Invasion

[Billiethekid]

Ok so i have Snails Takin over my Community Tank, common pond and just recently ones tht look like small spirals(shell shape) what is the best way to get rid of them. Ill do anything but restart the tank.
It does have Live Plants(idk if tht means anything).

 

[regan24]

How many gallons is the tank? Get a clown loach. Depending on size/stock. Easily available, comparably peaceful.

 

[Jacko]

If you have a tank big enough for loaches then definitely go for them, just keep in mind that clown loaches can easily reach 12" and more...

My suggestion would be assassin snails, still new to the hobby but they do a great job at getting rid of snails without much in the way of a bioload...

 

[Billiethekid]

it is a 30 gallon and ive had a clown loach in there for a week(just one and hes small) and seemed to make the snails multiply more.. cause i see alot more...

 

[lilfishie]

Hey, nice to see someone else on the peninsula.
Yeah, I got some plants from someone in poulsbo and it wasn't a couple days later I noticed one snail. I asked him "how much longer before I am over run with them". He said : 5 minutes :
I bag mine up and put them out for the garbage man. Literally. He picks them up and delivers them to another member. He feeds them to his fish. Speaking of which, I will have another hundred or so in a couple weeks :
Any way, glad to have someone else on the peninsula

 

[lilfishie]

Hey, nice to see someone else on the peninsula.
Yeah, I got some plants from someone in poulsbo and it wasn't a couple days later I noticed one snail. I asked him "how much longer before I am over run with them". He said : 5 minutes :
I bag mine up and put them out for the garbage man. Literally. He picks them up and delivers them to another member. He feeds them to his fish. Speaking of which, I will have another hundred or so in a couple weeks :
Any way, glad to have someone else on the peninsula

 

[regan24]

I used to take the pests and feed them to my puffer.

But then my puffer died

The loach SHOULD eat them. If not...get to pluckin! I know that some places sell snail killer but that can't be safe for fish.

 

[lilfishie]

Oh, HA, just noticed your moving to shoreline. Good luck with the move.

 

[icer711]

lol all ready i better get that container back to you soon then hope the foots doing better

 

[lilfishie]

lol all ready i better get that container back to you soon then hope the foots doing better

Thanks yeah, its good enough, I will be back on the motorcycle tomorrow. That ferry traffic is horrible. Took me 4 hours to get home last friday.

 

[Paintguy]

Couldn't you add a "little" brackish salt to the tank? I put some in to give a little flavor to the water for my cichlids....a year later I got a big snail to work on the algae a bit... it vanished in about 3 days and my wife got the biggest laugh out of it as I forgot adding the salt when I started the tank.

 

[regan24]

That might work... Just pick up some aquarium salt.

 

[Billiethekid]

ok so i took another suggestion to removal by addin veggies to attract the snails and remove it early sometime.. well i no longer have a snail invasion but i didnt get any on the veggies either >.> but my clown loach is a lil fatter.....

 

[Gosu]

any future problems feel free to mail em to me i have a tank on my porch just for snails... they dont seem to multiply fast enough to be the singular food for my 4 puffers just yet... soon to have about 40 quarter sized black, and white mystery snails though! just gotta grow a bit so they can start popping out the pencil eraser size ones i need... nasty little egg sacks all around the top of the tank too - also i found that my mystery snails would not grow in my high ph tank, nor would they breed - i put a pair in my high ph and a pair in my betta tank, the betta tank snails are now about the size of a 50cent piece, and the 2 in my high ph have remained the size of a nickel and have thinner shells(nearly transparent), just a thought incase the inhabitants dont mind a ph boost might be an option to stop them from popping out more than you can remove!

 

[Clogstonian]

two things that have worked for me;
-place a small contain (opaque) upside down with food source under it, next day you should find a fair number hiding out.
-a pea puffer is a small snail assassin, doesn't get the adults but will really cut down on the new one.

 

[sandnuka]

I just pressed them with my finger until they died... lol.... gross but worked.... took about 1/2 hour to get them all... just checked ever hour and if I saw one, SMASH! cleaned them all out in 1 day.... havent had any since.

I did find a cool snail called Assassin snails... they hunt and eat 'em.... and they multiply in your tank until all are gone...

regan - aquarium salt doesnt work... you gotta use like sea salt, (i think).... Looked into that too.

 

[regan24]

Aquarium salt raises the specific gravity of the tank. I know because that's how I started to get my puffer to slowly go from freshwater to saltwater. I got up to like, 1.010 or something with JUST aquarium salt.

So personal experience, yes, it does work... (That sounded rude but I can't figure out a better way to word it lol sorry)

 

[sandnuka]

Ok, this is what I read on a google search.... snails can easily withstand up to 1 tblspn of aqurium salt per 5gallons of water.... So, You would have to use a ton of salt to kill the little buggers if you went that way.... Im pretty sure that much aqurium salt will throw off allot of water parameters too.

So, your right regan, it will work, but be allot easier to add a drop of sea salt vs a ton of aqurium salt.

 

[regan24]

This is true... One tablespoon of aquarium salt per 5 gallons is the recommended dosage anyway, that's probably why it never worked for them lol.

I was using a 5 gallon tank though, probably why it was easier.