Pesky Snails; Tank Invasion!

[screamingdonkey]

I woke up this morning, turned the lights on in my 180L and was absolutley gobsmacked to see at least a hundred tiny little white (if not, cream) snails all over the bogwood, the filter housing and the glass at the back of the tank. Literally, within a couple of minutes of me turning the lights on they were all dropping off the bogwood, glass etc and then burying themselves in the substrate.

Prior to this, I've never had any problems with snails.
I've had a largish apple snail in the tank for several months but about two days ago (s)he stopped moving. Being lazy, and also for the sake of the kids thinking that he might 'come back to life', I'd left him/her in the tank. I intended to remove him/her last night but for some reason didn't get round to doing it.

Anyway, the point is, the shells of these baby snails are more conical in shape (not spherical, like the apple snail). I can't seem to find any images of baby apple snails on the net, so I don't know what they look like. I assumed if they were baby apples, then there shells would be spherical(?)

If they're not apples then I've got no idea how they got there. I know people will say that they were probably castaways on plants but the last time I bought any plants for the tank was at least 3 weeks ago. Is it possible for snail eggs to remain "hidden" for 3 weeks before becoming free-moving snails? Excuse my ignorance on this.

Any ideas as to what type of snail they may be?
And what's the best way to go about getting rid of them?
I have got some loaches in the tank (botia kubotai & botia striata) but none of them showed any interest in having the snails for breakfast this morning. Unfortunately, I can't put any clowns in the tank as I'm pretty much overtsocked (temporarily at least) in this tank & there's no spare room in the 3 other tanks I have to make some space by rearranging stock levels.

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions welcome

Thanks

Justin

 

[Spooky76]

You sure your loaches arent eating them ? I thought that of mine, then when vac'ing the gravel started to notice loads of little empty shells going up and dropping back down. Then one day.....I couldnt see any.

I put lettuce in the tank with a weight once the lights are off, remove in morning with loads of snails on it...crush the ones you cant get out....

Alot of meds knock them out, so you can then net them out, other than that.....not much you can do.

 

[screamingdonkey]

You sure your loaches arent eating them ?

Convinced! Well, at least I think so - I watched the tank this morning v.carefully. Like I said, they disappeared into the substrate and the loaches just paid no interest in them at all.
Unless, maybe, there were actually several hundred last night and the loaches have already had a belly full?

I put lettuce in the tank with a weight once the lights are off, remove in morning with loads of snails on it...crush the ones you cant get out....

Ok, might try that tonight. Thanks

 

[flash22]

What ever you do dont crush them !!!!! as 1. thay can spike the ammonia and 2.it can release more eggs. I found this out the hard way i currently have a snail problem i cant treat with meds because of week old mollie fry an Mr loach is getting bored of eating snails lol

 

[SJ2K]

Malaysian Trumpet Snail - Melanoides tuberculata

Size: 15 - 30 millimetres ; 0.6 - 1.2 inches

Shell is conical, 5 -> spires, they have operculum, heart shaped mouth and thin tentacles. Malaysian trumpet snails, MTS, are really useful snails. They eat algae and leftover fish food (also dead fish and fish eggs),dead plant material and they will usually leave live plants alone. They burrow in the sand during daytime unless there are too many snails or the substrate is too compacted and going bad. They will help with keeping the sand loose. When the lights are off the snails head towards the surface and start eating algae.

They give birth to live babies and are usually all females and they reproduce through parthenogenesis (females don't need to be fertilised).

 

[screamingdonkey]

What ever you do dont crush them !!!!! as 1. thay can spike the ammonia and 2.it can release more eggs

Thanks for the advice, appreciated

 

[screamingdonkey]

Malaysian Trumpet Snail - Melanoides tuberculata

Size: 15 - 30 millimetres ; 0.6 - 1.2 inches

Shell is conical, 5 -> spires, they have operculum, heart shaped mouth and thin tentacles. Malaysian trumpet snails, MTS, are really useful snails. They eat algae and leftover fish food (also dead fish and fish eggs),dead plant material and they will usually leave live plants alone. They burrow in the sand during daytime unless there are too many snails or the substrate is too compacted and going bad. They will help with keeping the sand loose. When the lights are off the snails head towards the surface and start eating algae.

They give birth to live babies and are usually all females and they reproduce through parthenogenesis (females don't need to be fertilised)

Sounds like it could be them - although colouring was much more pale on the ones in my tank. Maybe they darken as they grow older?
And mine were probaby closer to 10mm in length - although there was one that was closer 20mm (parent maybe?)

Again, thanks for the info

 

[jennybugs]

You can also weight down a slice of cucumber in the tank after lights out and collect it in the morning. Repeat as necessary

Trumpet snails are b*ggers as they can breed on their own without the need for another snail.

Good luck!

 

[CrashingWaves]

You can also weight down a slice of cucumber in the tank after lights out and collect it in the morning. Repeat as necessary

Trumpet snails are b*ggers as they can breed on their own without the need for another snail.

Good luck!

I second this opinion as it seems to be the most effective way to get rid of snails, without getting a clown loach, and without adding a chemical to the tank to kill off the snails.

God Bless,
Joshua

 

[screamingdonkey]

You can also weight down a slice of cucumber in the tank after lights out and collect it in the morning. Repeat as necessary

The only problem with this is I have a plec in this tank who absolutely adores cucumber - and I'm pretty sure there'd be nothing left of it by the morning. Thanks anyway

 

[CrashingWaves]

Hmm, well it'd still be worth a try I suppose. If in the end it doesn't work, you'll just have to resort to adding some chemical that will kill them off.

God Bless,
Joshua

 

[Spooky76]

lol @ plec.

If you can fix the cucumber to the side of the tank that will do the same and the plec might not get it.

As for crushing the snails, sorry I meant to see if the loach eats it, sorry. I didnt mean go around crushing them all and putting them back in. Yes they will rot and produce ammonia, but as for the breeding if you crush them...I dont know, they breed anyway without another snail so not sure thats a problem.

 

[CrashingWaves]

Even if you were crushing all the snails you could find, I wouldn't really say they were still releasing eggs when you did this. Simply you just weren't finding all the eggs in the tank and they were just hatching. It would basically be impossible to find every snail egg in almost any size tank.

God Bless,
Joshua