Snail Invasion

[supagran]

Can anyone advise me please. I have a nice stocked tank which has been overrun by hundreds of little snails, they look like tiny catherine wheels. I presume they must have come in on plants but I cant get rid of them. I cannot use one of the proprietary snail killers as I also have trumpets, apples and nerite snails in there.

 

[stonecutter]

ive heard that u have to completely clean out the tank..take everything out and wash it with bleach or vinegar...

 

[FishEggs]

The only thing i could suggest for getting rid of one type of snail out of several kinds is to put a piece of lettuce or other green leaf veggie and at night when they all come out to feed just pick off the snails that you dont want. Every time you see one of those snails just keep plucking them out. eventually you will be ahead of them breeding and see less and less of them. It will probably be next to impossible to rid the tank entirely of them.

 

[supagran]

thanks stonecutter. I really dont want to do this as i have quite a large tank and some very pregnant fish. i suppose i was just looking for an easy way out.

 

[stonecutter]

you could do the leaf thing...but i was suggesting that becuz its the fastest way to get it done

 

[neilanh]

agreed, the leaf thing is the easiest way to go without the use of meds, which I don't recommend.

They're pond snails. They breed very prolifically, but will limit themselves based on available food. Make sure that you're not overfeeding. The abundance of food will have them continuing to breed excessively. If they're short on food, they'll scale themselves back.

 

[supagran]

Thankyou all. It looks like I am going to have to try the leaf thing doesn't it.

 

[CompMage]

There is one other option depending on how aggressive / passive your tank is. Or if you can move fish to another tank for a while.

Dwarf Puffers! They eat snails, love snails. I had a simular problem and refused to use chemicals or break down a heavly planted 20g-Long tank.

The single dwarf worked out good with the neons in there and I've been able to add plants whenever I want without the fear of snail explosion.

For me a single dwarf puffer did the job in about a month. And it never bothered any of my other fish. After it swims with the neons now.... it's the strangest thing I've seen in some time but eh.

As always, this is a LONG term solution to the problem and should be given the same thought you give to any fish purchase.

But you will need to remember one major thing. You will need to clean out the dead snail shells. They will screw your water up something nasty! Also they will attack ANY snail you put in the tank. Even larger snails have been known to be killed. I've never had that problem as I don't have any snails in that tank.

Dwarf Puffers : Home
THat's a great site for more info.

 

[FishEggs]

the idea was to get rid of one type of snail and keep the others. You could ask the dwarf puffer to only eat the one type and not the others but he might not listen and just go schmorgusborg on all of them.

 

[pitt420dude]

You could ask the dwarf puffer to only eat the one type and not the others but he might not listen...

Ha, LMAO!

Loaches eat snails too, but then you have the same indiscriminate tastes problem as the FDP.

 

[Zagz]

Try the lettuce leaf method. Also reduce feedings and the snails will start to control themselves to some extent. Another option is to manually remove them when you see them.

 

[MisticX]

advice 1 --- work method
snails reproduction method is thru eggs.

they deposit eggs that have to be in contact with the air.

lower your tank water by 10-15% (remove i mean)
then remove snails as you see them (either crush them against the glass either take em out with your hand)
at all times look for some small little bubble nests around the corners of the tank (from my experience never on the silicone) and remove them with toilet paper (has to be something very dry)

i cured my tank after 3 weeks with this method


advice 2 --- borrow a fish
go to a LFS (hopefuly u have good relations with one seller) and ask them to be lent a snail eater.
usually they all have a couple of pairs in stock.

all depending of the
PH range of the LFS VS your own PH range
aggressiveness level of your tank
size of the snails

it will take 3-7 days for the fish to adapt
3-7 days for the snails to be removed

i'd sugest a few more days to make sure the eggs didn't spawn.


advice 3 --- radical measures
take out all fish, decorum plants ...
remove all water
let tank dry for 2-3 days
take a dry paper (toilet works best) and scrub the glass to remove eggs.



remember, snails have both sexes removing all but one of them ... is not the cure.

 

[Mopedman]

I am getting ready to put malysian trumpet snails in my tank, do I have to worry about an invasion? Thanks

 

[FishEggs]

Don't worry the snails will stay in the tank. lol Snails will only reproduce extensively if there is a very abundant food source. don't over feed and the snails wont be much of a problem.

 

[dimmy32]

here are 2 more ideas - ( i've tried both and they work )

1) buy a striped botia ( candy-striped loach)
I have one, and he cleaned out all my snails after a week

2) Toss a few pennies in the water. The copper that leaches out of the penny is an effective spermicide. You'll have to remove your snails at first, but they wont breed. Once the snails are gone, take out the pennies.

 

[Purrbox]

2) Toss a few pennies in the water. The copper that leaches out of the penny is an effective spermicide. You'll have to remove your snails at first, but they wont breed. Once the snails are gone, take out the pennies.

Unfortunately since the OP has other snails that they do want to keep, adding copper to the water would be a bad idea. Copper kills all inverts and can linger in an aquarium long term making it impossible to keep inverts in an aquarium again.

 

[pitt420dude]

Supagran, I'm in dire need of some snails (that won't eat plants) so if you have extra and feel like shipping them to me I'd be happy to pay you for S&H.

 

[supermazz9]

Out of curiousity, what kind of problems will you experience with left over snail shells?

In one of my tanks, the bottom is littered with Malaysian Trumpet Snail remains that my yoyo loaches have taken care of...it hasn't presented a problem yet, that I know of.

 

[fluffyntex]

When I had my tanks years ago I had this same problem and I just would take my finger and crush several of them at a time against the glass and my fish would eat them. Didn't take long to get rid of them that way, never had a problem doing it that way.

 

[supagran]

Many thanks for all your suggestions. I have now managed to acquire a snail trap and putting this in the tank overnight gets rid of a good few of them. In time it will prove the most effective I think, together with the fact that the snails migrate to the top of the tank at night and I just gather them up with toilet roll.

Hi pitt420 dude.

I wish you lived a bit neared as I have well over a hundred apple snails which do not eat plants. I have golden, blue, purple, pink, green and red apple snails, as well as a few variation as they all interbreed. Unfortunately as I live in England and you are in the States I dont think they will stand the journey, otherwise you could have had some with pleasure.


supergran