Snail Infestation!

muckluck · Apr 12, 2008

hello

when i bought some live plants for my tank they must of had some snail eggs in them as about a week later the tank was covered in tiny tiny snail babies. i could literally count about 10 in one go - i could only hope that the fish would eat then or they'd just die on thier own but they're not - the other day i saw a really big one! what can i do to get rid of them without harming the fish?

TylerFerretLord · Apr 12, 2008

First, I must ask, why is it you want them gone? If it's only ten then that doesn't seem like it is horrible. I could understand if you had hundreds.

They're actually beneficial to the tank, as they consume uneaten food and detritus, and algae.

If you must get rid of them, get a species of loach. Chemicals that kill snails will stress fish out and can cause an ammonia spike if they are not all removed quickly.

Sofia · Apr 12, 2008

Instead of just getting a fish to eat the snails you could also drop a slice of cucumber into the tank before bed and then in the morning most of the snails will be sitting on the cucumber munching on it. Simply remove the cucumber slice and throw it away.

Worked for me.

Also everytime I saw a snail on the glass I simply removed it from the tank. And everytime I saw snail eggs i removed them as well.

Snails aren't that bad in small numbers as Tyler has suggested.

emmsy · Apr 12, 2008

i agree mate. Had some snail eggs on my plants, and the cucmber trick worked for me also

Emma

boardy · Apr 13, 2008

I had this problem and bought myself 3 Clown Loaches, I'd been dying to get some cos I think they look great, and my snail problem was pretty much sorted over 2 nights. I had considerably more than 10 but the Clowns got rid easily, not had a single one come back since

Adam

three-fingers · Apr 13, 2008

boardy said:
I had this problem and bought myself 3 Clown Loaches, I'd been dying to get some cos I think they look great, and my snail problem was pretty much sorted over 2 nights. I had considerably more than 10 but the Clowns got rid easily, not had a single one come back since

Adam

However, clown loaches are only recommended if you can eventually provide for a group of foot long fish, I wouldn't recommend them for small tanks.

There's loads of other smaller loaches that will do the job though

.

The commonly available yo-yo loach and zebra loach for example.

Callum · Apr 13, 2008

I would advise as to removing your snails, they can carry disease and In my old 20 gal I had hundreds of empty shells. They can take over very very quickly and getting them out manually is a pain.

three-fingers · Apr 13, 2008

Snails that are already in the tank are no problem when it comes to disease, only new snails are a small potential risk.

If the snails were carrying some kind of pathogen, removing them now is going to make no odds.

I don't mind snails, they eat waste food and provide an extra bit of interest, seems more natural to me.

If your snails are multiplying loads, then there must be some kind of waste (food/algae/rotting plants) for them to eat. If you remove the snails, whatever they were eating is potentially going to become a problem.

monica · Apr 13, 2008

Just be sure to wash any new plants with tapwater, the chlorine in the water will eliminate any eggs on the plant.
Just for any future plant purchases.

three-fingers · Apr 13, 2008

I'd also disagree with the above, the eggs are in a jelly coating and the limited chlorine actually still in the tap water by time it's come out the tap and splashed about in the sink would have gassed off before it effects the eggs.
Trust me, tap water doesn't kill snail eggs, I always rinse my plants under the tap to get debris off but get snail eggs all the time :good: