How Do I Get Rid Of Snails...?

[Seawings]

Hi All,
 
I'm a four month newbie (in the UK) who has been planting out his tank with new 'live' plants. All has gone well so far, least as far as i know. Carried out regular water changes, tended to the fish, plants, filter etc exactly as the books and instructions say. All seems to be going well I think.
 
After a couple weeks though I noticed the odd snail, which I'm ok with, but tonight I've noticed they have multiplied somewhat - I must have 20 now!
 
What's the best way of 'controlling' the snail population? Pulling them out by the fingers??
 
Regards,,
 
Bryan
Essex, England

 

[Byron]

Snails will reproduce according to the available food.  You may think there is not much food in the tank yet, and while there is not as much as there will be when fish are present, there is more that you might think even now.  If food is not available, the snails will not grow and reproduce much.  But removing them manually is the only safe way; you can just pick them out, or bait them overnight with a leaf of clean lettuce, slice of cucumber, etc.
 
I personally would not worry about them.  Snails are your friend, as they can get into places to eat organics like fish waste, dead plant leaves, etc, and this breaks it down faster so bacteria can more easily handle it.  Keeps the tank cleaner and healthier.
 
I have so many Malaysian Livebearing snails in my larger tanks I cannot even begin to count them, in the hundreds.  Not surprisingly, few ever mature beyond 3/16 to 1/4 inch, and disappear.  Because of the limited food.  They also help by eating some algae off plant leaves.
 
Byron.

 

[Ch4rlie]

One other option is you could add a few assassin snails, they will control you pest snail population, eventually eliminating the pest snails.

 

[Seawings]

Hi Guys,
 
thanks for the replies.
 
Assassin snails? What are they? What name do they go under?
 
Having tried to carry out a 'snail count' in the past hour, I reckon there could be up to 25/30 of them; some are extremely small and a could are finger nail sized. They are all moving around and the fish don't seem to mind them so I guess the best option may be to carry out a cull each weekend as a matter of course...? They are hard to pick up when they are so small, as I've found out.
 
But, I'll keep looking out for everything in there; I'm getting so much satisfaction from this, it's really theraputic, another world to think about other than this one.....
 
Cheers,
 
Bryan

 

[Byron]

As I suggested previously, I would tend to just leave them, and be glad they're there working for you.  I think I counted up to about 500 MLS in my 115g one day...fell asleep doing it, like counting sheep.

 

[Ch4rlie]

There are several methods to dealing with pest snails if you really want to get rid of them.
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/41473-dealing-with-pest-snails/
 
As Byron says, some snail species are quite good for your tank in terms of eating any leftover fish food and algae for example, or in case of MTS good for substrate turnover and helps eliminate anaerobic bacteria is a good example. 
 
As for what Assassins Snails are, Clea helena, imo a rather nice colourful specie of snail that consumes other species of snails as part of diet.
 
           Assassin Snail egg                                                  Adult Assassin Snail
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:75746]   [sharedmedia=core:attachments:75747]
 
 
                                              Feeding time with Algae Wafers
                                  [sharedmedia=core:attachments:76085]
 

 

[Ardvark]

I found that using a TURKEY BASTER to suck the pest snails off the tank walls are a quicker and less fish stressing way of getting them out the way.
 
                                                                                                                Al