Heat and Snails

[Jim Dandy]

I have an infestation of snails in my freshwater nano-cube. I've been taking out the larger ones as I see them, but the juveniles are too small to grab. Any tips on getting rid of them?

In addition, I am dissatisfied with the heat in my tank. I have a 50 watt Theo brand heater, and it is seemingly incapable of keeping the tank at a consistent temperature. I thought that it was because I had it mounted in the back, where the filters of the nano-cube go, but it hasn't really improved since I moved it to the side of the tank. Is this normal, due to the inferior quality of the heater, or do I just need a higher watt heater? It's the 12 gallon version, so by all accounts it is a sufficient wattage for the tank. I am seeing fluctuations of up to 2-3 degrees at different times of the day. I have 2 different thermometers in the tank, and each of them shows these fluctuations, so I'm fairly sure it's not the thermometers.

Finally, I just added some neon tetras after cycling the tank for the past month. One of them is showing signs of ich, so I'm keeping the heat up in order to try and kill it off.

[malkore]

never heard of that brand of heater...so its likely just not a good heater..cheap thermostat. Go with Visi-therm and your temp will be solid. 50w should be enough for a 10-12gal tank easily.

heat will speed up ich parasites' life cycle...it doesn't exactly kill it off.

we have an article on dealing with ich that's worth a read if you haven't seen it already.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articl...q=2&fldAuto=32

I have a MILLIOn snail babies too. When I see a small snail on the glass I stick my hand in and get it off the glass. Now I am leaving the bigger ones in there...I named one Mr. Snail...so I can't get rid of him

[Menagerie]

You can try putting a piece of lettuce in the tank and once the little snails are munching away, remove the lettuce with the snails. This doesn't always work, but some members use it all the time with good results.