How do I get ahead of a ramshorn snail problem??

[jonatheber]

This thread is going in the wrong direction. Let's back up.

First, snails are not a negative (fry tanks or tanks with spawning fish is another matter, we are here talking generally). They are without question a benefit in any healthy aquarium. They eat organics, and this means fish excrement, which breaks it down faster for the various bacteria to handle. Snails get everywhere within the aquarium to keep all areas cleaner than otherwise. And, they can only survive if they have food, which obviously means with fish present there will always be food. That can indicate just how much organic matter is actually present. So, snails as such as beneficial not harmful--again we are talking the small common types that do not eat healthy plants.

Second, there is one way and only one way to remove or reduce snails: reduce their food, and physically remove them. In the earlier posts in this thread, additives and fish like loaches were mentioned. Never use either.

Fish that eat snails, like puffer fish and some (but not all) loach species, will control the snail population, but here you should actually be adding snails for the benefit of these fish, especially the puffer fish. Each species of fish has requirements for its maintenance, which can include needing a group for a shoaling species (and all loaches are shoaling fish); some of the loaches get huge, requiring 8-foot tanks; some of these species have behaviour problems. Keeping such fish in conditions that do not provide for their inherent requirements is inhumane.

As for additives--nothing (meaning chemical or medical additives) that kills any living creature should ever be added to an aquarium to solve a problem, with the sole exception of necessary medications for a specific disease issue. Substances that kill snails or algae will without question harm fish. Always.

Assassin snails are another risk. In some states of the US they are I believe illegal. They have managed to get into the natural ecosystems in some areas and decimate the natural snail population. Aquarists should be more responsible when it comes to the environment.

All of this is appreciated. I don't know ANYTHING about snails, other than the fact that it seems like the particular kind I have can get wildly out of control. I'd rather no snails at all (even if some would be good for the tank) than fight a never ending battle to keep them at a decent number. I see things like Nerite snails or mystery snails are controllable, and maybe I should buy them (and therefore skip the assassins. I am ok with a few of them, but my understanding is that a few ramshorn snails will quickly be LOTS of them, and that I don't want.

So my question boils down to "Is there any way to keep the snail population of this type of snail easily manageable without having to get them all out right away before I have more snails than fish?"

 

[vanalisa]

I bought a couple of pea puffers with the promise that I could sell them back to the shop when they had finished the job.
They are rampant snail eaters. However if you hang onto them once there are no more snails they start nipping the fins of the fish too. Let them do the job and keep them just long enough to see if any snail eggs are hatching, and get rid of them if your tank is clear. Of course you could buy a small separate tank for them just in case you need to use them again later. They don't need big tanks and were quite happy in a round glass tube, a leftover from my wife's perfumed candle buying. The tube is about 5" diameter and holds around 2 litres. They are characters to watch as they curl around the tank/tube but not in any numbers as they don't tolerate each other either much. Two at most should be fine.

Puffers are not just for snail control in the wild; they are carnivorous fish that eat snails. They also need more room, recommended 5 - 10g as they move a long way very quickly in hunting mode. Also, of course they will nip each other in a 2 liter vase.

I'm sorry but any time someone says to "get rid" of a fish I wince. I hope your fish store bought them back.

I was quite pleased to find out Puffers ate snails, as I did have the snail problem at the time I got mine. But I didn't go search one out to do a snail clean-up job. I tried to donate a lot of my extra snails to my LFS to sell and they were quite amused. Then they said they would give them to another employee for his larger puffer. This is when I got the Assassin snails, one for each tank that needed them. Next time I went in they had Dwarfs, discussed their requirements with the employee, and so I got one and put it in a 5g. Niblit is now my sweet boy and I would never get rid of him. Here he is up top eyeing a bloodworm♡

I am lucky to have a fish store that educates me and I understand you may have been misled.

 

[Byron]

All of this is appreciated. I don't know ANYTHING about snails, other than the fact that it seems like the particular kind I have can get wildly out of control. I'd rather no snails at all (even if some would be good for the tank) than fight a never ending battle to keep them at a decent number. I see things like Nerite snails or mystery snails are controllable, and maybe I should buy them (and therefore skip the assassins. I am ok with a few of them, but my understanding is that a few ramshorn snails will quickly be LOTS of them, and that I don't want.

So my question boils down to "Is there any way to keep the snail population of this type of snail easily manageable without having to get them all out right away before I have more snails than fish?"

I can appreciate that some people might not "like" snails, just as there are people who dislike snakes, or spiders. That is one aspect, and obviously one I can't help with.

Control the food supply and you control the snails. Snails are not fast enough to snatch food away from fish, so the "food" your snails thrive and reproduce on is what comes out of the fish, along with other natural organics (algae, biofilm critters, etc). The more fish and/or the more you feed them, the more snails. Keep the higher organisms balanced, and the lower will follow.

 

[vanalisa]

Oh, welcome to the forum!

 

[itiwhetu]

Goldfish are great snail egg eaters, try a fantail. They don't eat the snails but eat the eggs and sooner or later the snail population will disappear

 

[utahfish]

Funny that you say you don't want any snails and dislike them and one of your first suggestions of getting rid of snails is buying snails to eat the snails
Snails are a natural part of aquatic habitat. Ramshorn are excellent algae and detritus eaters assassin snails eat snails and zero algae.

I'd say embrace your little snails, easiest way to manage them is manage their food. If one has an explosion of snails cut back feeding, if feeding once a day go to every other day if that doesn't work skip another day. Fish that aren't fry don't need to eat daily and definitely not twice daily as the fish food instructions suggest.

Also seeing as you have noticed only a few tiny ones I wouldn't say there's much to worry about.

Don't medicate, copper will kill your snails but copper treatments will also affect the fish could damage your plants leach into substrate and decor and can lead to problems later if one wants to add inverts like shrimp.

Good luck!