I am the dreaded snail killer

[Fiori]

My tank is full of itsy bitsy snails, which no matter how many I take out the tank each day and squish, just keep on coming. AAAAAARGH!! I don't really want to use snail killer chemicals as I have otos and an apple snail in my tank and I have tried the weighted cucumber trick - to no avail. I am at my wits end - sob! Any suggestions?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Well how much do you feed your fish and how many do you have in the tank/tank size/species? and what temp do you have the tank set at?
I have heard lowering the tank temp slows down the snails so they don't multiply so much; if you are overfeeding your fish at all or they are producing too much waste for the tank to handle/tank plants have been dying alot recently/are have dead leaves in the tank, this all produces excess food for the snails and the more food they have the more they will breed etc.
Also if you have gravel in the tank instead of sand this will also make it so more waste ends up getting trapped at the bottom; do you gravel vac your tank?

 

[utahfish]

i used to have a ton of pond sanils in my tank. i used to take them out and feed them to my crab but lateley theyre are only a couple here and there. i'm not sure what i did. it's just not a problem anymore. just keep taking them out and squishing them. it's kinda fun isnt it.

 

[Fiori]

My morning ritual is to get some toilet paper and then start pulling out snails and squishing them The tank has sand and I do a vacuum once a week, when I do my water change. Temp. 76 food - feed fish twice a day, small amounts and one day off a week, tend not to over feed. Despite having snails they are not really muching on my plants, which are great.

Have 1 angel, becon tetras, platies, harlequins, plec, otos, cory and big snail - and two filters, so no problems there I think. Water good, fish good, plants good - snails everywhere!

Is my life going to be spent squishing snails? It can't be good for my karma!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

One thing i have noticed when i have had snails is when i do big tank clean outs and take all the rocks/ornements and plants out and place them in a bucket so i can clean the tank, any snails which attached to the plants/rocks/ornements will go to the bottom of the water in the search of water, making them very easy to dispose of in one go; have you tried this?

 

[LifeBear]

I wish I lived near you, then I could take them and you wouldn't have to squish them.

Before you go thinking I am some goodie 2 shoes snail lover...I feed mine to my red eared slider turtle hatchlings. They love them, and it is fun to watch them crunch the shell.

I once asked the lady at the local pet shop if she could scrape some out of their tanks for me. She though I was crazy at first, then she gave me all she could.

If your didn't have the Apple I would say "Go ahead with the snail chems" I did (pre turtle) and my 2 otos were fine, but it would kill your apple, so it's no good. Just keep squishing. Or just let them stay, I suppose.

 

[Fiori]

I could take my apple out - but I want to try and avoid chemicals where I can. The tank has only been going since January so I have'nt done a major clean as yet.

Grrrr -snails!! I've even seen them up to hanky panky - right in front of me! They have no shame!

 

[colegamby]

get a loach they eat them out of their shell

 

[pendragon]

No doubt. There are several loaches which are incredible snail exterminators. Clown and Yo-yo are the best, I think, but some others have been known to eat snails as well. They'll do an unbelievably effective job. I don't suppose you have a friend that could loan you a loach or two for a couple of weeks?

Loaches are the best non-chem snail-remover I know of.

pendragon!

 

[Y2J]

Gonna sound so thick here but where do the snails come from and why?

 

[Fiori]

I did wonder about getting a loach - but I have a friend with a couple of clown loaches - maybe he will lend me one for a bit.

My snails must have come in on my plants, despite me giving them a good clean before planting them. Next lot of plants I will try some dilute snail killer to steep them in and make sure this time.

Cheers everyone

 

[swampcat]

I don't know if it will work, but JUNGLE parasite rid , states it kills snails. But not for use on scaleless fish, so depending on your fish this may help. Yo Yo loach is the natural way though.

 

[silvershark]

i also got some from my lfs on purpose the woman also gave me an "are you nuts?" look then rushed round and cleaned half of her tanks out of snails for me!! i ended up with about 50-60 of them but they dont seem to have caused a problem for me at the moment! i find that malaysian trumpet snails bury them selves during the day and do a good job of cleaning out all the waste, however i dont seem to end up with anymore than i started, i think my bala shark eats them as i've seen him/her nuzzleing one then picked out an empty shell the next morning! hope you get them under control but bear in mind that they do do a good job when they are kept to limited numbers!

 

[Fiori]

Woo hoo - I managed to get a yoyo loach from my lfs today, for nothing! He is very skinny and has hidden away in the QT, which I've left with lights off, so I'll need to see if he will pick up at all. Fingers crossed.