How do I get rid of snails

[dash]

I have these very hard shell snails that come out in plague proportions of a night and are eating my java moss (and other plants ) you don't usually see them during the day but I want them gone. Any suggestions

 

[Mebbid]

Those sound like Malaysian trumpet snails. Really the only suggestion I could give for them is the addition of assassin snails. There aren't really any snails that we get that will eat healthy plants though, its more likely the plants are wilting and the snails are eating the decaying leaves.

They burrow in the substrate so you could remove and clean everything and then replace the substrate if you want.

 

[BBradbury]

Removing Snails

I have these very hard shell snails that come out in plague proportions of a night and are eating my java moss (and other plants ) you don't usually see them during the day but I want them gone. Any suggestions

Hello dash...

Drop a small piece of iceberg lettuce into the tank. Never knew a snail that could resist iceberg lettuce. Leave the lettuce in the tank overnight and the snails will attach themselves to it. In the morning, remove the lettuce and put it into the trash. Follow this procedure until you've removed the desired number of snails.

B

 

[Mebbid]

Hello dash...

Drop a small piece of iceberg lettuce into the tank. Never knew a snail that could resist iceberg lettuce. Leave the lettuce in the tank overnight and the snails will attach themselves to it. In the morning, remove the lettuce and put it into the trash. Follow this procedure until you've removed the desired number of snails.

B

I've tried that before with both cucumber and the lettuce and it never worked even though it works for everyone else. I think my snails were just dumb.

 

[dash]

Thanks for the help guys. I've tried the cucumber before and they really do like it. The only problem with that is the Cory's do aswell and they keep knocking them off. I guess I was kinda hoping for some sort of other animal to introduce that would find them tasty. Oh well looks like the hard yards for me

 

[Magic mike]

My horse head loach eats snails like mad in my planted tank.
Before him I had a slight snail problem.

 

[dcutl002]

I have 4 large tanks. One of the tanks has 4 Clown loaches with no snails while the other three tanks are inundated with snails. I scoop the snails up with a net and give the loaches a tasty treat from time to time. I have so many empty shells in that tank: at first glance they appear to be gravel, but they are the empty shells.

 

[dash]

Looks like its time to loach up. Thanks

 

[Mebbid]

Looks like its time to loach up. Thanks

Most people can't do clown loaches as they get enormous and need to be in a school. A school of 5 of them almost completely stocks a 125g tank.

 

[Delapool]

Interested how you get on if they are MTS. They are meant to be hard for loaches to get in to due to shell length.

My yo yo loaches have knocked off most snails. The ramshorn snails seem to be gradually reducing in number. The MTS seem to be surviving but hard to keep track. Also I suspect my loaches are very lazy.

 

[dcutl002]

Mebbid aren't there some smaller loaches that will do the job?


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[nshepler]

My peacock eel makes quick work of any mts in my tank. He sucks them out of the shell in an instant.

 

[Mebbid]

Mebbid aren't there some smaller loaches that will do the job?

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There are, but with varying degrees of success. It seems like most loaches are hit or miss on whether or not they will actually eat snails. Those fish that regularly eat them are either far too large to fit in most aquariums or extremely difficult to find. Assassin snails and clown loaches seem to be the only 100% agreed upon predators. I've even heard of ghost shrimp attacking and killing snails in some cases. It really is a Crap shoot.

 

[Orlon11]

My Badis badis are death to pond snails, but I don't have MTS so no idea how they'd deal with those

 

[dcutl002]

Interested how you get on if they are MTS. They are meant to be hard for loaches to get in to due to shell length.

My yo yo loaches have knocked off most snails. The ramshorn snails seem to be gradually reducing in number. The MTS seem to be surviving but hard to keep track. Also I suspect my loaches are very lazy.

I have recently read on the internet that Yo-Yo loaches WILL eat snails. So, that may be an option.

 

[Delapool]

I have recently read on the internet that Yo-Yo loaches WILL eat snails. So, that may be an option.

I've found mine have, particularly small pond snails. Ramshorn snail numbers seem to be decreasing but the yo yo's largely ignored them at the start. I'd watch a ramshorn go across the gravel and get ignored by the loaches - the slackers!

MTS seem to have survived so far - reading it seems the gravel cover and shell length helps there. Hard to tell with snails - you see one and there's probably 10 hidden. I must confess that I don't mind MTS - most snails I hate but these I find interesting.


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[Coyne]

On of my 20 Longs had a huge MTS problem. Here's how I dealt with it:
Every night I sat there with a planting tool (think giant tweezers).
I'd grab them and squish'em, then drop the dead/dying snail back into the water. My Serpae Tetras learned pretty quickly that this was yummy food. Now they fight over them.
It probably took a couple weeks, but now they're much more manageable. If I ever see more than three, which isn't often, then I thin them down again.


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[Hulka9]

Assassin snails!

 

[Airborne173x]

Figure 8 puffer


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[Mebbid]

Figure 8 puffer

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While they are good snail eaters they are also aggressive and not suited to a community aquarium.