Snails-kill em or keep em

[nycfatcow]

Starting having a snail problem in my 12G planted tank...they are multipling pretty fast.... i only remember seeing 1 or 2 now i see like 20 of em....

Should i start taking them out or keep them as a cleaning crew.... keep in mind my tank is planted...

They kinda look like pond snails or mysterious snails.. they definately hold that shape and have some speckles on the shell....

what should i do?

 

[Devilishturtles]

Well... it's up to you whether you have the stomach for it or not...but I started just crushing the snails against the glass with my fingers. Definitley sounds like pond snails, which are easy to break (that sounds horrible).

Not nice no, but they can become a huge nuisance!

 

[Atl300zx]

what fish do you have in the tank?

 

[Blazeherd2306]

Search and destroy.

 

[rich311k]

If you dont overfeed they will self regualte at a manageable level. They are good clean up crew and algae eaters. I have them never bother my plants I think they are neat to watch cruising around.

 

[2cvbloke]

If they have a cone-shaped shell (not a really pointy cone though) then they're probably the common pond snail (Lymnaea Stagnalis), very useful for cleaning things up, but can breed quickly as you know...

If you don't want them, sell them as "cleanup crews"...

 

[Alshain]

I've had pond snails and all I have to say is...

Seek out and exterminate with extreme prejudice . You don't have about 20, take however many you can see visually and then square it, thats about how many you have.

 

[nycfatcow]

i have 5 neon rainbows in there and like 20 red cherry shrimp... yes they are very soft and easy to crush... i think im just going to start picking them out... and they move pretty damn fast for snails!!

 

[neilanh]

As mentioned above, if you don't overfeed, they'll keep themselves pretty much in check.

If you want to remove them, place a leaf of blanched lettuce in the tank. They'll probably flock to it. When they're on it eating, just remove the leaf.

 

[FWaddict]

What I have done before is I squished them on the wall and my angelfish picked them off mostly. Granted this was a LONG time ago that I have had problems I was paranoid of the shells cutting them up in their stomach/intestines... nothing bad happened. If that doesn't work, I was told that Clown Loaches eat the snails.

 

[Zagz]

Clown loaches work but will not work in a 12 gal!! They get far too large for that tank. Manual removal is best.

 

[hulkamaniac]

With all the hullabaloo about shipping snails in state it may be possible that a LFS would be interested in them. You could start a snail breeding business.

 

[FWaddict]

Oops I didn't read the tank size LOL

 

[Lepomis]

Snails in balance are just fine. I have striata botias in one tanks and have to transport snails from my other tanks for fun food. They love slurping those buggers down.

 

[nycfatcow]

haha i got ya guys... if i see too many of them ill just remove some of them off manually.. thanks for all the tips

 

[Atl300zx]

I've never had issues with pest snails. I think my bala sharks, angels, etc keep them under control.

 

[nycfatcow]

i must say im amazed at how quickly and effectively they can reproduce....under any conditions... i started manually removing them and putting them in a plastic cup... started wit about ten and after a week i collected 10 more... its crazy how they can reproduce even in a cup wit no filtration or heater....

 

[2cvbloke]

My hitchhikers are helping to clean up the ugly algae in my small tank, and they're growing pretty fast too!!! But, I don't mind them for now...

 

[Gundy]

I hate snails. And I've just recently found 2 baby snails in my 10g crayfish tank, that apparently hitched a ride off the anacharis I bought. Even after throughly washing the plants .

 

[nycfatcow]

its insane! i did a water change in the cup and this morning i found like 4 eggs around the cup.