Pond snail outbreak, HELP!!!

[NadiaG]

Well I did a mistake and bought plants from an AA member and few weeks later - my 10 gal is infested with pond snails.

I do not want them. I tried to pick a few out but that don't seem to help. I can't get a loach or puffer cuz it's a small tank and in stocked.

I heard assassin snail could help. Would only 1 assassin do the job in a 10g?

I do have one adult Nerite snail Roger that I love, would assassin bother him?

Please help, I want to get rid of these lil pond things before they populate the whole tank!

Thanks in advance!


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[Mebbid]

Sadly, pond snails are a part of keeping plants that most people cannot avoid.

However, there are a few things involved in having them.

Firstly, there are only population explosions of the snails if you are overfeeding the tank. With this they are a good thing to have, they will eat leftover food keeping it from rotting in your tank and are a good signifier on your feeding habits.

Second, they are almost impossible to eradicate.

They can be removed in a few different ways such as things that eat them, but with that your nerites are at risk. A leaf of lettuce or piece of zucchini that is rubber banded to a rock and placed in the tank will attract them and can be removed in the morning. There are also snail traps that are sold just for them.

 

[henningc]

Look at the bright side, you can get another tank, house a crayfish and the snails are the free food for the cray

 

[NadiaG]

Another tank is not an option, unfortunately.

Any other thoughts? Would my Nerite be ok with an assassin?


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[Mebbid]

Its unlikely that it would be okay

 

[BBradbury]

Snails

Hello Nad...

You can reduce the amount you've been feeding. If you have a lot of snails, you're likely feeding the fish too much.

The iceberg lettuce trick is old, but effective. Drop a small leaf into the tank and leave it overnight. The snails should be attracted to it. Then remove the leaf and throw it away.

If you want to provide a real treat for your fish, then use a wooden spoon to crush the snail shells. The fish will clean up the fleshy parts.

B

 

[Sk3lly]

My tank was once infested with pond snails. I bought 6 assasins for a 20g. I also had 2 nerites. The assassins did the job very effectively and killed off all the pond snails but left the nerites alone. Ive read the nerites are too big for them. The assassin population then died back once their food source had depleted.

I will also add, i do not overfeed and cant guarentee your nerites safty


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[Youngstownfishy]

Another tank is not an option, unfortunately.

Any other thoughts? Would my Nerite be ok with an assassin?


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Nerite snails and assassins are ok together. I have a nerite and 2 assassins and never had any problems. Every WC I find sooo many empty pond snail shells so they are doing their job.

Good luck!


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[NadiaG]

Thanks! My Nerite is full grown and pretty big. I did some additional research and it says they should be ok.

I don't think I over feed the fish; as i said it's not bad yet, but I don't want them to get bad and take over the tank


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[Youngstownfishy]

You're welcome! I've never seen the assassins get the snail but I guess they do it at night. When you do a water change after having the assassin in for a week or 2 you will be amazed at how many empty shells you see.


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[NadiaG]

All pond snails are super small, so assassin should eat them by quantity and not quality(size), lol

But wouldn't smashing the pond snails create more food for other pond snails?


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