Snail Attack

[Kilgore]

Hi Plant People,

In spite of my best efforts, my plant tanks have been overrun with snails. I am used to dealing with a few pond snails (easy enough to pick out by hand) but in the bigger tanks, there has been an explosion of ramshorn snails. They are damaging the plants, leaving tons of snail poo around, and they are impossible to pick out because they are sooo tiny.

I do not believe in chemical methods of control, and I have tried the lettuce bait trick but it's a joke when you are dealing with this many snails.

Any advice? I have seriously considered getting some loaches but my 25 gallon tank is overstocked as it is, and in the bigger tank (46-gallon), I don't want to create territory issues with my 6 Sterbai cories. In the past I have kept a single yoyo loach, who was somewhat of a thug, but not too bad. He met an untimely end when he became stuck in a rock, however, and the memory of that makes me leery of them. Also, I now know that loaches like to be kept in groups, so.... what should I do?

 

[sherry]

tie a piece of zucchini to a rock. the snails will pile on. Pull them out. Do that a few times in a row. then feed less. your snails are exploding from an abundance of food.

 

[fish_4_all]

Loaches is my best idea. They irradicated all my snails in a matter of 2 days and I had 100+. As for the lettuce in the bottle, it should work to control them but you really have to be dilegent. I would not feed the tank at all for 2 days and then the snails will drive to the lettuce in droves. If the hole is small enough none of the fish will be able to get in, if that is an issue. If nothing else, just place the lettuce on a small plate and clip it to it.

I wouldn't worry about your bioload from adding one or two loaches because the bioload is 100x's that with all those snails. Just be aware that once the snails are eaten the shells will remain and dissolve if you are using CO2 raising your GH but adding calcium at the same time.

 

[newfound77951]

I don't think the loaches would mess with your cories, either. i have two striata loaches and 3 cories and they totally ignore each other. The striatas are very peaceful, and stay relatively small. I had a huge snail problem too and they got rid of them all in less than a month!