Do the best-laid plans of mice & men....

[LordHappy]

...always lead to snail infestations yet again?

Alas and alack, my plans of a shrimp & purple mystery snail-only 9.6gl tank have been torpedoed by small little brown/black snails, perhaps generously described as a pond snail, although it might be a bladder snail, too. It is a Walstad-method tank...no ferts, no filter, no C02, no pump, no heater. What's worse is that the snails have had the temerity to engage in...dare I say it (dare dare!)...sex, and are apparently multiplying faster than rats in the Tube, as evidenced by the little critters I can see on the glass, not to mention the ones I can't see in the substrate and on the plants.

Now I will say that while the tank is merely a month old, the plants are doing splendidly and I was going to be moving some amano shrimp in this weekend. If they lived, then a dozen blue dreams would be added in another couple of weeks. But I definitely do not want pond/bladder snails littering the tank any more than I want MTS in this tank. But there are no other intended life forms in this tank outside of the plants and the usual amount of algae one finds in such tanks.

So. I believe that I am faced with five options for this new tank and the looming snail invasion.
1. If I am to adhere to The Method, then I am supposed to do nothing and let the ecology have its way.
2. If I want to play the role of a minor deity, then I could put a couple of assassin snails in now and skip the purple mystery snails all together (which sucks because they arrive Wednesday). But as I learned with a 15gl that has MTS, the assassins don't seem to help much. Although two assassins for that 15gl tank might simply not be enough given the MTS population that was in there. Would they make it in a new tank with a starter colony of pest snails?
3. Pea puffers could demolish the not-yet-bought shrimp population, so I think they are out.
4. I don't believe that any of the dwarf loaches would be suitable...they like to shoal and this is just a small tank. So I think they are out.
5. Which brings me to the role of a wrathful god. I could try...a poison. I don't know how well that would work with the dirt core that resides underneath the Eco-complete and if poison would cause problems later.

Thus...I come before thee on bended knee, and seek thine advice on this matter.

 

[Munroco]

I think the easiest route would be to leave the snails and be careful feeding.
Of course if your snails don't get much to eat, your shrimp won't either unless you can think of creative ways of feeding them.

 

[FFGuest6357]

First off a question, does MTS=Malaysian trumpet snail?

if you have only invasive snails right now, what would adding an over dose of aquarium salt do to them?

if there is no other decent option, that one might be a good one to consider if it won’t hurts your plants.

I’m no expert in snail control though. So I would consult others.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

So what exactly is the question?

MTS snails are actually very beneficial for your tank.

 

[FFGuest6357]

So what exactly is the question?

MTS snails are actually very beneficial for your tank.

i was asking if the abbreviation of mts was short for Malaysian trumpet snails...

They’re pretty easy to get out of control aren’t they?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

i was asking if the abbreviation of mts was short for Malaysian trumpet snails...

They’re pretty easy to get out of control aren’t they?

Oh, I was asking the OP.

Yes, MTS either stands for “Malaysian Trumpet Snail” or “Multiple Tank Syndrome”.

Eh, they are kind of easy to keep under control. Reducing feeding and picking out any you see from time to time will reduce the population.

 

[FFGuest6357]

Oh, I was asking the OP.

Yes, MTS either stands for “Malaysian Trumpet Snail” or “Multiple Tank Syndrome”.

Eh, they are kind of easy to keep under control. Reducing feeding and picking out any you see from time to time will reduce the population.

I’ve heard people rant about them like crazy, i ended up with a hitch hiker 13 years ago, made a few more, but I don’t think I ever had more than 4 or 5 at a time in. 10gal. I never minded them

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I think your best bet is assassin snails, or just squash 'em right and left. Eventually you'll get on top of it. Assassins usually don't hurt mystery snails.

 

[eatyourpeas]

Am I the only one who is actually "trying" to breed snails here??? My pea puffers love them! Now, you can always put a piece of iceberg lettuce and when you lift it, they'll be attached to it.

 

[Colin_T]

The assassins snails didn't do anything to the Malaysian livebearer snail because they have a much thicker shell than most other snails and the assassins can't get to the snail. The MTS also bury themselves and hide in the substrate and that makes it harder to kill them.

Salt does not kill the MTS unless you get the levels to half strength seawater and keep it there for a couple of weeks. And that level of salt kills all the plants and most freshwater fish.

You can use copper but that has to be water changed out quite a few times otherwise it will kill shrimp and any other snails you put in.

I would manually remove the snails and their eggs and kill the bloody things.
DEATH TO SNAILS

 

[eatyourpeas]

Yep, @Colin_T has an issue with the gastropods Still a god and well respected, and I ask the snails to forgive him

 

[CassCats]

My assassin snails dont eat my bladder snails, I had a ramshorn population that started to eat my plants, so got assassins and they got rid of all my ramshorns in that tank.

But now are ignoring the bladder snails which will breed even without a food source...

Tested out btw. Bladder snails will breed no matter what, my son snuck one out of the tank and stuck it in a jar of water and 3 weeks later there's 10 of them in there.

 

[Colin_T]

Yep, @Colin_T has an issue with the gastropods Still a god and well respected, and I ask the snails to forgive him

stop writing things and go and eat your peas

 

[LordHappy]

Happy day and thank you all for your responses.

1. Although I do suffer from MTS and have five tanks, in the context of a snail discussion, MTS = Malaysian trumpet snails. And yes, they have their uses for churning through substrate. And yes, I have been coping with an outbreak in a different tank and assassin snails, which were quite small 6 months ago, are now much beefier than a tofu burger, presumably because they are chowing on the MTS. I have photographic evidence of assassins escorting MTS off this mortal coil via the gastonomical gateway. So I have gone from hundreds of MTS clinging on the sides of the tank at night to perhaps 60, and no clue for what lurks in the gravel.

2. As with any aristocrat, I would not lower myself to being directly involved in the killing. That aside, using the spot-n-squash tactic for the pond/bladder snails presents difficulties due to the heavily planted nature of the tank. See image of tank and the currently diminutive, #2 pencil-dot size of the invasion party members.

After reviewing the posts and filtering them through my own highly-refined sense of morality, I will do the lettuce trick over the next week and augment with assassin snails as needed. I will advise my wife that I will be preparing her La Salade de Francais for dinner on Saturday, and present her with the snails as an expensive, high-brow delicacy suitable for well-heeled nobs.

 

[eatyourpeas]

Happy day and thank you all for your responses.

1. Although I do suffer from MTS and have five tanks, in the context of a snail discussion, MTS = Malaysian trumpet snails. And yes, they have their uses for churning through substrate. And yes, I have been coping with an outbreak in a different tank and assassin snails, which were quite small 6 months ago, are now much beefier than a tofu burger, presumably because they are chowing on the MTS. I have photographic evidence of assassins escorting MTS off this mortal coil via the gastonomical gateway. So I have gone from hundreds of MTS clinging on the sides of the tank at night to perhaps 60, and no clue for what lurks in the gravel.

2. As with any aristocrat, I would not lower myself to being directly involved in the killing. That aside, using the spot-n-squash tactic for the pond/bladder snails presents difficulties due to the heavily planted nature of the tank. See image of tank and the currently diminutive, #2 pencil-dot size of the invasion party members.

After reviewing the posts and filtering them through my own highly-refined sense of morality, I will do the lettuce trick over the next week and augment with assassin snails as needed. I will advise my wife that I will be preparing her La Salade de Francais for dinner on Saturday, and present her with the snails as an expensive, high-brow delicacy suitable for well-heeled nobs.

Please make sure to wash the lettuce really well (organic preferable) to avoid introducing pesticides into the tank.