Argh.... pond snails...

[JasonC]

okay... so I think my uninvited pond snails reached sexual maturity sometime last night... woke up this morning to more than twenty visible clutches of eggs... since everyone else in the tank is boys, i know who to point the finger at.

geletinous masses with *tiny* white dots in it.. that is what I am looking at right?

What am I looking at as far as success rate of hatching? All? 50%?

Sad thing is I was holding off on pulling the buggers til I made up my mind if I liked them there or not... they have officially made my pest list... other than the "lettuce-on-a-rock" method, anyone have tried and true methods of getting these guys out of my tank? I dont want to use invert killing additives as I do intend on getting some non "weed" snails later on.

Thanks!

 

[new2betas]

Pond snails reproduce asexually (or whatever it is called when they don't need a "mate", lol) and it only takes one in your tank to multiply....believe me I deal with this all the time and it is near impossible to get rid of them once you have them, bar breaking down your whole tank, unless you have a big tank to add a snail eating fish to. The only suggestion I have other than the lettuce or zucchini trick is picking them out by hand. I know, not good news, but I have learned to live with it

 

[JasonC]

Are there any fish of appropriate size for my tank (or that grow slow enough to give me a couple years head start before having to upgrade) that will eat snails? Though I assume if I go that route, that they'll eat any snails that I *want* to have in the tank too...

grrr...

 

[new2betas]

What size tank do you have? and, yes...the ones that eat snails eat all types not just pond snails.

 

[new2betas]

Here's an interesting article you might find helpful....
Snail Eradication

 

[JohnPaul]

The fish that eat snails will eat them indiscriminently. If you want to go the fish route, then what you'll need to do is if there are snails you want to keep, pull them from the tank first (a bucket with some dechlorinated water and some plant clippings will do the trick), then put in a small loach of some sort. Loaches are voracious snail eaters and peaceful with fish inhabitants.

One Yo-Yo Loach in a matter of weeks wiped out every snail I had in my 29 gallon tank...and I'm talking hundreds of snails, all gone, in about 3 weeks or so. Of course, you'll then need to return the loach to the pet store (or give it away to another hobbyist) before you can re-introduce the snails you want to keep into the tank.

Otherwise, physical removal is the way to go. Avoid chemicals, as they all contain copper (AFAIK), which means for the rest of the life of that tank (even if you have it 10 more years), you will never be able to keep any inverts in there at all...no snails, no shrimps, no crayfish, nothing. Once copper gets into a tank, it is virtually impossible to completely remove it.

 

[new2betas]

Not meaning to hijack here, but JohnPaul....could I put a small yoyo loach in my 10g to eat the snails in there and then put him in my 29g tank for good if I wanted to keep him?

 

[Purrbox]

And yes those egg clutches are a perfect description of the clutches that pond snails lay. You can go ahead and scrape them off so that you don't have to try to remove them all once they hatch. The hatch rate tends to be rather high.

 

[JasonC]

What size tank do you have? and, yes...the ones that eat snails eat all types not just pond snails.

Sorry, should have mentioned... tank specs are in my sig.

 

[JasonC]

The fish that eat snails will eat them indiscriminently. If you want to go the fish route, then what you'll need to do is if there are snails you want to keep, pull them from the tank first (a bucket with some dechlorinated water and some plant clippings will do the trick), then put in a small loach of some sort. Loaches are voracious snail eaters and peaceful with fish inhabitants.

One Yo-Yo Loach in a matter of weeks wiped out every snail I had in my 29 gallon tank...and I'm talking hundreds of snails, all gone, in about 3 weeks or so. Of course, you'll then need to return the loach to the pet store (or give it away to another hobbyist) before you can re-introduce the snails you want to keep into the tank.

Otherwise, physical removal is the way to go. Avoid chemicals, as they all contain copper (AFAIK), which means for the rest of the life of that tank (even if you have it 10 more years), you will never be able to keep any inverts in there at all...no snails, no shrimps, no crayfish, nothing. Once copper gets into a tank, it is virtually impossible to completely remove it.

Took a look at the specs on the YoYo Loach... several sites mentioned wanting to have them in groups no less than 3. What are feelings on whether this is accurate or not? I know I cant sustain 3 in my 20Gal. Also, in general, what is their growth rate?

Thanks again for all your info!

 

[JasonC]

And yes those egg clutches are a perfect description of the clutches that pond snails lay. You can go ahead and scrape them off so that you don't have to try to remove them all once they hatch. The hatch rate tends to be rather high.

tried that this morning, but they just broke apart and floated away... I'll try some other ways to get rid of them... otherwise, I think I'm in for the long haul.

 

[JohnPaul]

Not meaning to hijack here, but JohnPaul....could I put a small yoyo loach in my 10g to eat the snails in there and then put him in my 29g tank for good if I wanted to keep him?

Yep, shouldn't be any problem with that.

Took a look at the specs on the YoYo Loach... several sites mentioned wanting to have them in groups no less than 3. What are feelings on whether this is accurate or not? I know I cant sustain 3 in my 20Gal. Also, in general, what is their growth rate?

I've read that too. I only have this one experience to draw upon, and all I can really say is I saw nothing in his behavior that ever led me to believe he was "unhappy." He didn't mope around, he was quite active (especially at feeding time, when he bordered on almost hyper), he would swim around sometimes with other fish in the tank. So...I don't know. Having never seen what a whole school of them is like together in a "natural" setting (as opposed to, all crammed together in a pet store tank), I can't say if there was any difference in behavior. But certainly there was no sulking/withdrawn/skittish type behaviors that I ever saw, which is what I would expect to see (and what is usually observed) when a true schooling fish is being kept alone.

Not sure about growth rate...I wouldn't say it was terribly fast. Grew maybe 3/4" over the course of a year or a little longer.

 

[jdsunflower]

Hi,
I'm a relative newbie, but if you have corys, mine enjoy the eggs laid on leaves as a snack. They don't seem to hunt them, tho, just opportunistic grazing.
As for removing eggs by hand, I've found a turkey baster (or syringe without the needle) to work well as it suctions everything in a clump.
Good luck!

 

[JasonC]

Hi,
I'm a relative newbie, but if you have corys, mine enjoy the eggs laid on leaves as a snack. They don't seem to hunt them, tho, just opportunistic grazing.
As for removing eggs by hand, I've found a turkey baster (or syringe without the needle) to work well as it suctions everything in a clump.
Good luck!

Excellent idea for the syringe... I have one that I got from an oral surgeon that has only had salt water in it... I'll have to give it a try tonite.