Snail Treatment

[Nigalius]

Hi...One of the bugs of keeping fish is the infestation of snails. I have tried many treatments with only very limited success. I have been working away for quite a while and only got back pretty recently and noticed that the snails in my tropheus tank were beginning to take over. I looked at my shelf of meds and was wondering what one to use... Then I had a brainwave, I could take the direct approach. So, I came upstairs with an empty ice cream container, and manually picked out 244 snails. I then thought to myself, why have I not done this before? Its cheaper than buying meds, works instantly not in the 2 weeks or so that meds do, I don't have to take my carbon out, and of course, no meds needed in the tank. On the first time I did this it took about an hour to get 209, and this morning took about 15 minutes to get 35. Being Trophs in the tank they were not bothered at all about my arm keep on plunging into the tank, infact they were quite inquisitive. I have many boulders of lava rock in there and I did not remove any rock. Admittedly, at the beginning the first session took an hour and I would not suggest doing it with some other fish that can be suspect to being spooked but I am well pleased with the results. I wonder if anyone else has taken this direct approach to control snails? I would be interested to know.

Cheers Nigel <:{{{><

 

[shelaghfishface]

edite cos i opened my eyes

if it worked its fab, tho im not touchin snails

 

[tenohfive]

I always used to use an old fork and crushed them against the glass. Free live food.

 

[Nigalius]

Hi...

Yea Shelagh, (not putting 'fishface' after your name), but I bet your in Ireland, lol...
I used my hands to get them out but you could always use some flat tweezers if you don't wanna touch them.

Tenohfive, There were only about 10 on the glass, all the rest were on the rocks. I could not crush them in the Tropheus tank as live food is out of bounds for those fish, they would get bloat. Spirulina based food is all I can give them.

Cheers Nigel <:{{{><

 

[crazychris]

Yes that's how I get rid of them though I can beat you. Got 302 once in an hour. Yes my daughter, 8 at the time, delighted in counting them for me! Best thing to do is dim the room late at night and wait a while. They'll come out of the gravel then so you'll get more and it's easier. Haven't seen as many since getting two big clown loaches though.

 

[Krullpes]

and I thought the 6 snails I spotted the other day my tank were a pain Should have cleaned the plant I recently added more thoroughly.

I cleared those I could see out in a similarly proactive way, though using a small glass cleaning sponge with a long handle to catch them without having to touch and they are still small so not easy to pick out though they seem to grow fast. I don't see any at the moment so hopefully have them all...touch wood.

Are we cursed with them once they are present though, presumably they lay eggs to make it difficult? Does anyone know of a more hands-off approach to eliminate them? I know people introduce them deliberately and they are harmless to the fish and probably beneficial when controlled but when unwanted they are pests.

 

[Nigalius]

Well. the count is now 382 I will have another go later on.

Crazychris, you are still winning though, I would say that in all, my count has taken 90 mins of my time. If I get many more I could make myself a small stew... I will definitely go to the lfs though for a couple of clowns.

Krullpes, I tried a sponge at first but they kept falling to the substrate and its nigh on impossible to pick them out of that.

Yes, I think we are cursed with them, I too presume they lay eggs and its so easy to get over run with them. I have tried many meds to try to get rid of them but whatever happens I do know now that there are 382 less snails in my tank and all the offspring they might have produced.

Cheers Nigel <:{{{><

 

[saz326]

This is a great way to remove the snails, but unfortunately wont kill off any eggs in the tank so you will always have some ready to hatch. Although saying that - small baby snails dont bother me and im happy to have them in my tank. I only pick out the larger ones and throw them outside to the birds.

 

[Spishkey]

isnt a bad infestation of snails an indication of overfeeding your fish?

 

[Anna Robinson]

Yes, Spish, usually. The snails have to be feeding on something, and that something is usually fish food that isn't being eaten by the fish, for whatever reason. In sparsely-fed tanks, snails aren't a problem.

However, there are some set-ups where it's quite difficult to get the fish to eat all the food you put in quickly - I'm thinking of fussy or new fish, which have to be tempted with lots of different food and are too shy to eat it immediately. You typically get severe snail problems then!

I've always used a plain siphon pipe to remove snails - no 'funnel' end, just the pipe, with water siphoning through it. If you keep your hand over the end of the pipe, quickly kinking and unkinking it as you move along, you can suck up each individual snail with little or no substrate, and without causing much bother to the fish. Only takes a few minutes to suck up every snail you can see.

 

[Nigalius]

Hi...

I am gonna take that advice and change the feeding habits from twice a day to once a day. I will also buy another 2 clown loach, making a total of 3 and of course I will be continuing with the manual method. As of now, the total removed comes to 511, I wont be beaten. I am also going to try what Mars suggested and suck some out with a tube, anything that will help to cull the population of snails.

Cheers Nigel <:{{{><

 

[Jazzzz]

Hang on how big is your tank clowns need at least 260L

 

[saltynay]

Why do you detest them so? I quite like my snail population they are interesting and I have 3 assassin snails whom keep the numbers from sky rocketing within a fortnight, I purposefully over feed for my fish so that the snails and shrimp get some.

 

[Jazzzz]

your tank is only 36gallon its not big enough for the clown loaches

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

Gotta agree with Jazzzz. Try Botia kubotai 'polkadot loach' instead of clown loaches, they don't get nearly as big (4"-5" maximum... even then it takes a few years to get that big) but they definitely love to slurp snails. Mine at snail eggs as well... watched them sucking the egg cluster off the bottom of a cryptocoryne leaf whilst clicking to each other like mad!



Edited for spelling mistake!