Posted in Spring '24, but didn't have this problem then.

[Bertha]

I know what a scourge snails can be - especially if your LFS says their plants are snail-free.

I found that my LFS's plants have snails, because within about two weeks of buying plants, I had a tiny snail on the glass. It's been another two weeks, and I have eight snails.

I don't want to kill the snails, but I don't know what to do with them. Ideas? Proven procedures? Any advice you can offer would be welcome. Besides getting rid of these plants, how can I guarantee no more snails?

Thank you.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I personally don't mind a few snails in the tank, when their numbers are kept in check they do a good job of keeping things tidy. The problem starts when you're inadvertently breeding them and that's usually down to overfeeding. I've been known to squish a pond snail or 2 against the glass for the fish to snack on, good eating

A preventitive measure would be to dip your new plants to kill snail eggs before they go into your tank, there's a few ways to do it so Google it to find out which way is best for you

 

[GaryE]

I hate snails. There is only one surefire way to eliminate them, and that's manual removal, or crushing.

Snail killing products are general biocides - they kill much more than snails and are harmful to the tank. Most snail eating fish will eat snails, but then what do you feed them? They are long lived species that need their food 5 or 10 years from now, and should be bought as short term inhabitants.

Either you harden your heart and kill snails, or they takeover the world.You can feed less, but they are resourceful. Like mosquitoes, they can be squished.

Oh, and I don't hate snails because of Gary the Snail on SpongeBob and I sharing the same first name. Pond snails eat fish eggs

 

[gwand]

When I had a pest snail problem in my 20 gallon long, I added two assassin snails to the tank This dynamic duo did the deed. And I think assassin snails are attractive.

 

[connorlindeman]

I am fine with ramshorn snails, pond snails, bladder snails. I welcome them into my aquariums. I believe they are part of a healthy ecosystem. Malaysian trumpet snails? I kill them on site.

 

[emeraldking]

These snails can be a real burden in a tank. They reproduce and grow so fast. And a tank full of them doesn't make a tank more attractive to look at...

 

[MaloK]

Bladder snails, need a lot less food than the rest to thrive and even in a tank that receive 0 food, they can still multiply only with the dead plant matter and algae growing in.

Atm they are migrating back and forth from the plants to the glass then back in the plants.

Every time they get out to the glasses, there's more and more...

They happily jam the filter pump ever 2-3 weeks and I can hear sometime a couple doing a carousel ride in the impeller.

They don't damage live plants at all and they don't seem to be a problem for cherry shrimps, that are also happily multiplying. But they do eat eggs from all copepods and amphipods and always crashed all my effort to seed the tank with them.

The only thing I added in the last 6 + months is small doses of plant fertilizer and enough light to have "some" algae on the walls.

It turned "natural" on it's own and adding food was only spoiling it. Now I only top water and let it go for fun. It's been took over by java fern and I simply put all the babies on the bottom and let them catch where ever they can.

I wanted to tear it down because of the snails but now it's doing so well that I might have a planted tank that is going to look great and full jungle in a few months....

Decisions, decisions...