Stupid Snails

[KrystaK]

A few snails hitch hiked into my tank and I decided to let them live. Since them I've found a batch of eggs and am sort of panicing because I don't want more snails. Heck, I want them gone so i can buy some bigger, prettier mystery snails. Is there any way I can get rid of them without using assassin snails? (I don't order live animals through the internet as I don't know exactly what I'm getting and if they'll arrive alive - and my local LFS doesn't sell them)

But yes, Im assuming squishing them when i see them will get the adults, but what do I do to get rid of the eggs?

 

[mike455555]

what fish do you have in the tank?... i heard that copper works. but that might harm some of your fish. have a read up

 

[Cazgar]

Feed less & the problem should go away.
I have a few snails in my tank that came in on plants, but don't cause a problem if you don't over feed

 

[KrystaK]

I have Mollies and Platy's and Panda Corys.
If I just knocked the eggs off the side of the tank would that drown them or anything? The adults im not to worried about, if I squish them the mollies are always hungry and will probs eat them, not sure about the dang eggs tho

 

[mike455555]

the eggs will hatch grow to adults then be squished and eaten?

 

[Fishy friend2]

Feed less & the problem should go away.
I have a few snails in my tank that came in on plants, but don't cause a problem if you don't over feed

+1 feeding less always works IME

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Feed less, and squish them on sight. Soon you'll have a hard time finding them. I always fast my fish once a week as a regular part of their diet. There is no reason to feed them everyday. They just don't need that much food. Make sure on the days you do feed that you feed no more than they can eat in 30 seconds.

 

[Brett_dale]

This one gets discussed a lot, im surprised a search hasnt produced results.
If assassins are of the list and you cant fit fish that would eat them in your tank then your only real option is to manually remove them, iv seen my fish occasionally pecking on the eggs but not enough to get rid of them, my opinion is that some snails are beneficial to the system as they act similar to a marine clean up crew, if you have them on mass start by checking your feeding, feed to much and the little things will be like rabbits. Changing the feeding wont see a sudden drop in the snail population but over time will bring it into check. For fast removal use some letuce in the tank weighted down overnight, in the morning remove it along with all the snails on it (This will have a short term impact and need to be repeated if the feeding isnt right).

 

[HappyKirky]

I recently got 5 Assassin snails to try and combat my current snail infestation and I must say they are doing a pretty good job. After less than a week of them being in the tank the infestor snail population has atleast halved. They are probably worth risking an internet purchase.

I also heard clown loaches are very effective at snail removal, but they get a little too big for my 60L, you'll probably need a 150L+ tank for them.

 

[Shane Ward]

takes a very long time for clown loaches to grow to a problem size, I had a clown loache for 3 years and it still remained a good small size for a 55ltr tank, until it died from infection.

 

[Fishy friend2]

probably because it's growth got stunted happens all the time with many fish when kept in tank smaller than they should be in