Snail invasion!!!

[Candi1990]

NO THOSE TINY SNAILS ARE HORRIBLE! they will completely take over your tank!!!!! I can't STAND em! I can't remember what I was told that eats them but whatever it is buy it!!!!!

 

[jim532]

Juvenile snails are definitely taking up residency in your substrate and filter. Vacuum your gravel and do whatever you can to get them out of your filter and filter media.
Drop a piece of blanched cucumber in the tank before bedtime when no lights are on. In the morning fish the cucumber out and pull snails off. You can use plant weights to make sure the cucumber doesn't float.

Only problem with loaches is they uproot everything. I love Yoyo loaches but have they have different decorating ideas than I do.

 

[Animag771]

Thanks everybody for your help. looks like snail removal will now be part of my regular tank maintenance :'( I have removed somewhere around 30 snails so far and more show up. I have set my net up so that the water from my filter has to pass through it before going into the tank, that is catching some. The lettuce in a glass works a little as well, but they REALLY like hanging out on the hose for my bubble wand. So I'm using all of those as my little snail traps and it seems to be going pretty well (so far). Hopefully before too long they will stop popping up.

Just wanted to put this to a close and thank everybody for their helpful suggestions.

 

[dcutl002]

That's funny. You will probably never get them all. But that's okay: a few snails can be useful. It is the "infestation" that you want to prevent.

 

[ArtistGardener]

Much ado about nothing (well it is something, but not anything very serious). If you are doing a fishless cycle, just leave them until the tank finishes. There isn't much for them to eat except stuff you would want them to eat anyway (algae, diatoms, dead plant debris). If they haven't self-regulated by fish-in time, then go ahead and drop in a blanched zucchini slice. It acts like a snail magnet.

 

[ArtistGardener]

I'd say just leave them for now as they're completely harmless. If you find them very unsightly then google DIY snail trap, but certainly do not add anything to the tank while it is cycling. Wiping off any algae/diatoms and removing any dead leaves will severely limit their food source. Later when the cycle is done you can look into assassin snails, but snails are also a natural part of many planted tanks.

Yep; couldn't agree more!

 

[Animag771]

Made a DIY snail trap with a Redline energy bottle that I punched a few holes in, dropped some shrimp pellets into it and set it near my bubble wand hose (idk why they like that spot). Caught a few the first day and by the second day, there must have been 50 in there. I took the lettuce out so that the trap would be their go-to food source and after a few days of using that and netting out the ones I could see on the glass I had made great progress. Today I only saw 1 snail on the glass and I scooped him out... Hopefully that was the last of them!! There may be some more hiding in the gravel, if they show up I will just net them out.