Too Many Snails!

[guppy_man]

what do i do?. should i just leave them or take some out.

they keep breeding ive got loads, i only started off with 1 that kame on a plant by accident

can you help plz

 

[IMCL85]

You can add a few small size botia specie to ur tank. A few zebra loaches can help you clean up ur snail problem in a matter of week.

 

[Dragonscales]

join the club! I've got a bunch of pond snails in one of my tanks, they are a pita.

What else do you have in the tank? A good dose of copper based meds or snail killer (aquarium, not the standard garden snail killer type) will wipe them out pretty well but don't use anything like that if you have other inverts (shrimp, etc) or sensitive fish in the tank (like scaleless fish such as eels). You might want to steer clear of this option if you ever want to keep saltwater inverts in the tank also.

Unfortunantly I have both shrimp and eels in the tank atm so this option is out for me

Another way that has worked well for me in the past but takes alot more time and effort (but less nuking with chemicals) is placing a cup in the tank with an algae disk overnight then manually removing any snails inside the cup. Replace the cup and the algae disk and repeat as often as neccessary. Be sure to squash any snail eggs you see as well to limit population growth.

Be warned though, short of pulling your tank apart completely and rinsing it as well as the substrate, decorations, etc with scolding water you will most likely always have at least a couple in the tank unless you are extra perceptive of the problem or use the first option.

 

[sylvia]

But whether you should add some or not depends on your tank's size and current stocking.

Do you actualy find them unpleasant to look at or are you just considering your fish' wellfare? If you're just worried about their effect on the tank, they are actualy quite beneficial as they'll eat algae and clean up leftovers. Having said that, many will also nibble on plants (though not usualy to an extent where they pose a serious problem) and, of course, add to the bioload (though they are tiny so, as long as their numbers are under control, it's not a problem realy). Provided you don't find them particularly unpleasant, you can control their population by putting in a lettuce leaf over-night - weigh it down with a rock or some gravel or something - and, in the morning, remove all the snails that have gathered on it and dispose of them. You'll have to do this every now and then to keep the numbers down but it's no big deal and, if you ever get a puffer or large to medium sized loach in future, it'll love you if you feed it some of the snails you remove each time.