Snail problems that we have had for years

[tevo222]

We have a freshwater 20 gallon fish tank thats been set up for probably 10 plus years at this point. We have had many different fish throughout this time. At points throughout this time we decided to put live freshwater plants in the tank. Fast forward to present time, we now have an over population of snails that had to have come from those plants we bought. We have tried fish that supposedly eat snails as part of their diet and we have tried the lettuce method as well as trying to suck them out when the tank is being cleaned. We have not been able to get rid of them at all. At this point, we would like to restart the tank as we have kind of given up on it because of the snail infestation. Right now we only have a tetra and a small 2.5 inch pleco in the tank. Is this a situation where we can keep our filter as it is right now, no cleaning it, and empty the fish tank, clean it, put new gravel and decor in it, and put our fish back in it? Or do we need to let the tank sit for a week after cleaning it? Lastly, is it something where we end up cleaning the tank and replacing everything it in and completing a new tank cycle like we did we we first got the tank?

I appreciate any kind of feedback as I am looking forward to getting the tank snail free. This way we can get back to the way it used to be.

Thank you all very much!!

Travis

 

[earhtmother]

If you are determined to completely change out decor and gravel you will definitely have to restart your cycle as alot of your bactetia is in the gravel and on the decor items. If you are only changing everything because of the snails try adding 6 Assasin snails and giving it a week or two. You also need to get rid of any egg masses you see as this will keep your population from growing while the Assasins whittle it down

 

[BBradbury]

Hello tev...

Snail populations tell you a lot about how you feed your fish and plants. In your case, you're putting too much food into the tank. The fish and plants aren't using enough so you have added phosphate from the food and nitrate from the dissolving fish and plant waste. You can increase your water changes to half every 3 to 5 days and gradually reduce the amount you feed. An aquarium fish has a stomach the size of one of their eyes, so it doesn't take much to fill it. By reducing the food, the fish will forage more for pieces of uneaten food. The fish get their exercise and you have help keeping the tank clean.

B

 

[tevo222]

Ok. Thank you all for your responses. The plan is to completely restart the tank at this point and go through the beginning cycle again. I will keep the amount of food we feed the fish in mind as we don't want another snail infestation to occur.