Plants and snails...

[Foggy Goggles]

My plants were doing just fine for about 6 months. Now week by week they are dwindling. They're not even browning up. They just are simply thinning out. I then took a closer look and saw that my tank is infested with snails and they are hanging all over my plants. I'm guessing they are eating them. How in the world can I get rid of these aquatic gypsie moths?

Thanks in advance

 

[kenneth_kpe]

how big is your tank ?

there are ways to remove snails in a tank
1) natural
2) chemical
3) physical (hehe)

1) using natural predators like loaches to hunt them snails down ( be warned that loaches need to be in a group and tend to grow a bit big)

2) i never advise this but there are chemical meds that kills snails, high in copper i think, kills everything with a shell! haha snails, shrimp crabs everything . be carefull because your water levels might suddenly jerk of balance and might result in a mass kill

3) picking them out o crushing them with your thumb

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there are other ways like snail traps but these things never worked for me


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anyways in my small 13 gal tank, there are snails but they are not out of control, i dont overfeed my fish maybe thats the reason why my snail population is in tabs or im just lucky that all of the snails in my tank do not prefer vegetation .. but they only like algae

hope this helps

 

[Foggy Goggles]

I have a 35 gallon hex and these things are everywhere now. On the filter tube, airstone, glass, plants, driftwood, all over the gravel, etc. Little buggers are even freefloating around attached to leafs that fell off the plants. Physically picking these things out would take forever. I was debating on getting some kind of small crayfish that will eat these things but then I thought about my 8 inch pleco for which a small crayfish might make for a tasty meal. My nitrate levels are really high so I'm sure this could have caused a massive population boom. I will be doing vacs and water changes on a weekly basis to reduce this though. Perhaps that will help.

Regards

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

i have been trying to have lots of snails!!!!.....i consider you guys lucky!!....lol but they are needed to feed my puffers.... if you get to much just simply put in a piece of lettuce at night in the morning remove it with a bunch of snails attached to it.....

 

[kenneth_kpe]

i dont think the nitrate levels could cause a snail population boom btw.... hmmm a 35 gal.... its not that a big but if you have a bigger tank then a few loaching will solve your problem IMO..