Snails everywhere

[FitnessPleese]

Help. I have jus noticed snails in my tank. I did not buy any live plants, but did buy some fish from Meijer, the grocery store chain : ( Pleas help. Are they going to kill my fish?? I see them and I just seen two and they were doing the nasty together when I turned the light on. How and what do I do?? Thanks friends.

 

[Andy Sager]

Help. I have jus noticed snails in my tank. I did not buy any live plants, but did buy some fish from Meijer, the grocery store chain : ( Pleas help. Are they going to kill my fish?? I see them and I just seen two and they were doing the nasty together when I turned the light on. How and what do I do?? Thanks friends.

It's unlikely the snails will harm your fish however the best thing to do is physically remove them as soon as possible to prevent them from overpopulating the tank. It's your choice as to whether you want to destroy them or rehome them (or give them back to Meijer. )

 

[Aiken Drum]

There must have been pest snails in with the fish you bought. While they most commonly come in on plants they can come in with fish. Same must have happened to me recently, all i added was some guppies and some shrimp, and a few days later pest snails started appearing.

Once they are in your tank they will be difficult to get rid of. Squish them when you see them. You can create a snail trap and remove the ones that get caught. There are chemical treatments that will kill invertebrates, but they cant distinguish between pest snails you want to kill and any shrimp or snails you want to keep. The copper in these treatments are difficult to remove, so once you have treated the tank, it will probably kill any invertebrates you may want to add in the future. Assassin snails will kill and eat them, and there are fish that like to eat snails too, like a yoyo loach.

But really, once they are in the tank, apart from chemical treatment, you wont permanently get rid of them. If there are snails there will be more snails than the ones you have spotted, there will be eggs, and eggs lead to more snails. They will be in your filtration, hidden in your aquascape etc. So really, its just about controling numbers. Squish them when you see them, trap them out if you want, avoid overfeeding your fish so there isnt excess food to support lots of pest snails.

They are harmless.

 

[ADsnail]

Snail traps:

The old lettuce method is to put a leaf of iceberg lettuce down overnight. It will attract snails, and you just remove leaf and snails in the morning before turning on the lights. Why iceberg? It's curved like a cup and will hold them better during removal.

Many people have had luck with other veggies such as cucumber and spinach. When it's covered with snails, remove. I've found that, when it comes to snails eating vegetables, it may take 2-3 days (until the veg is actually starting to decompose) for them to be interested.

Any vegetables will need to be weighted down, with a rock or some gravel or a chopstick or fork.

Other snail traps: a small glass jar set on the bottom with veggie and/or algae tab in the bottom. Snails go in, lift out slowly. This can also work with a small plastic container, lidless, with small holes cut in the bottom.

Of course, crushing with fingers every time you see them is still the consistently great way to remove them.