fish trouble

[downsouth]

i came home from work today to find my fish tank more full of snails than ever before. i have been scooping them out with a net almost daily and they are very hard to control. also my fish are sucking at the top of the water. i used a test strip to check the water and everything seems to be fine, ph maybe a touch low, but not bad. any suggestions? could this be the snails causing them to suck at the surface?

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

I myself have not had a snail problem, but I read something a few days ago about putting a peice of lettude or vegetable in the tank and overnight the snails will congregate on the peice of food and you will be able to scoop lots of them out.

 

[ncjharris]

There have been a lot of posts on snails in the last week or so.
Do a search, or have a dig on the forums and you'll see what people suggest.

It's a lot quicker than waiting for people to repy!

 

[BigC]

Firstly Test Strips are notoriously innacurate. Much better to buy a proper kit.
Snails are a bain especially if you have a planted aquaria. Pieces of meat left in the tank inside a jamjar or the likes overnight attract them and are easily removed but this is an ongoing regime. There are loaches that eat snails have you thought of, or have room for these.
Regards
BigC

 

[yvez9]

if you're talking about trumpet snails, they're very hard to eradicate since they live under the substrate most of the day and reproduce quite fast. At first it doesn't seem like it because the baby snails are so small you barely see them, but when they start growing they'll reproduce even faster and then you see them. I boile all my sand in my 20 gallon tank once, and made sure none were left on my plants, but probably the smallest hitched on a piece of wood or rock as about a month later I have maybe 100 or so in there...

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

the piece of lettuce in the tank thing doesnt work, i tried it.

as for the fish breathing at the surface of the water. maybe your tank hasnt got enough oxygen in it. or maybe the water is too hot

 

[Inchworm]

Hi downsouth

A snail explosion is usually a good indicator that you have been feeding your fish too much.

Overfeeding will also result in an explosion of potentially harmful bacteria that consume the leftovers too. They cannot be measured with any test kit, but an excessive number put your fish at risk of contracting a bacterial infection. If a good water change doesn't put your fish to rights, I suggest you look into this possibility.