snails

[net]

hi can anyone help me i planted my tank a week ago and now its full of tiny little snail type things with clear shells there is about 50 of the things and they are eating some of my plants , can anyone advise me on how to get rid of them or how to control them as i dont really want them

thanks nettie

 

[mfdrookie516]

welcome to AA Are they actually eating the plants or are they just all over them? Generally, pond snails are the snails that come in with plants. they wont eat them, but they will reproduce like crazy if given enough food. i've almost got rid of all of mine by sucking them out with my python during water changes. some people put a loach their tank that will eat snails. google "pond snail" and look at the image results and see if thats what they are

 

[net]

hi thanks they are pond snails they are eating one plant it looks like a creeping jenny i have watched them and they are moving around the leave and after about a hour all thats left is a skeletal leave i will try and get rid of what i can with a water change thanks for the advice
nettie

 

[BigJim]

Pond snails will eat a dying plant, but they usually leave healthy plants alone. They can be a real nuisance.

 

[hbeth82]

Don't know if it's suitable for your tank but there are also plenty of fish that will take care of the problem for you - had a blue acara that wiped out a strong population in my tank. Ended up with beautiful fish and snail-less tank!
Seems like I've seen meds that are supposed to kill snails (or maybe snail eggs?) but not harm plants or fish - would something like that help?

 

[Purrbox]

Seems like I've seen meds that are supposed to kill snails (or maybe snail eggs?) but not harm plants or fish - would something like that help?

I would highly recommend against going this route. Most of these medications contain copper and will make the aquarium unsuitable for any invertebrates in the future. So if you think you might ever want another type of snail (non nuisance variety) or shrimp, this is definitely not a good solution. The other problem is that you tend to get a massive die off all at once. It can be very difficult to get rid of all the dead snails, which then leads to an Ammonia spike followed by fish die off and/or algae bloom. Again, not a very good solution.

 

[Aquarium1]

I would highly recommend against going this route. Most of these medications contain copper and will make the aquarium unsuitable for any invertebrates in the future. So if you think you might ever want another type of snail (non nuisance variety) or shrimp, this is definitely not a good solution. The other problem is that you tend to get a massive die off all at once. It can be very difficult to get rid of all the dead snails, which then leads to an Ammonia spike followed by fish die off and/or algae bloom. Again, not a very good solution.

+1

 

[hbeth82]

+2, I guess, as I hadn't considered what would happen once they died. . .

 

[PaulieFish]

Like said above, I had the SAME problem, I tried sucking them out, and getting rid of them, but about a day or two later I would find another 4-5 stuck to the glass, my solution was my beautiful clown loach. I haven't seen one since

 

[Aquarium1]

If you get a cup and put in some aquarium water and add a few shrimp pellets then fill it up and put it in the tank with in a few hours there seems to be hundreds in there lol.

 

[dkpate]

You can use a piece of lettuce or zuchinni overnight, and then just take them out with the veggie in the AM.

 

[Guyver]

Would assassin snails work, or are the buggers too small?

 

[dkpate]

They would work I believe, as long as the snails don't burrow.

 

[DragonFish71]

Ghost shrimp are cheap, easy to come by and work great for getting rid of snails. It can be a bit brutal, but entertaining (yeah I'm demented ) watching a ghost shrimp stand on a snail and rip chunks out of the shell.

 

[jimmy c]

i added 6 clown loaches in my 72 gal and they wiped them out like no tomorrow. i also tried a product called "had-a-snail" it worked a bit but not like my FAT clown loaches. like dkpate suggested vegies, i herd cucumber works good.

 

[Aquarium1]

Just the other day I put a diy snail trap in my 10 g. It's basically a tuppaware container with holes which I made by heating a screw drver with a lighter and poking some holes in it. I then added some shrimp pellets (which mine love) and put it in the tank and put two small rocks on it to hold it down. If you poke from the outside it makes it harder for the snails to get out. I just put it in a second time yesterday (first time was around Monday) and over half the snails are already gone.