counted 7 small brown snails, again iv got a pic but its not very good im afraid

its not a great foto but the snails are like white and see through with brown speckly shells hitchhikers!
are they bad for the tank and if so how should i get rid of em?

 

[caino]

any1 ?

 

[Raven_24]

yeah I've been abit worried about a snail attack too considering I put new java fern for the first time into the tank a few days back and when I took them out the packaging I noticed they had little yellowish dots on the undersides of the leaves...wasn't sure if it was meant to be like that or those were snails/parasites. I left the plants in a bucket of dechlorinated water for abit and swished them around....before putting them in.

Will be watching this thread with interest...

 

[Flik]

i have a few snails in my tank but it wasnt down to the plants, at first i ddint have any plants and snails started appearing. after doing a few experiments it turns out there in the tap water there wasnt any other explanation. i dont know if its just this area or anywhere else??

 

[caino]

Snails in the tap water... wow i have thought about dropping a cucumber in and seeing if they come onto it, they dispose of the cucumber but i dunno i need some more advice

 

[Raven_24]

snails in the tank water....eww. We've gotta drink that, are you sure they were coming out the tap??? Cucumber for snails...like wool for ticks/fleas I didn't know that worked thanks for that, I'll keep it in mind just in case.

Zymol - where do you live?

 

[Qays]

A snail infestation isnt really a problem unless you get plant eating ones!

The snails dont come out of your tap water.

I had a snail infestation, I tried putting cucumber in but it didnt work!

After a week or 2 of seeing tonnes of snails in the tank, they vanished.

Weird or what?!

But the best way to get rid of snails is netting them out.

If you have sand substrate, you can sift a net through it and collect the snails which are on the sand.

Whenever you see a snail, dont let it escape, dispose of it immediately.

Orr you could get snail eating fish. Dwarf Puffers eat snails, as do clown loaches i think....

 

[Kiddo]

I have a couple of snails in my tank with my two bettas. (Got in there with some plants that eventually died- I no longer have live plants.) I think they are pretty cool and I never thought to get rid of them. Are they harmful to fish, and do I really need to get rid of them? I just thought they were an interesting suprise addition.

 

[caino]

hmm, yea, i have been fishing them out, im still cycling and i have got about 5ppm of ammonia and high nitrite maby that will get em, i don't know. But i read a thread about shrimps liking snails, and i want a few of those so maby they will do the job

 

[Flik]

i live in north wales, trust me there are snails in the water here. you cant drink it or you'll probably end up in hospital, as theres a bug called cryprosparidium in it. has even been in the news

 

[BBrain]

No way I want snails in my tank....they're just another possible carrier of parasites.

Snails should only be in melted garlic butter! B)

 

[kimmers318]

Just send all of your snails to me for my dwarfpuffer!!! Although the mail services may not like it

 

[dgwebster]

dammit i was about to claim the snails too.

snails are a weird one.

I dont kind the odd one or two, as they will take care of excesss algae and some food. I left them in when they first appeared in my tank. then suddenly one day i had about maybe 100 in my tank. eeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkk.

so i tried:

cucumber: no luck
Leek: got about 15 out with this.

so I then tried the other approach. it was time i bought a bottom feeder.

The best you can get is a clown loach: they will clean your tank out of snails in a night at times. however, my existing tank size doesnt allow for them. so i bought a zebra loach (botia striata). despite the fact he hides all the time (they are a more nocturnal fish, unlike my leopard loach which bounces around the tank all day to my amusement) about a week later ive no snails left

the good thing about the zebra loach is the guy wont grow to over 4" typically (usually about 3") and they are peaceful fish. just wish he wouldnt set up camp behind the filter the way he does, hes gonna get tuck one day as he grows.

 

[caino]

hmm loaches, i got 2 with cucumber this mornin, i havnt seen anymore, i was planning on gettin a few kuhli loaches do these eat snails?

 

[dgwebster]

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...0&#entry1171235

khuli loaches v snails.