So. Many. Snails!

[fishychick]

Hi!
I am super new to fish and tanks. About 3 months ago I set up my first 10 gallon with live plants, some drift wood and a Marineland Penguin 150 biofilter. I have 5 male guppies, 3 cory cats (1 albino, 1 panda and 1 emerald) and a siamese algae eater. Since Labor Day I have been battling snails. Just when I think I have gotten rid of all of them and any egg sacks, I find three more. I have heard Assassin snails work really well, but I feel like I am already overstocked. Would it be a good idea to get an Assasin? Or would it totally push my tank over the edge? Or do I just have to live with the snails and get rid of them manually as I find them?
Thanks!
Wendy

 

[MICEY]

get the Assassin snail it will remove the other snails
if the sag is small your not over stocked but I would look into getting a bigger tank minimum a 20 long or bigger

 

[fishychick]

Micey,
Yeah, I didn't really mean to get that many fish, but the guy at my lfs sort of talked me into it and assured me that I wasn't over stocked. I'm kinda bummed because now I'm starting to realize I am. I'm having to do partial water changes like twice a week to keep the ammonia down. It's kind of annoying but not too bad since it's only a 10 gallon tank and it's worth it to keep my fish happy and healthy. I'd love to get a bigger tanker but honestly I don't have any room for one. I don't know where I would put it. So I feel like I just have to stay on top of the one I have to keep conditions right. But thanks for the advice! I really really appreciate it. I guess I'll check into getting an assassin.

 

[azmodan]

Assassin snails will definitely bring the snail population down. You could probably do 2-3 in a 10g. In the meantime I'd recommend little things such as reducing the amount you feed, keeping up with gravel vacuuming, trying to wipe down any algae/diatoms, and DIY snail traps. You'll never really get completely rid of them but don't stress it as they're a natural part of planted tanks.

 

[Canadiver]

I too had a major snail problem in my 80 gal tank. I guess I introduced them when adding some plants purchased at lfs. I heard this and that ate them, but nothing really worked. Then I read that most of the time large snail populations come about from over feeding. I cut right back on feeding my fish. Making sure that the fish consumed all the food within a few minutes. I only feed them once a day in am and sorta timed them if they ate what I gave in 2 min give just a bit more. Basically wanted all the food gone none left for snails. Inside of a week I noticed a difference no new baby snails. I continued to pluck the old ones out when doing water changes etc. I can honestly say that that was and still is the only thing that got rid of snails for me. Now every once in a while i will see one on the glass, but very rare as long as I watch the amount of food. This may also help some with ammonia issue also less waist. For that you may look at getting a canister filter you can add mote media to increase bio bacteria, or add ammonia reducing compounds. Good luck and happy fish keeping.


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[emilygupps]

I always wondered how much the billion mts in my 180 contributed to my bio load.

In your case adding 1-3 assasin snails might kill enough of your pest snails to account for some of the bio load and even lower it. Maybe? I had a problem in my 20 long and got five. They breed like crazy, but my pest snail population is down and every one says they're pretty easy to get the LFS to take. So here's hoping. Heads up, they lay eggs every where like nerites.


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[Luananeko]

Honestly your stocking levels don't sound too bad other than the Siamese Algae Eater. They do best with friends and in larger tanks. If you rehome the one you have you can easily do the assassin snails with no worries.

 

[fishychick]

Thank you guys so much for all the advice. I haven't been wiping the glass when I clean because I don't want to get rid of algae that my siamese algae eater might be getting. Also, I know that not overfeeding is the key to many of the problems I have had, but I have a hard time balancing not over feeding, with making sure enough falls to the bottom for my cory cats. I don't want them to starve. I still need to work on that, but I do vacuum once or twice a week. And really really, thanks for all the help.

 

[Canadiver]

I feed all my bottom feeders "Hikari Tropical Sinking Wafers" Clown Loaches, Siamese Algae eater, Catfish they all love it, even the others go for these wafers after they have eaten the flakes. I know I found it hard to believe that over feeding the fish would cause snails to multiply but it's a true story in my tank. Once there was no food for them they all disappeared and like I say it very rare I see one now. A few years back the gravel looked as if it were alive I had so many snails crawling amongst it.


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[trennamw]

You said you're struggling with ammonia ... So the tank is not cycled. Have a quick look around here about doing a fish in cycle. You need a population of beneficial bacteria to convert ammonia to nitrite and then nitrate. You'll still need to do water changes but nitrate isn't as harmful as ammonia and nitrite.


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