Snails everywhere!!

[mavfan]

I have posted before about a mystery snail in my tank. It was decided that the snail may have come with the recently added fish. Now we have a bunch of these things!! They are all over.

How do I get rid of them?? I'm afraid they are making our fish ill. We've already lost our angel.

The one on the right is what we are having problems with. The one on the left it one that we bought.

 

[Purrbox]

The one on the left is a Small Ramshorn Snail and the one on the left is a Malaysian Trumpet Snail. Neither will harm your aquarium or cause your fish to get sick. They will breed like rabbits if you're over feeding, so it's definately time to cut back on the fish food. I'd recommend testing your water parameters to check if something's out of whack.

 

[mavfan]

I have tested the water, and everything seems good. I will cut back on the food.

In the mean time, how do I get rid of all these things? They are all over the place.

 

[Purrbox]

Place a lettuce leaf in the tank at night. By morning it will be covered in snails. Remove the lettuce with the snails and toss. Repeat a few times and the population should decrease to manageable levels, although you're unlikely to get rid of them all. They really are good clean up crew, so I'd recommend controlling their population through reduced feeding rather than trying to eradicate them.

 

[neilanh]

They love algae wafers.

 

[mavfan]

I might have to try that. THANKS for the help.

My girlfriend went to our fish store, and had them test the water. Everything is perfect. He gave us some stuff called "Had-A-Snail" He said it would get rid of all the unwanted snails. He said to obviously take out the snails we want to keep, then put a few drops in.

I'm not sure if anyone here has experience with this stuff, but how long does it last?

 

[Purrbox]

Do not use Had A Snail or your aquarium could quickly become had a fish. It is copper based and will kill of your snails. The problem is that it will prevent you from keeping any invert in the future and the resulting ammonia spike from all the dead snails (which would be nearly impossible to remove if the die in the gravel) can easily take out your fish.

 

[Phoenixphire55]

Just wanted to say its awesome how helpful and knowledgeable you are Purrbox.

 

[pitt420dude]

Just wanted to say its awesome how helpful and knowledgeable you are Purrbox.

Huge QFT to that one.

I'm still waiting to receive a bill from you Joy, for all the help you've given me.

I don't want to go off topic but I have to ask, Neil, what substrate is shown in that pic of the snails eating the wafer?

 

[neilanh]

Eco-Complete

And I agree, Purrbox's knowledge and help distributed here are invaluable.

 

[pitt420dude]

Do you like having the snails in your tank? I'm worried about anaerobic pockets in my deep substrate (back of my tank) and have heard that the MTS prevent this from happenign by burrowing tunnels throughout your substrate.

I also have notice they're a common occurence in planted tanks. Do they especially help the plants somehow? It is a one-way street isn't it? Once you get them, there is no going back?

 

[happygirl65]

That is true....almost no going back but it is really hard to not get some eventually if you have plants. I have gotten them on plants that I thought were "clean" and even had some hatch as if from nowhere.

They do help by eating any dead leaves and they do eat algae and other leftover foods. They can be annoying when you have too many but as mentioned I have witnessed the population reduce when I stopped feeding so much.

I would think that the MTS especially would help the roots of the plants by giving them somewhere to go since they burrow....kind of like the way earthworms are beneficial to your outdoor garden. Someone correct me if I am wrong....

Oh and another kudos here to Purrbox....ALWAYS SO helpful! I am another very appreciative member here. Thanks Joy!

 

[mom2reds]

when I bought my tank it was covered in MTS, I got it used, I don't know if the previous owner overfeed or what but they were all over even with the light on I bought a clown loach and he has pretty much made short work of all the excess snails, Not sure what size tank you have but if it is 55 gal. or bigger then you might try that.

 

[mavfan]

Well thanks to everyone.

We decided to go ahead and keep them. Everyone we've tanked to say they don't hard anything. On top of that they are a good clean up crew.

Thanks Again!