Lps snails in plants ?

[Zinnib123]

I bought some plants and what do you know 3 days later I see these little buggers on my glass !

 

[Toad]

They grow the plants in ponds, then they get shipped to the stores. They're going to have snails

 

[Zinnib123]

They should sort it out tho !

 

[Marshallc]

Just go grab you a few assassin snails. That'll take care of them.

 

[BBradbury]

Tank Snails

I bought some plants and what do you know 3 days later I see these little buggers on my glass !

Hello Zin...

They're likely Ramshorn snails. These came with some plants I got some time ago. They're a good addition to your tank and remove dead plant and fish material. I've never known them to damage healthy plants. They're fast breeders given the right water conditions. So, don't feed your fish too much and the number of snails will stay relatively small.

B

 

[Fishfur]

You can buy plants that are guaranteed snail free. But you will pay far more for them than you will for the regular sort. They are grown in sealed jars, and are thus much more costly to produce, than pond grown plants are.

Snails are just a fact of life in water.. get used to them, or take whatever measures you feel are needed to get rid of them. Assassin snails are one option, Asolene spixi snails are another pest snail eater, but they'll also go after big snails like Mystery snails. Some of the loaches love snails and eat them eagerly, as do some of the puffer fish.

But they do provide a service. Cleaning glass, eating leftovers and algae too. A few are useful to have. If you see egg masses, usually small clear blobs of gel, remove them to prevent hatching. Pretty easy to scrape off glass, even off some plant leaves.

 

[rpgmomma8404]

Pond snails came with my live plants. I know they are known to eat the healthy plants but mine seem to be leaving them alone. They cleared up my 10 gallon really well. I'm trying to get some going in my 15 and 29 gallon to help with algae issues.

 

[flitabout]

For the most part they are annoying but totally harmless. I got assassins and I haven't seen a snail in months.

 

[siva]

They should sort it out tho !

Oh that's not possible for them. They cannot inspect every inch of plants for snail eggs.

They are either ramshorns, pond snails, or bladder snails. I quite like ramshorns and find them attractive and beneficial to the tank, but I don't like having the other two around. If you want them out put a fishnet in the tank and put some veggies like lettuce in it. Before too long the snails will be in the net feeding on the veg and you can just remove the net and do what you'd like with them. You can even smash them and feed them to the fish.

 

[Candi1990]

I don't have live plants but I made the mistake of getting 4 snails! The lady told me they were harmless! OMG They totally took over my tank I couldn't get rod of them! I ended up having to empty the whole darn tank!!!! Clean it out, wait a couple of days and try again. Even then I would see one every now and then (must have been in the rocks) and I got rid of them immediately! No one told me there were snails that could eat them!

 

[siva]

The population will not explode if they aren't overfed. If this happens it's a good indicator that you need to feed less. Once it has blown up to that extent you would most likely need to manually remove most even if you add assassins.

 

[aquandrew]

i would like to suggest, for future references, some advice that I've heard rivercats say many times. dip the plants in a peroxide solution. some people use only peroxide and dip for 3-5 minutes or use a mix of water and peroxide for 30 minutes. it has worked out for me.

 

[siva]

Yup that's the only way I know of to completely prevent them. Some use a weak bleach solution to dip but peroxide seems to be the way to go.

 

[Zinnib123]

I'll just get a loach

 

[siva]

Loaches should be stocked in groups so I would advise against getting a single loach, depending on the species a single loach can terrorize your tank. Also the loaches that are good snail eaters are some of the larger species so unless this is a pretty large tank they probably aren't an option.

 

[Joefish...]

Buy a clown loach.... Beautiful fish... And will love to eat those snails

 

[siva]

Uh..they need to be stocked in groups and grow to over a foot so the average tank isn't going to work for them.

 

[dragonfish69]

Hum... I have a couple loaches (fairly large) and they never socialize or eat my snails. I have apple snails, a large one and some babies...interesting. but i want my snails, so.... Good luck!

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[Joefish...]

I had 1 clown loach used to move him from tank to tank to eat the snails. He did a great job


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[Dogmom]

I had 2 clown loach in my 125 gallon tank, and they would eat every snail that came along. From tiny little hitch-hikers to the large snails that I wanted to be in there.


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