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[I hate snails]

So I thought I would butt in here...

Hi Everyone

I have had tropical fish now for 3 years but I have my first real emergency. I have been invaded by these horrible snails that are out numbering my fish by about 10 to 1. They appeared about 3 weeks ago but I thought the fish would get rid of them - now the fish are so scared of them they are not eating.

Any ideas what these snails are (I read they could be trumpet snails) and more importantly how do I get shot of them. I am thinking of emptying all gravel and starting again but would appreciate an easier option.

Please help as my girlfriend is not happy as my tank is in the bedroom - this is an emergency!!

 

[CFC]

If they are malaysian trumpet snails then they are very difficult to get rid of, very few fish can eat them and those that do outgrow the average home aquarium.

If they are indeed MTS then they will have a ice cream cone shaped shell and spend much of their time buried in the gravel, it is this habbit that makes them so difficult to control. The best and most effective way of getting rid of them is the old hands on approach, just before you usually turn the lights out throw a few catfish pellets into the tank and then turn the lights off in the tank and room, wait 10 minutes and then quickly turn the lights back on, the snails should all be out and about covering all surfaces within the tank. Take a length of aquarium hose and start a syphon sucking up as many of the snails as you can before they can get back to safety, run the hose into a net suspended above a bucket so you can pour the snail free water back into the tank each time the bucket is full. Repeat this a few nights in a row and you will soon have the snail population under control.

 

[reg2k2]

Can also try an overturned saucer w/ the 'bait' on top...I think

 

[silver]

I hear your pain!!! I have been overun by HUNDREDS of snails and they all seem to like to congregate above the water line because this is where they lay eggs (??) I am at my wits end and this whole weekend I have been on snail patrol.......so far I have thrown almost 100 snails out!!!!!

I am most definitly going to try the "bait in a dish" thing!!
Also floating cucumber works good because the snails attach themselves to it and you can pick'em out!!

 

[joey54180]

just put some salt in your water

 

[Sky042]

just put some salt in your water

Not always an option depending on the other fish you're keeping.

 

[Ben]

get a clown loach. he'll clean those things out like a fat kid with cake(no ofense to anyone.....just a saying)

 

[Sky042]

get a clown loach. he'll clean those things out like a fat kid with cake(no ofense to anyone.....just a saying)

and if the tank is small yo-yo loaches will do just as well but do not grow to be as large.

 

[CFC]

get a clown loach. he'll clean those things out like a fat kid with cake(no ofense to anyone.....just a saying)

and if the tank is small yo-yo loaches will do just as well but do not grow to be as large.

Not if they are maylasian trumpet snails they wont, MTS have very hard shells and very few fish can cope with them, they dont even recomend them as puffer food as the puffers can break their beaks on their shells, the only fish i know of that can eat them are the huge Doradid catfishes like Psuedodoras niger, Pterodoras granulosus and Megladoras irwini and long toothed characins like Anostomus and Leporinus.

Silver if you have snail eggs then your snails are not maylasian trumpet snails as they are a live bearing snail, also they will not be interested in cucumber as they are a carnivorous species, infact one of their favourite foods is the eggs of other snails.

When kept in managable numbers MTS are a good snail to have in your tank, they aerate the substrate preventing anerobic patches, do not harm plants, keep the tank free of pest snails that do harm plants and eat any minute left over foods in the substrate, i have a small population in all but one of my tanks, the one that has my Megladoras and Leporinus is a snail free zone

 

[luxum]

If you are being overrun with snails it is because you are providing them a large food source. Step up the water changes, ease back on the feeding, and the colony will return to a normal size. Speed up the process with manual removal as described above. I wouldn't be too eager to completely eradicate them, they help to clean the tank of excess food and algae, and if they are MTS they burrow in the substrate which prevents anaerobic pockets from forming.

 

[Sky042]

get a clown loach. he'll clean those things out like a fat kid with cake(no ofense to anyone.....just a saying)

and if the tank is small yo-yo loaches will do just as well but do not grow to be as large.

Not if they are maylasian trumpet snails they wont, MTS have very hard shells and very few fish can cope with them, they dont even recomend them as puffer food as the puffers can break their beaks on their shells, the only fish i know of that can eat them are the huge Doradid catfishes like Psuedodoras niger, Pterodoras granulosus and Megladoras irwini and long toothed characins like Anostomus and Leporinus.

Silver if you have snail eggs then your snails are not maylasian trumpet snails as they are a live bearing snail, also they will not be interested in cucumber as they are a carnivorous species, infact one of their favourite foods is the eggs of other snails.

When kept in managable numbers MTS are a good snail to have in your tank, they aerate the substrate preventing anerobic patches, do not harm plants, keep the tank free of pest snails that do harm plants and eat any minute left over foods in the substrate, i have a small population in all but one of my tanks, the one that has my Megladoras and Leporinus is a snail free zone

I thought that loaches (clown and yo-yo) slurp the snails right out of the opening and don't care how hard the shell is.

 

[judcoynehunter]

get a clown loach. he'll clean those things out like a fat kid with cake(no ofense to anyone.....just a saying)

and if the tank is small yo-yo loaches will do just as well but do not grow to be as large.

Not if they are maylasian trumpet snails they wont, MTS have very hard shells and very few fish can cope with them, they dont even recomend them as puffer food as the puffers can break their beaks on their shells, the only fish i know of that can eat them are the huge Doradid catfishes like Psuedodoras niger, Pterodoras granulosus and Megladoras irwini and long toothed characins like Anostomus and Leporinus.

Silver if you have snail eggs then your snails are not maylasian trumpet snails as they are a live bearing snail, also they will not be interested in cucumber as they are a carnivorous species, infact one of their favourite foods is the eggs of other snails.

When kept in managable numbers MTS are a good snail to have in your tank, they aerate the substrate preventing anerobic patches, do not harm plants, keep the tank free of pest snails that do harm plants and eat any minute left over foods in the substrate, i have a small population in all but one of my tanks, the one that has my Megladoras and Leporinus is a snail free zone

I thought that loaches (clown and yo-yo) slurp the snails right out of the opening and don't care how hard the shell is.

i agree with sky as i have seen my clown loach eat mts this way i wuold harvest then form my other tanks to feed the loachesthey were definatly the cone shaped type