Snails...

[supercoolbandgeek]

I currently am having issues with snails. They hitchiked into my tank and now they're trying to take over. I take them out when I can find them, but is there some way that I can easily get rid of them without emptying the whole tank?  

[Kansai_Gal]

Yup, there's snail-icide ("Had-A-Snail"). Unfortunately, it will kill other invertabrates (I believe) and I don't know how long it takes before it wears off- in case you're planning on adding larger, invited snails later.
Still, if you want 'm gone, that's how you do it, it's hard to see the clear eggs to make sure you have them all.

I've got that problem myself and I don't want to poison because 1) it's such a large tank and 2) I'm really on the fence about getting red ramshorn snails...  

[Metagon]

Snail poison is an extreme last resort. You don't want to go there.

First thing you try to do is bait and take'em out. One way to do so is to put in a lettuce leaf overnight. The next day, there should probably be snails on it. Take out the leaf, throw it away, and put in a new one to get more. Do this over and over again until satisfied. Any similar sort of food-bait and dispose thing should work as well as long as the food stays together long enough for snails to collect on it.

The alternative is to get a snail-eating fish. Loaches are mostly very good at snail-eating, especially the Botias. At least, that's what people say. A trio of Yoyo loaches (Pakistani Loach, if I'm not mistaken, is their other name...) should do the trick; I say Yoyos because they don't get that large compared to, say, the Clown Loach.  

[Chemicat]

We've got a ton of snails too. It started out as like... two... and now there's probably over a hundred in our tanks. Thing is... I can't bring myself to kill them, and neither can my sister.

Is having a lot of snails a bad thing? Forgive me, I'm not a snail-knowledge person. xp  

[Majah]

If you don't want snails ship it to me xd lolz...I keep loosing snails in my tank. Oh yeah...I have loaches >.> *chuckles*  

[Kansai_Gal]

We use snail-traps at the store. They just don't work. They only catch less than a fourth of the snails in a small, 10 gallon tank. confused  

[BluDragon35]

I agree with Metagon about the loaches. They are very proficient at getting rid of snails. That's what we use to get rid of the snails at the store. But I disagree about the clown loaches. They do get big, but it takes many many years before they get even a decent size. Clown loaches are very slow growing and, at least I think, are the best snail eaters. 3nodding  

[Sandi21]

Chemical Imbalance

We've got a ton of snails too. It started out as like... two... and now there's probably over a hundred in our tanks. Thing is... I can't bring myself to kill them, and neither can my sister.

Is having a lot of snails a bad thing? Forgive me, I'm not a snail-knowledge person. xp

The kinda snails we have are like a built in under gravel filter! biggrin Any fish food that falls they are all over it within a couple of minutes.

But I agree with the bait trick. Put some lettuce on the bottom of the tank (might need to weigh it down with something cuz it usually floats) and just catch all the snails that are on it in a few hours. And would be better to do this at night.  

[Kansai_Gal]

BluDragon35

I agree with Metagon about the loaches. They are very proficient at getting rid of snails. That's what we use to get rid of the snails at the store. But I disagree about the clown loaches. They do get big, but it takes many many years before they get even a decent size. Clown loaches are very slow growing and, at least I think, are the best snail eaters. 3nodding

We use large goldfish.

I don't want her to buy a fish that she's not going to be happy with in her tank though. Even though it might solve a temporary problem, she's going to have to take care of the fish for the rest of its life. confused


My only problem with snails is they produce SOO much waste. I've got 3 small snails I pulled from my tank and haven't yet had the heart to kill and even though they've had no food supply they've produced a thin layer of feces at the bottom of the container. Worst of all, the mystery snails I had had this nasty sticky stuff that couldn't be gravel vacuumed. confused (My mom horribly overfed them as well, exacerbating the problem.)  

[BluDragon35]

Kansai_Gal

We use large goldfish.

I don't want her to buy a fish that she's not going to be happy with in her tank though. Even though it might solve a temporary problem, she's going to have to take care of the fish for the rest of its life. confused


My only problem with snails is they produce SOO much waste. I've got 3 small snails I pulled from my tank and haven't yet had the heart to kill and even though they've had no food supply they've produced a thin layer of feces at the bottom of the container. Worst of all, the mystery snails I had had this nasty sticky stuff that couldn't be gravel vacuumed. confused (My mom horribly overfed them as well, exacerbating the problem.)

You should show her the loaches then. They are very cute! whee  

[Metagon]

BluDragon35

I agree with Metagon about the loaches. They are very proficient at getting rid of snails. That's what we use to get rid of the snails at the store. But I disagree about the clown loaches. They do get big, but it takes many many years before they get even a decent size. Clown loaches are very slow growing and, at least I think, are the best snail eaters. 3nodding

It's true that Clown Loaches are proficient snail eaters and that they are slow growers, however if someone has no desire at all to set up a 6' tank, even if it is in the distant future, I say to go for other loaches only because there are alternatives than to have to trouble with finding large Clown Loaches better homes later. That's just my opinion, though...  

[Jonathan_McCim]

I have one very welcome snail. We initally got two, but when they tried to mate, they'd lay to eggs on the roof and they dried out, leaving no baby snails. The one we have is either an Apple snail or and "Aztec gold" er something. It's pretty big and he's really fast. He's replaced the pelco in my tank as the primary cleaner.  

[The Magic Pimpbus]

Oooh! Snails! I have one named Cornelius ^_^v

I think the only way to fix the problem is to be heartless. I worked at a Pet Store and we would put them in a bag with some fruits and veggies. They'd multiply in there and we'd throw them away. I don't know if you could do it if you feel sorry for them... I know I was always sad when we had to do this gonk  

[Pyfe]

Ooo, I hate small snails! I bought them (accidentially, and rather stupidly) with my plants... Which all died a week later...

The same day, I bought a male betta, and a thread of green about an inch long, which had been caught in the fish store owner's net. Now, that little green thread is an underwater shrub about four inches in diameter. It's funny how that works. xd

Back to snails... I have around a hundred of the little suckers (so punny...) in my betta tank now. I've given up the extermination process, but the bettas don't seem to mind. domokun  

[supercoolbandgeek]

So... If I were thinking about getting a loach to eat all the snails, is there any type that stays fairly small (all I have is a 20 gallon tank)?