Newbie Snail Dilemma

[Moquillo]

Hi!
I'm a new aquarium owner who (after delighting in the joys of cycling a tank for weeks and geting it in the neck from his other half about the lack of fish) is having a spot of bother with small snails in the tank.
I have had 6 Glowlight tetras in the tank for 8 days since the tank cycled. They seem to be doing fine but in the last week I've noticed small snails climbing around. Can anyone please tell me how to get rid of them or even if I should try to. Is it ok to put my hands into the tank when I see one? The net is too clumsy and I keep dropping the things
The tank is 125ltrs and I've got 6 real plants in it. The snails seem to be leaving them alone though, but it is difficult to tell.

Anyway, any advice would be most appreciated and can I just say that this site is really good and I wish I'd said hello earlier.

 

[Rooster]

These can be a love/hate thing ! personally I HATE the things... but its a loosing battle, I wouldnt start using chemicals, crushing them with a finger (or chopstick etc if you are squeemish) will give your fish a treat.

I prefer nature, and employ a couple of botia to deal with them !

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Moquillo.
The typical snails that come in as eggs on your plants can be a bit of a pest if you are not careful. If you have a tendency to overfeed your fish, you will get a huge snail population explosion. As Rooster said, a method to deal with snails is to crush them with a fingertip and turn them into fish food. If you get a runaway population, you can put a small piece of lettuce into the tank and wait until morning. By morning, the lettuce will be covered in snails and can be easily removed.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah just stick your hand in the tank and grab them out, as said above you can crush some against the glass and your fishies will have a lovely meaty dinner!!

whats important to remember is that nearly everyone has some snails, they just come in on the plants and it's v hard to totally eradicate the population, but the population is best controlled by feeding, if there's no food for them they won't multiply so if you've loads and loads of the little buggers then you're most likely overfeeding and cutting back will cut back on the population over time.

 

[Moquillo]

Thanks Rooster, OldMan and Miss Wiggle. I hate the things too so I think i'll persrvere with the crushing them method for a while and maybe as OldMan also said I'll get a little army of snail eaters on my side. At least I know it's ok to kill them, I didn't want to declare all out war on them and then find out that they're actully beneficial to the system.

Right I'm off to sit and watch the tank all day now seing as it's my day off! Let battle commence. Haha

 

[Corleone]

Well, they are beneficial to the system, though it depends on what type of snail you have. Trumpet and ramshorn snails together form about the best cleanup crew you could hope for - far better than any bottom feeding fish can hope to. Some ramshorn snails are quite attractive. I've got a number of bright cherry red ramshorns in my planted tank. Trumpet snails you'll rarely see - you can have them for months and not realize it until you catch one out at night. Nerite and apple snails are nice, as well, and won't breed easily, but you very rare get them on plants. Pond snails are the real pest - they can reproduce rapidly to the point that they look ugly.

There's a few things to remember in controlling them, most importantly: if they keep breeding out of control, you're overfeeding. They live off the same food source as your fish, and they're a lot slower at homing in on food. When you first get them, you're more likely to get an explosion because there's probably some built up organic gunk for them to feed on, but reduced feedings and increased gravel cleaning will keep them in check as long as you aren't overfeeding.

The best way to get numbers down quickly is to make a snail trap. Just sink a jar in the tank and put some lettuce, cucumber, or zucchini in it. In the morning, pull it out and throw it away along with any snails still on it.

 

[Miss_Donna]

Hi i had a snail problem when i first set my tank up so i went to my LFS and he said that a clown loach will do the trick so i bought 1 and now i have none he loves them and as already said makes a good treat now i look forward to getting them in my plants lol

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup clown loaches are great at snail control, they also get to 16" long and need to be kept in large groups so this solution is only suitable for people will seriously big tanks.

there are a lot of smaller loach species which would be suitable if push comes to shove, but in most cases just cutting back feeding controls the population. overfeeding is bad for the fish anyway so look at the snails as early warning notice that you need to cut back before something goes wrong.

 

[pippoodle]

i keep an old washed out jam jar with tank water in and holes in the lid then i catch the baby ramshorns and give them to my mother in law to add to her pond

 

[flippajh]

Any that come in on the plants, I crush up for the fish, they love em, especially my Betta, I keep the Trumpet snails, and have actually been out and bought a few Zebra snails, but the rest get squished. However I have also learnt from everyone on the forum that overfeeding doesn't help!

Thanks