Pond Snail Conundrum

[Ellphea]

I have recently noticed a few pond snails in my tank along with some ramshorn snails and trumpet snails. I have had terrible trouble with pond snails in the past and would really like to get rid of them before they become a problem. However, I don't want any harm to come to my trumpet snails. Any suggestions?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

In this case, there's really only one solution I can think of... hand picking.  Sorry, its not the best.  Pond snails are extremely prolific breeders when conditions (aka, excess food is available) are right.  Keep feeding to a minimum.  Try to feed specifically where your trumpet and ramshorn snails are... but expect that a good amount of that food will end up in the stomach of the pond snails too.  
 
 
 
Lettuce leaves hung on the side at night are good snail traps.  The easiest way there would be to pick off the snails you want to keep and throw the leaf into the garden after that.  In this case, you'd want to get to the 'trap' before light hits the tank.  The snails often leave before morning.

 

[Far_King]

I've had great success with traps before.  Just a plastic dome and a gate where the snails go in but can't come back out.  An algae wafer stuff in over night will bring in the snails.  Open the trap to save the ones you want and dispose of the pests.

 

[StevenF]

IN my experience feeding sparingly doe not work.  The snails will just switch to eating the bio film that covers everything in the aquarium.  I have for a while be crushing every pond nail I see but that ha not kept up the growth in the population.    Sail traps are effective at reducing the population but i have strong doubts that it will exterminate the pests.  based on what I have read assassin snails and predatory fish (puffer fish) are probably the best way eradication methods.  But if you use them they will also attack the snails you want to keep.

 

[Far_King]

Do you need to aim for total eradication?  They are unsightly but they will still do a good job of cleaning up the detritus in a tank in the same way as any other snail.

Agreed though, assassins will most definitely do the job but will not differentiate between the snails you want to keep and the pests.

 

[BeckyCats]

Only three things have worked for me: 1. Accepting that a certain amount of pond snails are always going to survive and abandoning hope of eradication; 2. Having fish that eat the eggs that they find (a molly and a Betta are fish I have seen eating snail eggs); 3. Hand-picking out the ones above the water line during the weekly water changes. In my 55 gallon, I am not aware of any fish eating eggs, so I am not sure if that is helping to keep the snails under control but I consider the population to be tolerable. Oh, and I also have an assassin snail but only one because they can get out of control too, I've read.

I hope you have good luck with whatever method you choose!