How to get rid of Malaysian Trumpet Snails

[Betty]

I've tried assassin snails -- they can't get them all. I've manually removed them --they come back. I don't normally overfeed -- there are still enough to cause problems. I have been overfeeding a little in a tank with fry and the snails are thriving there! I made the mistake of adding a few to one tank a few years ago and somehow have them in 3 tanks now.

Other than emptying a tank and scrubbing it out, tossing the substrate and sterilizing the decor, is there any way to get rid of these things? I don't like killing them, but don't want them in my tanks.

 

[Gizmo]

Use 0.1mg/gallon of fenbendazole (active ingredient in dog dewormer), I would suggest measuring out from packets of Panacur-C (yellow box), available at most pharmacies including Costco. I used it to treat a planaria outbreak, but it works great for any/all invertebrates.

 

[Betty]

Thanks Gizmo. I will look into that.

 

[julzhull]

I was overrun with ramshorns in one of my tanks and introduced some assassins but there were too many ramshorns. I got a snail trap and used it several times and finally the assassins were able to start breeding and taking over the remaining ramshorns. Now I've just got a lot of assassins in that tank which I prefer.

 

[VickiK]

I have a snail farm here too. I'm growing way too many for Sean "Puffy" Combs to eat. He can't keep up. I got red ramshorn snails coming out my eyeballs.

What's super FUNNY is that I posted here, some months ago, how excited I was that I had snail eggs. hahahahahaha!

 

[Mike16T]

Ok.. Does mass killing the snails will trigger ammonia spike and so on....?!?!

Did you try snail traps?

 

[Mike16T]

you can try clown loach also to control the population of the MTS.

 

[Betty]

Yes, they really do reproduce like crazy! I also had a lot of ramshorns for a while, but was able to finally get rid of those.
I have tried a diy trap, but the problem is if you don't get every last one, they eventually come back. Good point about the ammonia. I do weekly large water changes and would make sure to keep an eye on things if I used fenbendazole and there was a mass die off.

The tanks are small and established with breeding N. leleupi and A. calvus so I don't think clown loaches would work.

Thank you for the replies.

 

[Mike16T]

Yes, they really do reproduce like crazy! I also had a lot of ramshorns for a while, but was able to finally get rid of those.
I have tried a diy trap, but the problem is if you don't get every last one, they eventually come back. Good point about the ammonia. I do weekly large water changes and would make sure to keep an eye on things if I used fenbendazole and there was a mass die off.

The tanks are small and established with breeding N. leleupi and A. calvus so I don't think clown loaches would work.

Thank you for the replies.

You can actually keep a small clown loach with african cichlids..

 

[Livebearer Lady]

Yo Yo loaches!