Bloody Snails

[marksayer10@tiscali.co.uk]

hi all

i cannot believe i have a snail infestation, 1st time i have ever had it, i am guessing they arrived by new plants i put in 2 weeks ago. so i have just cleaned stones with gravel vac, cleaned my filters and bought 3 clown loach and ordered 3 assassin snails, hopefully that should solve the problem, i dont want to use med's

anyone else have this problem, its a pain in the A£SE

 

[Wills]

Their not that bigger of a problem really lots of solutions to get rid of them - assassin snails and loaches are a good way (though what size is your tank?) and an other easy way is put a lettuce leaf in and then a few hours later you come back to the tank see all the snails on there take it out throw them in the bin and repeat

Wills

 

[marksayer10@tiscali.co.uk]

Their not that bigger of a problem really lots of solutions to get rid of them - assassin snails and loaches are a good way (though what size is your tank?) and an other easy way is put a lettuce leaf in and then a few hours later you come back to the tank see all the snails on there take it out throw them in the bin and repeat

Wills

my tank is a 5 x 2 x 2, and i mainly have cichilds i.e 1 x pair of red spotted severums, 1 x pair of geophagus and 1 x pair of angel fish and 3 red torpedo barbs and a few verious catfish so not snail eaters, thx for that, i think i may have to buy some lettice and try

 

[onebto]

Clown loach should be in groups 3 is not a lot. Have you read up on the Clown loach? they need space to swim caves to hide in and make them safe and comfortable. They will deal with your snail problem without any other help required but!

They need a range of foods and they do grow big and can live a long time if kept well Please please read up on them be honest it is the last thing I would recommend to buy Clown Loach to get rid of a snail problem.

Regards onebto.

 

[marksayer10@tiscali.co.uk]

i do know how to keep clown loach and what to feed them, i have kept them once before, i have not rushed into getting them as i have wanted to get them a little while now and its a perfect excuse to get some and as for groups then yes i know that to, i understand 3 is not a big group but 3 is a big enough group for me right now, thx for your input

 

[Carlovel1]

In Maidenhead aquatics, they are selling a 'snail trap' for around £11. They were using it in one of the show tanks and it seemed very effective

 

[marksayer10@tiscali.co.uk]

my local aquatics is a maidenhead and yeah i did see the new snail catches but the only problen i may have is they may get back out as they any very small at the moment but yeah i thought they were a good little idea,

thx for posting

 

[zophie]

When ever I have a snail problem, I use the good ol' veggie method

I take a slice of veggie (cucumber, Zuchini, potato, carrot, brocolie etc.), and drop it in the tank. Then, I wait a night, and voila! The veggie is covered with snails, and you just take it out and dispose it It may take a few veggies to de-snail your tank (I had to do three for about twenty snails) , but soon you will have a pretty, clean, de-snailed tank

Zophie

 

[marksayer10@tiscali.co.uk]

very good idea thx, bit simplar idea to the lettice leaf but thx for your input, i do have some carrot in the fridge, i would use cucumber but only prob is my fish love it ha ha so by the morning i would have none left anyway

thx again

 

[21rm]

I had a huge problem with snails last year. Had a couple of large apple snails, that laid eggs, and I tried to remove them. Well I believed I had removed them all lol, but OMG, it was impossible to get rid of all.
I brought the two adults back to pet shop, and hoped for the best! Couple week later came home from college to see what seemed like hundreds of baby snails in the tank I used two snail treatments, the didn't work, so used them in conjunction with each other, still didn't work. My tank was heavily planted, so the babies had started on them, so dumped all the plants, and eventually bought a few clown loaches. I have a decent sized tank, so was lucky that i could get them. They worked wonders!!! Even now, every now and again I see a empty baby snail shell sitting in the bottom of tank, which shows that even still they are in there, somewhere, just waiting!!!! lol


I also tried the lettuce thing, didn't seem to work tho

 

[Nick16]

When ever I have a snail problem, I use the good ol' veggie method

I take a slice of veggie (cucumber, Zuchini, potato, carrot, brocolie etc.), and drop it in the tank. Then, I wait a night, and voila! The veggie is covered with snails, and you just take it out and dispose it It may take a few veggies to de-snail your tank (I had to do three for about twenty snails) , but soon you will have a pretty, clean, de-snailed tank

Zophie

best option suggested so far. someone used their brain.

buying things to eat snails is all very well, but it takes up stocking room, and alters the tank, plus you end up with the problem of what to do with them afterwards. assasain snails are good, but on a tank that size you will need a massive group and then they breed, so you are back to square 1. i have 1 assasain snail in my 4x2x2 and i did a lovely job, never saw any pest snails, but once it eats them all you have to keep feeding them!

i like having a few snails in my tank as they are THE SINGLE BEST thing for your substrate. they turn it over, releasing any trapped gas pockets before they build up too much, and also eat any left over foods, and with cichlids, thats a massive boost!

other options to consider are.. manually removing the ones you see, or crush them up as fish will eat them. feeding less, or putting cucumber in as suggested.

they normally arrive on things like plants (hece i was mine thoroghly), but will only thrive if there is tons of stuff for them to eat.

if you rid yourself of the snails, get some corries, as they do a similar job, eating the left over food, but look nice and are very sociable..provided your cichlids arent the mega aggressive ones!

snails should be seen in a different light if you ask me, they do far more good than bad and are an excellent indicator of how much you are over feeding. remember little and often, dont let it all get to the substrate levels.

 

[marksayer10@tiscali.co.uk]

I had a huge problem with snails last year. Had a couple of large apple snails, that laid eggs, and I tried to remove them. Well I believed I had removed them all lol, but OMG, it was impossible to get rid of all.
I brought the two adults back to pet shop, and hoped for the best! Couple week later came home from college to see what seemed like hundreds of baby snails in the tank I used two snail treatments, the didn't work, so used them in conjunction with each other, still didn't work. My tank was heavily planted, so the babies had started on them, so dumped all the plants, and eventually bought a few clown loaches. I have a decent sized tank, so was lucky that i could get them. They worked wonders!!! Even now, every now and again I see a empty baby snail shell sitting in the bottom of tank, which shows that even still they are in there, somewhere, just waiting!!!! lol


I also tried the lettuce thing, didn't seem to work tho

thx for you feedback,

 

[marksayer10@tiscali.co.uk]

When ever I have a snail problem, I use the good ol' veggie method

I take a slice of veggie (cucumber, Zuchini, potato, carrot, brocolie etc.), and drop it in the tank. Then, I wait a night, and voila! The veggie is covered with snails, and you just take it out and dispose it It may take a few veggies to de-snail your tank (I had to do three for about twenty snails) , but soon you will have a pretty, clean, de-snailed tank

Zophie

best option suggested so far. someone used their brain.

buying things to eat snails is all very well, but it takes up stocking room, and alters the tank, plus you end up with the problem of what to do with them afterwards. assasain snails are good, but on a tank that size you will need a massive group and then they breed, so you are back to square 1. i have 1 assasain snail in my 4x2x2 and i did a lovely job, never saw any pest snails, but once it eats them all you have to keep feeding them!

i like having a few snails in my tank as they are THE SINGLE BEST thing for your substrate. they turn it over, releasing any trapped gas pockets before they build up too much, and also eat any left over foods, and with cichlids, thats a massive boost!

other options to consider are.. manually removing the ones you see, or crush them up as fish will eat them. feeding less, or putting cucumber in as suggested.

they normally arrive on things like plants (hece i was mine thoroghly), but will only thrive if there is tons of stuff for them to eat.

if you rid yourself of the snails, get some corries, as they do a similar job, eating the left over food, but look nice and are very sociable..provided your cichlids arent the mega aggressive ones!

snails should be seen in a different light if you ask me, they do far more good than bad and are an excellent indicator of how much you are over feeding. remember little and often, dont let it all get to the substrate levels.

thx for your advice, already have a few corys. all my cichilds are very placid, my red spotted sev's are that placid when i am cleaning my tank i have to physically move with my hand i.e picking up and moving to the other side of the tank, i understand what u mean about snails should be seen in a different light but yeah a few would be ok but not hundreds which is what it seems to be at the moment,

thx once again

 

[Carlovel1]

ATM in my large tank, I have an outbreak of pest snails and malaysian snails. I swear to god, it these don't die soon, I will add a large school of Yoyo Loach!

 

[marksayer10@tiscali.co.uk]

ATM in my large tank, I have an outbreak of pest snails and malaysian snails. I swear to god, it these don't die soon, I will add a large school of Yoyo Loach!

at least if you do its live food