Snails, snails everywhere!

[Alien Anna]

Hi Everyone,

I've got a big problem in my Amazon tank - a complete infestation of trumpet snails (the plant-eating variety). They've probably been living off the carcasses of fish and plants that died during the heatwave, but now I'm wondering if I'll ever get rid of them. I don't mind the odd snail, but this is gross!

Some details: The tank is a 25 US gal Juwel corner tank. It used to be fairly heavily planted, but a lot of my plants have rotted or been eaten by the snails. However, I have two huge dwarf anubias in there, plus a Java fern. The giant vallis and dwarf vallis are almost dead and the two Amazon swords are shadows of their former selves. My Java moss either died, or I pulled it out because it was infested with hair-algae.

Fish include: 6 cherry barbs, pair pearl gouramis, 5 cardinal tetras, 6 rummy-nosed tetras, an SAE and a pencilfish. There are 3 golden apple snails in there currently. Yes, I know it's a little over-loaded but it's not a standard shape and that's half the fish that used to be in there!

pH is 6.5. KH is around 14. Can't remember the GH, but it was pretty high. Nitrites and ammonia zero now, but obviously I don't know what happened last fortnight when I was away. Nitrate was 75 ppm when I got back, but is now down to 25 ppm (it's hard to get it down further with dying plants, since it comes out of the tap that way). I've some brown algae (the lights were turned off for about 11 days) but at least most of the hair algae has now died back and the barbs are eating the brown algae.

Apart from snail hunting (which is difficult with such a deep tank and large ineffectual) has anyone any ideas?

 

[AquaNut]

The best way to deal with snails, that I know of, is botias (loaches). Your tank isn't big enough for clown loaches, and they basically need to be kept in a school anyway. I'm sure a loach expert will correct me, but in my experience, the skunk botias don't mind being on their own (I have two in my tank, but they're usually not together, unlike my Pakistani loaches, who are always in a group of three). Also, the skunk loaches are quite a bit smaller than even the Pakistani ones, and wayyy smaller than clowns. Sounds like you don't have a lot in the way of bottom feeders, so provide him with a tiny cave or a decent sized rock or piece of slate to hide behind, and get yourself a little skunk loach. They're really interesting little fish, and he'll have your snail problem erradicated in a matter of days. Good luck!

 

[Liz05]

I recently discovered a product called Had-A-Snail. I assume its some type of "birth control" for snails? I was looking into it, because my mystery snails are beginning to breed like rabbits

 

[AquaNut]

You know... I wrote my reply about skunk loaches and then went to make my daughter supper, and I was thinking.. what if she doesn't *want* a loach in her tank? (I can't imagine who wouldn't want one, but still )....

Sooo.. this also works wonders... Take a saucer or small dish of some sort. Put a food tablet or several food pellets on the plate. Put the dish in the aquarium and turn off the lights. Within a couple of hours, there should be a million snails on the saucer. Remove the saucer, complete with snails. If you really have an infestation, you may have to repeat this several times. Also, make sure to feed your fish lightly while you're cleaning up the snail problem, and remove any dead plant leaves as promptly as you can manage. Let us know how it goes!