tiny snails

[gunnergetcha]

hey guys,
i seem to be getting heaps of tiny snails in my community tank. i am new at this and am wanting to know is there any concerns about them?

i have a 130ltr tank (33gallons?) and have a great community of tropicals i am putting together but concerned about these little snails that my guess are parasites?

can anyone shed some light on this for me?

p.s. im proud to anounce the addition of 2 blue koi swordtails and 4 male guppies to the family

Peter

 

[Drewbie]

They come from fish stores and spread fast.

You can see the babies as a clear sack on the side of your tank,

As to how to get ride of them

there is product for sale like no snail but I don't think its good for plants?

I used a puffer he made short work of them but he may hurt some of your other fish.

Either way hang around and someone with more experience will help you out

 

[gunnergetcha]

yeah lfs sounds like the culprit (which is to be expected) and the puffer sounds interesting as does the "no snail?".

my problem is that i have a "mystery/mysterious" snail i think its name is that is part of my fish family and i love him/her and dont wont to hurt him. my wife has heard of a snail called the assassin snail that feeds on them, but i dont want it to hurt a single member of the community. they are all dearly loved

we are in the process of slowly establishing our tank as we have only had it for 2 months. its already an obcession

i think its time i take photos and show them off. i might have to include photos of my 2 boys so the wife doesnt think i've got favorites

 

[Drewbie]

lol you could always keep some of your water from your next water change and move the snail you want to keep to a bowl with the water from the water change.

here is an example of a chemical that can be used

http://www.bigalsonline.ca/StoreCat...4_oz?&query=snail&queryType=0&hits=12&offset=

 

[Mystery]

You can put a lettuce leaf in, remove the mystery snail and dispose of the rest that come to feed on it.

 

[FishEggs]

they are really no danger to your fish and most times not to your plants either(depends on what kind of snail) if they are malaysian trumpet snails they actually perform a service and stir up the substrate and keep toxic gas pockets from forming.

otherwise manual removal and due diligence is best bet to keep everyone else safe. bait with lettuce leaf and pull out any snails you find on it. or you can get some of several kinds of loaches which will eat the snails. just make sure it is suitable for a 30g (not a clown loach, they get real big) but then again the snail you want to keep would be in danger unless removed to another tank/bowl.

 

[bmg07]

put lettuce leaf in your tank and all the snails will come to it and when they do take it out and throw it away. keep doing this prosess until none are left. [it should only take one maybe 2 times]

 

[joy13]

I am one of those that appreciates the snails in my tanks. If there is something wrong with the water they are the first to have problems. If I see snails trying to climb out I know there is something wrong with the water, usually it is a spike in ammonia but not all the time. If I have a snail explosion I know I am overfeeding so I cut down the amount of food. I have an assortment of pond snails, ram horn, and Malaysian trumpet snails in my planted tanks.

 

[jsoong]

lol you could always keep some of your water from your next water change and move the snail you want to keep to a bowl with the water from the water change.

I would not use chemicals unless you don't plan on having inverts in the tank for a long time. People have had problems with residue amounts of the chemicals (esp. copper based) killing their desirable snails/shrimps.

Personally, I would just do manual removal. Also, removing all rotting vegetation & feeding less (so there is no uneaten food) will help keep snail population in check.

 

[gunnergetcha]

guys, thanks all for the great advice.

yes i am a noob so feel free to tell me im being silly but from all the info ive gathered on this i might just let them be (like your point of view "joy"). if they dont hurt my fish or the plants, and can help me "monitor" the water and conditions they can stay.

Just on another note, i just got a blue koi swordfish and he is just stunning. i think over the weekend i will try and take some photos (hard through the glass) and show them off to you guys

thx again people. any more opinions on the little buggers would be nice.

 

[fisherman876]

snails are no danger to your fish but if they reproduce fast they can be harmful if you have a planted aquarium .they will just feed on your aquarium plants and destroy your tank 's beauty....one thing you can do is to use snail eating fishes such as Plec ,Oscar etc. if the snails are too small Gold fishes can eat them too

 

[CichliditisExtremitis]

Hello GunnerGetcha. You probably had one or more snail egg pouches stuck somewhere and didn't even realize it. They may have arrived on an aquarium plant, or in a fish bag. Depending on the type of snail, your problem resulted from either a number of small, clear, gelatinous blobs, which you could have very easily overlooked, or the culprit could have been a more foamy-looking thing, similar to a sac of praying mantis eggs.

Let me point out that not all snails lay their eggs in the water. I remember many years ago, around four decades ago in fact, when I discovered that a large snail -- an Apple Snail -- had laid such a foamy egg pouch on the inside of the light fixture where it was nice and warm.

So what is the cure for your snail problem? Personally, I really don't recommend using any chemical solutions. Even if they are used properly, they could still alter the chemical balance of your water, and possibly kill your plants or livestock, or both. If you have a beautiful aquarium which you have been maintaining and nurturing for years, it would be a tragedy to see all of your hard work and dedication come to naught.

One more natural solution is to take the time to closely inspect your tank and manually remove the snails before they reach maturity and breed. You can use a piece of lettuce or cucumber to try to attract them to one spot, perhaps even inside a jar. They will come out at night and feast on your bait. The manual approach can be tedious and time consuming, being as it may take days to get the situation under control, but it won't cost you any money. However, there is no guarantee that you will find them all, so your problem may just be repeated later on.

Another natural solution is to purchase some variety of snail-eating fish. Online sources seem to indicate that loaches best serve this purpose, being as they like to burrow into the aquarium substrate where such small snails like to hide. Just make sure that you feed your fish lightly, so that the loaches will have an appetite for the snails.

Following are two web links which will provide you with some additional information regarding snail-eating fish. If you enter the phrase "snail-eating fish" in the Google search engine, you will find many similar pages which cover this same topic:

Home Aquaria Snail Control by P.Timlin

Snails in the aquarium

 

[Zakk]

Hey GunnerGetcha,

A well known snail buster is tha Botia Sidthimunki Loach. depending on the size of your tank and the infestation of snails, you could keep anything from 2 to 6 of them, 2 being a smallish tank, in the range of 20GL and above, 6 for 55 GL and above.

CichliditisExtremitis,

You are correct. not all snails lay thier eggs in the water. i used to have snails that would climb up to the hood and lay thier nests.

hope this helps!

Cheers!