Removing MT snails

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Everlasting

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Oct 19, 2008
Messages
64
Location
Ontario, Canada
I put malaysian trumpet snails into my tank when i first set it up to reduce the amount I would have to stir up my sand substrate myself as I was new to the substrate and wanted to reduce as much work as possible. Now that I am comfortable with the sand, it is no work really to stir it up during water changes and the snails are beginning to become unsightly and overrun the tank.

So my question is how on earth do I get all these tiny snails out? I'm using Tahitian Moon Sand, and trying to pick out the hundred or so that have accumulated is just not possible (I've tried) the babies are just to small to distinguish from the sand itself.

Help! :D
 
My daughter controlled her snail population with Zucchini.
Put a slice in at night, you will need a veggie clip or some kind of weight to keep it down, a stainless steel fork will work.
In the morning it will be covered with snails, remove and discard.
It doesn't get them all but it does cut down on the numbers.
 
My daughter controlled her snail population with Zucchini.
Put a slice in at night, you will need a veggie clip or some kind of weight to keep it down, a stainless steel fork will work.
In the morning it will be covered with snails, remove and discard.
It doesn't get them all but it does cut down on the numbers.

Thank you so much! I can't believe how fast these guys multiply.

The zucchini doesn't cause any problem to the water if left overnight?
 
No, I leave it in some tanks for several days.
You may find some of your fish will like to eat a little bit of it.
My plecos love it but I see my swordtails, mollies and dwarf gouramis taking a bite of it as well.
 
You might have to weight it down with something, it works well. I am struggling to get more MTS so I am feeding mine more lol.
 
I woke up this morning and there wasn't a single snail on the zucchini :( It's about 7am now, should I get up earlier as perhaps they have went back to burrowing already? or...?
 
Leave it in there another day or so. Once they find it they will start going to it, I know mine like broccoli when I fix my it I take out one of the pieces of woody stock and throw that in my tank. In a day or two it is covered. I try to keep snails in my tank so I actually feed them once a week.
 
Leave it in there another day or so. Once they find it they will start going to it, I know mine like broccoli when I fix my it I take out one of the pieces of woody stock and throw that in my tank. In a day or two it is covered. I try to keep snails in my tank so I actually feed them once a week.
How close are you to Greenville/Spartanburg? I might have to make a day trip to snatch some of yours! :)
 
my lfs gives them away... by the handfull!
i have a little algae prob right now but once its taken care of i'll be more than happy to send you some if i can catch them.
 
i was about to say.. if you go to petsmart.. they give them away, for the simple fact, they dont want them.. they are the trumpet snail kind.. and wont go away lol.. my loaches eat the mess out of them though..
 
If you wanted to get rid of all of them, you could find some sort of loach to eat them. I had some in my brichardi tank, and after they got big enough, they just started chowing down.
 
Alright I will go and purchase a loach because this zucchini trick is not working for me at all. I have swordtails, platys, angels, a ram and a catfish in my tank. Are there any loaches I should avoid because they will harm these fish?
 
Make sure the loach you get stays small don't get clown loachs. I don't know if one type of loach works better than another either. Here is a page on loaches it might help you decide Loaches
 
Well my only options at the lfs were clown loaches or yoyo loaches (at least this is what the girl workign there called them). So i purchased a yoyo loach and will see how things go from there and whether he is up to the task of eating several hundred snails haha.
 
I have a zebra loach in my 29G, and I never see more than 1 or 2 snails at a time. Transferred some plants to my 5 g which has no fish in it, and the snails are multiplying like mad. So the loach must do the trick! Best of luck.
 
I think most loaches with that "shape" will eat mts. Others like khuli loaches and dojo loaches, I'm almost positive wouldn't be able to, especially mts.
 
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