I hate Snails!

[CompMage]

They are taking over my smaller 20G planted tank. Yuck Yuck Yuck!!!!
How do I remove them and not kill my the fish or plants in the tank. I can remove the plants without issue along with all the decore. Not all, it would be hard to remove most of the graval.

Help!

Tanks in good health, 14 neons of good size / age along with a few others.
Tank is a 20G Long w/ HOB filter.

I would like to do this organtically. I'm not a fan of chemicals. I hear Dwarf puffers eat snails but they are agressive right? My poor neons are passive.

-Comp

 

[Jchillin]

What kind of snails do you have there Comp? If you have ramshorns (planorbid sp) or malaysians, someone at AA will take them off your hands.

If you have nuisance snails, it can be done manually by placing a lettuce leaf (or other large veggie with plenty of surface area) in the tank at night and remove those that are collected. It will take some time and I prefer natural over chems (which can damage plants and/or hurt fish).

 

[JulieB]

Loaches eat snails. I've heard that clown loaches are great for snail problems. I've got some yoyos. They do alright. I've still got tons of snails, but my oldest yoyo is huge. I think he's just doing the best he can!. I've got a bunch of neons in my tank and they do just fine with the yoyos.

Even if you use the lettuce approach as Jchillin suggested (I've heard it's a very effective way to remove snails) you still have the eggs to deal with. Until you get rid of those, you'll always have snails. I used to take my plants and decor out every time I changed the water, and washed off all the snail eggs I could find. It was a pain in the butt, but I eventually (over many many months) was able to get my 18 gallon snail-free. Now I realize how this did not help my benificial bacteria and it stunted my plant's growth, but I did get rid of the snails... Since getting the bigger tank and many more plants, I've just learned to live with them, and hope that all they're doing is eating algae. As long as they're not eating the plants, I'm fine with them

They can be tough to deal with, but I think they're just part of having a planted tank.

 

[CompMage]

I'm not really sure what kind they are. They are tiny little brownish snails. I keep take them out when I see them. Not the type people would want. THey just eat algee and left over food (Neons are not neat eatters) I'm mostly worriest about the dead snail shells because I know they can mess with water quality.

I will try the lettus and keep taking them out by hand.

Thanks.

 

[theotheragentm]

A jar trap works nicely too. Just put food in a jar and let the snails crawl into it.

 

[CompMage]

Looks like I get to go try and find "How to keep them from getting in your tanks" thread. FUN FUN FUN.

Really think the jar trap would work? I think I might pass on that one.

Question is why would they eat the lettus and not the 10 other plants in the tank?

 

[SparKy697]

Question is why would they eat the lettus and not the 10 other plants in the tank?

Most pond snails that I have encountered eat dead, decomposing vegetation. The lettuce will fit that description soon after you place it in the tank. I have personally had better luck with algae wafers. I place a small jar on it's side and put a wafer in it. By morning there are quite a few snails in the jar eating the wafer.

As far as keeping them out of a planted tank goes. You can use things like chlorine or potassium permanganate to make a "dip". The idea here is to kill off the snails and eggs while not harming the plants. It's not fool proof or guaranteed by any means, some plants don't like the dip and die right off.

I have found a lot of truth in the theory that snail population explosion means that there is too much food in the tank. I also believe that snails in a planted tank are necessary for keeping things clean. They help get rid of things that you can not see or reach. Just remove the ones you can and co-exist with the ones that get away. A periodic culling of the heard is not a bad way of keeping their numbers in check.

 

[CompMage]

I know snails are a "GOOD" thing, but when they out number the fish 10 to 1 it's getting out of control.

I tried the lettus truck and when I got up this morning I found most of the snails under the lettus. So off to the super market to get a cheap head of lettus (SOme for me some for the snails)

Mainly I want to keep them in check. I'm going to see if I can cut back on the food a little.

Again, thanks for all the help!

 

[bs6749]

Buy 2 yo-yo loaches and you won't be dissappointed. Clown loaches are too large for a tank that size. I had snail problems in the past in a 29 gallon tank (literally hundreds) and I put in 2 yo-yo's and the snails were gone in less than a week and a half. COMPLETELY gone. Most people will tell you to go with yo-yo's because they seem to be the best at getting rid of them. Never tried the lettuce trick though.

 

[kickeralpine]

compmage i got more snails then i know what to do with lol they mate like rabbits lol put a jar in the tank on its side with wafer or lettus in side that way if they go under the lettus like you said they did you still got them traped works for me iv removed aleast 30 or so in the last couple of days. and when i clean my gravel it sucks up alot of the small ones so im keeping the numbers down i dont mind them in there but i aint letting them take over the tank . do the jar trap youll be happy that ya did it works.

 

[theotheragentm]

That's why I recommended a jar. It means the snails have to climb into the jar to get to the lettuce.

 

[helicopter]

Dwarf puffer

My dwarf puffer gets along fine with my tetras (pristella). Once I saw my DP try and nip at one of the tetras fins but the tetra are way to fast and I think he just gave up. He did however bother my pygmy catfish so much that I had to move the catfish out. Other people might have different experience with DP and tetras, but I only offer mine. Problem is though, pretty much all DP eat are snails so unless you want to start breeding snails or know someone who would take the DP off your hands, then you might have to rethink it. Also the DP will eat the entire snail population so you won't be able to breed the snails in the same tank.