Snails

[Liliano]

I too have an infestation of snails at the moment

I went away for a week and there were loads the the little buggers. I handpicked about 20 of them out yesterday.

I plan to do the following:

I have already removed any plants which regularly collect food/plant debris - as these are a snails feeding ground.

I have cut down the amount of food I feed my fish (only feeding what they eat straight away - once a day) and plan to not feed every 3rd day. This should at least stop the little critters from breeding so quickly.

I check the tank daily for snail eggs and remove any plant leaves which have them.

Once a week I remove the filter wipe it down with a sponge, inside and out (make sure you use a new sponge that has not come into contact with any detergents and moisten it using water from the tank/filter.

I have tried the lettuce, green leaf trick and would only produce a couple of snails at a time.

Hand pick as many as you can out - turning the lights off for about an hour brings most of them out and you can pick from plant leaves and the side of the tank.

They will never be gone completely but you can at least control them. The rid-a-snail product doesn't kill the snails it only knocks them out -IMO I would not use this if you have fish in your tank.

Hope this helps.

 

[shrks1fan]

Salt probably won't work as snails can withstand a certain amount of salinity. I have snails (on purpose, they're great cleaners) in my Betta tanks and I keep salt in their water and the snails are fine. Unless you put a dose of salt in that would technically make it a salt water tank, and that obviously wouldn't be good for the fish

I've heard the loaches do an awesome job on the snails. Overfeeding will also cause a snail explosion as the snails won't lag eggs if there isn't enough food for them.

Linda

 

[lucky62]

I have snails on purpose also , live bearing trumpet snails , mine live in my substrate during the day mostly , and come out at night to eat , I guess.

botia loachs should eat them .

I don't think the salt will work either .


What type of snail do you have ?

 

[lougotzz]

get a clown loach they eats the little sob's and you can also put a piece of romane lettuce and after a few hours pull it out the snails are gonna attach to the lettuce to eat so that way you can get rid of the snails

 

[luxum]

If you have a snail "infestation" it is because either you are overfeeding and hence providing lots of food for the snails which will happily reproduce to occupy the scavenger niche in an aquarium, or else your weekly maintainance is insufficient and high nutrient levels in the water are causing algae blooms which once again gives the snails lots of food, or both. So, to reduce the snail population, use a three pronged attack. First, reduce your feedings = feed less, or feed less often, or both. A day of fasting with no food at all is beneficial to both the fishy digestive systems, and the pollutant levels in the tank. Second, increase your water changes. Check your nitrates, are they high? If so, do more frequent water changes until the levels come down. Lastly, manual removal to get most of the adults out of the tank by using a lettuce leaf as bait and removing it during the night after the lights have been out a while. Take care of those factors and the snail population will reduce to something less offensive. To maintain low snail levels, don't overfeed, and keep up with the water changes.

 

[chew-able]

I disagree with the "get a clown loach" comments. Clowns can grown very large and ontop of this need to be kept in groups. Unless you have a big tank I would not advise. There are however several other sutable sized botia loaches that have already been discussed.

Once they are in your tank they are almost imposible to iradicate. You can keep them in check though with lower feeding, etc as discribed.

I posted this below in another thread but I think its also (if not more) appropriate here. Its no help once you've got them but its a good tip for the rest of you.

A quick tip on avoiding introducing snails on plants.......

Get down your local pharmacy and ask for 'potasium permanganate'. Comes in christals and tablets. Christals are prefferable becuae you only need a small ammount each time. If you get tablets then you can always brake them down a bit. Apparently this stuff is used for all sorts.....the woman asked me if it was for my feet??

When you get home......fill a bucket with water (tap is fine) and put a tiny ammount of the potasium permanganate in the water (the water will turn purple).....let it dissolve then submerge your newly brought plants in it.

WARNING!!! If you get it on your hands it may stain them a funny brown colour for a couple of days! This isn't harmful in anyway just looks funny!

leave the plants in the solution for about 30-60 mins then take them out and rince in a bucket full of clean tap water. Then put them in your tank.

I've done this for the past 5 years since a 84 year old fish keeper gave me this tip. And I haven't had a single unwanted snail since.

Chew

 

[shrks1fan]

What type of snail do you have ?

I'm not sure if you're asking me that or the original poster (he said he didn't know what type). I have Apple Snails and Ramshorn snails. I love them! Although I think the Ramshorns do a better job of cleaning, the Apples are little chickens and hide in their shells whenever the fish are around, Lol. But the Apples are cool looking

Linda

 

[cutecotton]

i also don't really agree to the get a loach to solve hte problem, espiecally since clown loaches grow to be very big i don't know about yoyo loaches and their max size, but you shouldn't depend on them soley to get rid of the snails.

i got some trumpet snails and pond snails of some kind in my tank, i just see a few here and there (not hundreds) and idon't really care they keep the tank clean and they like their homes so i just leave them alone

 

[littleme1969]

I have to agree with the salt won't have any effect on them.. .these guys are in distructable...lol I have salt in my quarantine tank and 3 different types of snails in there happily living.
But strangely I have never had an explosion of numbers. just the ones that apperered when I set the tank up. They have laid eggs but I guess the fish have eaten the babies as non have ever grown up, Well its either that or the fact that I'm carefull with food , so only a small population can be accomadated due to lack of food.

I would think the best way is control, pick out as many as you can see on a daily basis, and as the other person suggested remove any eggs you see. They usually like broad leafed plants. Over time you will get it under control. Snails do a good job of cleaning and I think they add to the aquarium. mine like to flot up to the surface then hang slug side to the water surface and shell down and surf with the current .. its so comical to see, and when they meet up they do this funny dance. I guess my snails need a head shrink or something .. and the fact that I have got so much time on my hands to watch this going on says I need to get a life..

 

[BOD]

hey im not a HE!!!! LOL thanks for all the replies....i dont want to get rid of them all mayb i didnt state that! opps! but ive only set this tank up a few weeks ago and all of a sudden there where loads of snails..i want to keep some cos i like them, in my other tank i have one giant snail and its great...it surfs across the water too!! hehehe...i think im going to go with getting a loach (botia) just to keep there numbers down..and mayb feed my fish a bit less but there only fry so i thought u had to feed them quite a bit to help them grow?! i only put in wot they can eat in a few minutes though. oh well as long as the little critters stay in the tank ill be fine....dont want to wake up one morning and find them on my pillow!!!

 

[Tropjunky]

smash them wit a hammer!

snail treatment or loaches.

 

[David]

get a clown loach they eats the little sob's and you can also put a piece of romane lettuce and after a few hours pull it out the snails are gonna attach to the lettuce to eat so that way you can get rid of the snails

I might be wrong but didn't cutecotton and I both already give that suggestion?

 

[David]

I disagree with the "get a clown loach" comments. Clowns can grown very large and ontop of this need to be kept in groups. Unless you have a big tank I would not advise. There are however several other sutable sized botia loaches that have already been discussed.

I was under the impression that he/she has big tank. Sorry if I missed anything.

 

[chatterbox]

bettas!bettas!bettas!

 

[SirMinion]

Snails. Pah...

I say we take off and nuke the entire tank from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.. (quote adapted from Aliens)

I too have a snail infestation and my plants are looking worse for wear.
I already have three clown loach in the tank, but they're not doing their job very well.

I can't use a chemical treatment, because the tank is also home to other inverts so I'm reduced to watching my plants get slowly stripped.