Snail Infestation In 10 Gallon Tank

[fishbigfish]

Hi

We have only had our tank for 3 months or so and seem to have some small snails, these we think hitched a ride on some weed or plants we put in the tank when set up.

There were 6 large snails originaly all about the size of a pea, but we now seem to have about 600+ baby ones and they are everywhere.

All over my pump and on some rocks is this clear jelly type stuff with little back dots in it, are these snail eggs ?? when I clean the filters I clean the jelly stuff off but there is soon more of it a day later.

Is it ok to leave all of the snails in there (think I will have 1000000000000 if I do so not good) or should I get rid of them all ? also how do you get rid of them ? kill em ??

We have 2 Pelcos and 2 Angle fish and 600 + snails Aghhhh.

Thanks

 

[loachman]

Easiest way is to cut back on food. Most of the snail explosions are due to overfeeding the tank. Snails need to eat too, so less food will keep the population down.

However, you're also going to have an issue with overstocking with or without the snail issue. Both Angels and plecos will get too big for a 10 gal. Depending on the type of pleco, they're going to be roughly 4-16", with the larger ones being more common in most non-specialty shops. Therefor, don't add any fish to control them.

 

[Dazzlearoobob]

I too am having serious issues with snails in my tank and it seems to be getting worse. I was given a tip to put some lettuce in the tank and under feed for a while so am gonna do that. Apparently the snails will go for the lettuce and you'll have alot of them on it if you leave it overnight. Let me know how you get on and I'll do the same.
D

 

[waterdrop]

In the discussions I've seen here on TFF, there is no quick fix to a large snail infestation, at least no quick fix that you'd want to do as the chemical ones have side effects you don't want. This means you have to go after it with the undstanding its an ongoing maintenance issue and that you'll try all the things you can.

The lettuce trick that Dazz mentions is supposed to be one of the best. Weight the lettuce on a teacup saucer and leave it overnight. Hopefully the leaf will be covered with snails and a lot can be removed when you lift the plate. They will try to float off the leaf but the plate is there to catch them as you slowly lift it out. Cucumber and other veggies can be tried and you may find some of your fish have a taste for certain veggies too!

Of course, overfeeding is indeed a cause, so try to tighten up on the feeding and you can reverse that aspect by feeding the snails to your fish! Just crush the snails (careful, this can occasionally cut your skin!) against the glass or whatever and watch your fish gobble up their treat!

If you remove snails from your tank still alive, be sure not to just bin them in the house as they'll crawl out and get quite a ways away before they die. Perhaps put them out in the garden instead.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Dazzlearoobob]

I'm gonna try the lettuce tonight. Will advise as to how it goes.
D

 

[collstone]

I'm gonna try the lettuce tonight. Will advise as to how it goes.
D

im going to try that as well
thanks for advise

 

[fishbigfish]

Ok thanks for all the info

I don't have a lettuce but have a cucumber so will not feed the fish and instead stick that in for a hour or so later on this evening, the snails come out quite late so hopefully get a load that way.

Will give the whole tank a clean out at some point in the very near future so will boil all the rocks and gravil this should kill the little blighters and any eggs, get new plastic plants this time!

The plecos don't seem to of grown at all they are still only about 4 inches long.

Thanks

 

[gaz gun man]

How did you chaps get on with the lettuce?

 

[Loops]

I tried the cucumber and it never got any snails on until it started growing algae lol

The best thing i have found is to squish them or pick them out. It will reduce them and yeah cut back on the food a little

 

[fishbigfish]

How did you chaps get on with the lettuce?

Hi

Got all of them, their all dead now ! )o:

As the tank needed a good clean I thought I would deal with it all in one go.

First we pumped out all (as much as the pump would pump before becoming out of the water) the water into clean buckets a spair smailer tank fitted the air block, heater and then swapped fish.

Then we removed our large stones and washed them in boiling hot salty water.

Next using my bath tub fitted a metal mesh filter to the drain plug (to stop gravil going down drain) we washed the gravil with the shower, the amount of dirt was increabable once no more dirt was coming out we filled the kitchen sink up with boiling water and moved the gravil (in a colinder) from the bath tub to the sink of boiling water, left them in there for 5 mins, lots and lots of dead cooked small snails floated to the top of the water, scooped them out.

When the gravil was all boiled it went back in the now clean tank, with the stones still warm we pumped most of the original water back into the tank (via new pump filters to catch any remaining eggs and dirt) then added some fresh water with the treatment, this worked well as the warm stones got the water temp up to 26 deg c very quick so once there was enough water in the tank we fitted the air block and the now cleaned pump with again another set of filters and swapped fish back over.

Toped up the water and the fish are now happy in a clean tank, we don't feed them so much now and we bought new plastic plants to stop any new infestation.

Bough a gravil vac to clean the gravil and now clean the filters in the pump every couple of days.

Hole job took 4 hours to do from start to finish.

Job done its been 2 weeks and not a sign of the slippery suckers.

 

[chesterscot]

theyll be back lol some will have stayed in the filter most probs i tried the boil the substrate thing years ago it still wont solve the problem as even a few eggs will seed a new population
algae wafers work the best ive found just net out the balls of snails stuck to them
hope your tank stays snail free
scot

 

[waterdrop]

How did you chaps get on with the lettuce?

Hi

Got all of them, their all dead now ! )o:

As the tank needed a good clean I thought I would deal with it all in one go.

First we pumped out all (as much as the pump would pump before becoming out of the water) the water into clean buckets a spair smailer tank fitted the air block, heater and then swapped fish.

Then we removed our large stones and washed them in boiling hot salty water.

Next using my bath tub fitted a metal mesh filter to the drain plug (to stop gravil going down drain) we washed the gravil with the shower, the amount of dirt was increabable once no more dirt was coming out we filled the kitchen sink up with boiling water and moved the gravil (in a colinder) from the bath tub to the sink of boiling water, left them in there for 5 mins, lots and lots of dead cooked small snails floated to the top of the water, scooped them out.

When the gravil was all boiled it went back in the now clean tank, with the stones still warm we pumped most of the original water back into the tank (via new pump filters to catch any remaining eggs and dirt) then added some fresh water with the treatment, this worked well as the warm stones got the water temp up to 26 deg c very quick so once there was enough water in the tank we fitted the air block and the now cleaned pump with again another set of filters and swapped fish back over.

Toped up the water and the fish are now happy in a clean tank, we don't feed them so much now and we bought new plastic plants to stop any new infestation.

Bough a gravil vac to clean the gravil and now clean the filters in the pump every couple of days.

Hole job took 4 hours to do from start to finish.

Job done its been 2 weeks and not a sign of the slippery suckers.

Wow! That sounds like quite a thorough job! We'll have to remember this post for people who want to accomplish it all in one shot in the future! Sounds like a pretty good way to go about it too, if you're willing to put in the work.

One question though: "via new pump filters" has me wondering what you meant. Did you leave most of your biomedia intact? You didn't simply throw out all your filter media for new and lose your cycle did you??

~~waterdrop~~

 

[meguro]

get a loach from the genus botia?

 

[oliesminis]

Hi

We have only had our tank for 3 months or so and seem to have some small snails, these we think hitched a ride on some weed or plants we put in the tank when set up.

There were 6 large snails originaly all about the size of a pea, but we now seem to have about 600+ baby ones and they are everywhere.

All over my pump and on some rocks is this clear jelly type stuff with little back dots in it, are these snail eggs ?? when I clean the filters I clean the jelly stuff off but there is soon more of it a day later.

Is it ok to leave all of the snails in there (think I will have 1000000000000 if I do so not good) or should I get rid of them all ? also how do you get rid of them ? kill em ??

We have 2 Pelcos and 2 Angle fish and 600 + snails Aghhhh.

Thanks

First of all, as has been said earlier, most if not all snail infestations are caused by overfeeding. what is your feeding schedule?

to get rid of snails if i ever have to many, i tie a piece of cucumber to something heavy then leave it in the tank overnight. in the morning plenty of snails will be on it.

2 plecos need a big tank (55 gallon i think) and angels need a tank of similar size.

hope the cucumber works.