Snails, snails everywhere!

[phishfood]

After buying a couple of new plants 3 weeks ago I now seem to have acquired about 5 small snails.......or maybe 6............no 7

My partner seems to think that she remembers hearing that snails can be bad for the tank and the fish. And of course they are breeding more than the fish.............
Can anyone give any advice as I really dont want to be disturbing the fish with a 'snail clean up operation' if I dont need to quite yet.

Cheers!

 

[Fishsmurf]

PF,

I have never heard of and can't believe that a small amount of snails would be particually bad for your tank, some people actually encourage them to combat algae growth.

If you do wanna decrease the polpulation with-out too much hassle either:

1) Invest in a fish that will eat them (if you have room for additional fish) or

2) Weigh down a blanched lettuce leaf on a small plate in the tank, leave it overnight, then in the morning remove above mentioned plate, lettuce with with the now attatched snails..... It not a long term solution but it will help decrease the polpulation....

HTH.....

 

[kevin007]

that's easy!, is ur tank big enough for another 1 or 2 clown loach? they love snails and they'll probably love ur tank with all those snals

 

[mrV]

Yep, clown loaches if the tank is atleast 150cm long (fish will be big, over 30cm).... And it needs shoal too, 3-4 at minimum in big tank..

However, I think your tank isn't 150cm long or longer either, so put your hand into the tank and pick up them. Always when you see snail, pick it up.. After couple weeks doing this, they will disappear... You can also put alittle piece of food in your tank on evening when lights turn off. After an hour, pick food up and snails too. They will gather around food.

If you don't want to get more snails into your tank, wash plants good and put them in the path:

1 teaspoon [AlK(SO 4 ) 2 x 12H 2 O] in 1 liter water and keep plants in it 30 minutes. And after path, rinse them well before putting them into tank..

[AlK(SO4)2 x 12 H2O] is double salt of aluminium and kalium (aluminiumkaliumsulfate-dodekahydrate? Anyway, when you give the formula to your pharmacist, he/she will know what you want to buy).

 

[Tanked]

weigh down a piece of blanched zucchini or cucumber right before you goto bed. wake up in the morning and there will be snails all over it. remove it and repeat the process for a few days until there are no more snails.

 

[phishfood]

Cheers Guys!

 

[Pufferpack]

Depending on what else is in your tank the snail problem looks like a perfect excuse to add a few Dwarf Puffer ....snails are a great food source for puffers

 

[kevin007]

how can i fogret about dwarf puffers?lol

 

[Jesse]

There is some kind of liquid that claims to get rid of snails...I see it all over...but I doubt that it works.