How Can I Get Rid Of Pest Snails?

[fishy55599]

How can i get rid of pest snails?
I am getting plecs soon will they eat them?

 

[shroob]

How can i get rid of pest snails?
I am getting plecs soon will they eat them?

No plecs will not eat them. The root cause of a lot of snail infestations is overfeeding, I suggest evaluating your feeding regime and see if you are possibly overfeeding. Also I suggest placing a piece of lettuce/cucumber in the tank at night, when you turn the lights on in the morning the snails should be all over it and they are easier to remove manually like this. I would repeat this until the problem goes away.

Adding a snail killing/removal fish in my experience is rarely as effective as patience and manual removal.

The best snail eradicating fish I had were loaches, though it would depend on your tank if they would fit in or not.

 

[fishy55599]

How can i get rid of pest snails?
I am getting plecs soon will they eat them?

No plecs will not eat them. The root cause of a lot of snail infestations is overfeeding, I suggest evaluating your feeding regime and see if you are possibly overfeeding. Also I suggest placing a piece of lettuce/cucumber in the tank at night, when you turn the lights on in the morning the snails should be all over it and they are easier to remove manually like this. I would repeat this until the problem goes away.

Adding a snail killing/removal fish in my experience is rarely as effective as patience and manual removal.

The best snail eradicating fish I had were loaches, though it would depend on your tank if they would fit in or not.

I dont think over feeding coz all they have r half algae wafer.
how will cucumber stay at bottom?
I cannot put loaches in the tank coz the tank is cherry shrimps only.
The snails came from java moss i brought few days ago

 

[shroob]

Ah, in that case I would not try medication either.

I normally weigh down the cucumber with a piece of lead, I think this will be OK in a shrimp tank. I have cherry shrimps also and find pieces of old lead sometimes in the sand (its a very old tank and used to be heavily planted). Though to be on the safe side I'd wait until someone can confirm shrimps are definitely OK with lead, or another method I used was to put a piece of fishing line (unused) through slices of cucumber then tie it to a pice of bogwood.

I also crush any larger snails I see in the shrimp tank, the shrimp like to eat them I've found.

 

[SimoUK]

For cucumber, I push a piece of CLEAN aliminium through the cucumber, that weighs it down to the bottom. I also have a massive infestation of snails at one point, I then cut down feeding and they are now ALL gone.

 

[fishy55599]

will snails eat shrimp eggs? as my shrimps have laid some now.
and will plecs eat shrimp eggs?

 

[shroob]

will snails eat shrimp eggs? as my shrimps have laid some now.
and will plecs eat shrimp eggs?

Cherry shrimp don't lay eggs, they carry them around, first internally (refered to as the 'saddle', then underneith them, refered to as 'berried').

I think what has happened is that your shrimp would have dropped the eggs, this isn't unusual and may be a sign of something not being quite right or simply due to being inexperienced. It happened to me when I first had shrimp. Hopefully they will get better as they mature.

Pretty much any fish will eat baby shrimp if they get the chance, plecs would seem a safer option than other fish. However, when you consider some species eat bloodworms and other small animals I wouldn't trust them with out knowing the exact species and even then I would be very wary. What type of plec are you getting?

 

[fishy55599]

Bristlenose

 

[roadmaster]

I believe Bristlenose will eat bout everything (except snails).
I have had success in the past with regards to removing unwanted snails by placing a net on the bottom of the tank and then placing a slice of cucumber,lettuce,or Zucchinni (sp) in the net with a fork run through it , or wrapped around a rock with rubber band,
In the morning ,I simply remove the net and any snails that happen to be on the veggies.
Have also placed veggies or alage wafers at the front of the aquarium after light's out of an evening and then in the morning,, I use gravel vaccum with the large end removed to suck up the snails into a bucket.
By removing the large end from the hand held gravel vaccum,,there appears to be more suction and the little buggers never knew what hit em.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I use assasin snails to keep my shrimp tank clean.

If you have a load of snails already:

1 - Put some lettuce in overnight, and bin it the next day when it is covered in snails
2 - Add Assasin snails (I only use 1 in my 8 litre tank, you may need more)
3 - You can do more manual removal if they Assasins cannot keep up

You will need to remember that the Assasins will need a supply of snails all the time to feed on. So once you get down a low enough level, things should tick along nicely with only a few young snails ever being present at a time

 

[fishy55599]

I don't have big ones now just like 5 prossibally more tiny ones.
wenether i saw the big ones i took them out by hand

 

[B13]

Ditto on the Assassin snails.

They are very pretty creatures, don't breed like crazy (unlike pest snails) will clear your tank of any pest snails ...and will also eat any leftover fish food.

I've had my herd of lil' stripey Assassins for a few months now and I ab-so-lute-ly LOVE 'em!!

 

[fishy55599]

tbh i dont have enough money to assassin snails as just spent alot on bn plecs, and need to get food supplies for fish

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

My Lionhead Cichlids and Indian Red Tail Squirrel Loaches adore pond snail snacks, as do Puffer Fish (whether I will actually commit to buying a salivator/ irrubesco Red Eye for a species only tank is still under ponder)...

 

[fishy55599]

it's a tank with cherry shrimp all different sizes so puffers might eat them