Clean The Tank

[Nicky2]

I am beginning to become over run with snails in the aquarium. Guess it was my own fault, being new to all this I didnt was the plants thoroughly enough before putting them in the tank. My question now is....

Is it possible to transfer the water from the tank to a large bucket, put the heater and the fish in it, while i thoroughly wash the plants, gravel substrate etc? I was going to give the heater a quick wipe down, but leave the filter unwashed.

Would this help solve my problem and is it safe or would it alter the balance of the tank and cause my fish distress?

 

[donna123]

hi,
i would just use a net and catch them when you can,or use clean jam jar put in cucumber or lettuce,sink on to bottom leave over night, and hopefully you can catch some of them ,i hate snails in my tanks to i have lots in my fry tank but it my be because i have to put more food in for them,to much food can mean more snails,good luck with your mission donna

 

[Nicky2]

hi,
i would just use a net and catch them when you can,or use clean jam jar put in cucumber or lettuce,sink on to bottom leave over night, and hopefully you can catch some of them ,i hate snails in my tanks to i have lots in my fry tank but it my be because i have to put more food in for them,to much food can mean more snails,good luck with your mission donna

thankx for your reply donna, i was hoping i would be able to just clean the whole thing out and put back the original tank water. Theres that many of them snails ranging in size from little more than a couple of mm to about 1cm and they are everywhere, over the rock, plants, amongst the gravel, up the sides of the tank just everywhere. i dont mind stripping it down, but dont want to harm the fish. There are also loads of eggs appearing so in the long run, the cucumber option may take ages.

 

[fish mad]

hi,
i would just use a net and catch them when you can,or use clean jam jar put in cucumber or lettuce,sink on to bottom leave over night, and hopefully you can catch some of them ,i hate snails in my tanks to i have lots in my fry tank but it my be because i have to put more food in for them,to much food can mean more snails,good luck with your mission donna

Get yourself a clown loach ., they love snails.

 

[Nicky2]

Get yourself a clown loach ., they love snails.

They grow big! and i cant get one till the weekend at the earliest, is stripping/cleaning the tank as in first post not an option?

 

[donna123]

hi,
i would just use a net and catch them when you can,or use clean jam jar put in cucumber or lettuce,sink on to bottom leave over night, and hopefully you can catch some of them ,i hate snails in my tanks to i have lots in my fry tank but it my be because i have to put more food in for them,to much food can mean more snails,good luck with your mission donna

Get yourself a clown loach ., they love snails.

its ok if you have room for 3 or more clown loach,im sure there is other loaches that eat snails to but i cant remember which ones they are.

 

[mark.w.jones]

Clown loach are mega active and reach 5 inches so are not ideal if you have a small tank. The only things you can really do are:

1. Be real careful about not overfeeding. More uneaen food = more snails.
2. Do a good gravle vac every week to remove uneaten waste.
3. Crush or remove as many as possible every time you clean tank out. Even then you'll be hard pressed to get rid of them. Look on them as a necessary evil as they do a great job of cleaning up leftover waste.
4. Other than that all you can do is trap them as decribed above.

Good luck

 

[Qays]

Dont start your tank from scratch.

The cucumber idea doesnt work.

Just net them out whenever you see them. Do not overfeed! Feed once a day and avoid any food getting to the bottom. this is the key part of eliminating snails.

Mix up gravel often, and siphon gravel often.

 

[Nicky2]

Dont start your tank from scratch.

Wasn't gonna start the tank from scratch as such.... just clean everything, and put the original tank water back.... but there again i guess the bacteria will be lost.

 

[Nicky2]

I tried a block of cucumber, sliced into four, pushed into the gravel, and this morning there seems to be quite a few smaller snails having breakfast, so i will remove the cucumber along with the snails and replace it with fresh. Just want to check that I will be ok taking the aquarium plants out of the tank and rinsing the snails away then replacing them, won't I?