Snails...

Elisabeth

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Feb 6, 2003
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Leamington Spa, UK
I'm being overrun with snails at the moment and I've got some Snail Control but I think I've read somewhere that medications can be harmful to scaleless fish like my elephant nose. Does anyone know if this is true and if it is, how else can I get rid of my snails? (I don't have any more room in the tank to add clown loaches or any other snail eating fish).
 
Mormyrids react badly to most treatments if you need to treat the tank it is best to remove them to a sperate tank for the duration.I would not recomend using anti snail treatments most only stun the snails for a short while and even if it kills them you still have to then remove them by syphon,why bother killing/stunning them when you can remove them by syphon un stunned (theyre hardly quick are they).The best time to catch snails is by turning the lights off straight after feeding time and wait,all the snails will come out of hiding and you can syphon them up and discard them,you can then either put fresh water back in or pour in the old water minus the snails.
 
CFC has offered you good advice, another way to eliminate them is to place a piece of lettuce leaf in the water. (depends how well planted your aquarium is) this will attract the snails and you can dispose of them that way. However to ensure you don't get them in the first place, and they usually come on plants or planted material. I would suggest that you soak all your plants in strong salt solution for a few moments, then rinse off the solution in fresh water and physically check your plants for eggs. The snail cyst is impervious to any solution and the only way to destroy them is to "squish" them between your finger and thumb. Depending how invasive your tank has become, the only solution to your problem is to maybe strip down your tank-disinfect everything and restart again. Snails are a problem once they become invasive and being hermaphrodite, can reproduce rapidly. A warning-dead snails can decompose unseen altering your water chemistry rapidly.
 
How about some snail eating fish - clown loaches come to mind. They sorted out my snail problem - got myself 4 little uns and snails are now under control.
 

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