Snail Overload

[wonga]

hi all just discovered this site and am really impressed with all the info i have quickly scanned through ...however... i would be gratefull if anyone can answer this little querry i have.

is there any reason why i have like 1000s of tiny snails appear in my tank over last three months (this is with regular cleaning aswell). there is two big ones which have been around since day one, so does this meen they are breeding (sounds like a dumb question to ask an i may look a bit stupid) and are they harmfull/harmless for my tank?

at the last waster change i got rid of loads of the litte blitters but they seem to have doubled in numbers.
any info will be gratefully welcomed
thanks in advance!!!!

 

[TheRedDarren]

yea, snails can breed like wildfire in a tank. what fish are in there/will be in there? if you're still going to add fish try some from the botia genus as they eat snails.
had a massive snail colony (+500) now i have none thanks to my 6 loaches!

 

[Amerce]

If you want to get rid of them place a piece of cucumber in your tank (weight it down) and watch the little beggers swarm to it, you can take the cumber our later and clean it off and then put it back in for the next lot. It's the quickest way I know to shift them, otherwise all you can do is empty the tank out and give it a really good salting along with everything else that was in there (apart from the fish of course

 

[woogrl]

Its a possibility that they came from the snails that you already have but if you got any live plants or fish from a lfs that had snails that is more likely where they came from. Getting fish that eat them is going to be the better bet, the cucumber thing works but it doesnt get rid of the egg sacks, and there is medication that kills snails but you have to careful with sensative fish and the snails get smart and just climb out of the water, so it would kill the eggs if you could get the adults out. The salting thing would work too if again you can empty your tank and the snails dont just climb out of the water. Good luck snails are pests and it only takes 1 to make 100.

 

[x-fish]

snails are good but annoying

 

[wonga]

thanks for all the replies guys, have decided im gonna blitz the tank and do a clean sweep of all snail. also going to get shut of the gravel and have sand instead!!! long night ahead tonight

 

[stevenufc]

i too have snails and have read they come in with live plants i have just set up my tank and have so far removed 4 as thats all i have seen.

will try the cucumber thing but i have one question what will kill the snail egg sacks if there are any ??

 

[Darkerwhite2]

buy loached they're a blast and they took care of my snails