Unwelcome Guests (Snails)

[mark4785]

It appears that some snails have entered into my aquarium off of some recently bought plants. I've been removing around 4-8 each day and it seems like there's a never ending 'production' of them in the aquarium. As soon as it looks snail-free, another 1-2 will be spotted crawling up the aquarium glass a couple of minutes later.

Is there anything available that will kill these snails without harming the fish I have and are there any special measures I should take to ensure the dead snails are removed to stop an ammonia build up? My guess is that once dead they drop to the substrate or get sucked into the filter sponges?

Mark.

 

[dayzofspeed]

you can get snail eating fish but it depends on your tank size. you could also trap the snails by floating a piece of lettuce overnight and come the morning the snails can be very easily removed but dont discard them in a way which would allow them into a watercourse or what i used to do was squish em and let your fish eat them. cutting down on uneaten fishfood will also help as they multiply quite quickly if you are overfeeding your fish

 

[mark4785]

you can get snail eating fish but it depends on your tank size. you could also trap the snails by floating a piece of lettuce overnight and come the morning the snails can be very easily removed but dont discard them in a way which would allow them into a watercourse or what i used to do was squish em and let your fish eat them. cutting down on uneaten fishfood will also help as they multiply quite quickly if you are overfeeding your fish

I think I will try putting some lettuce in there. Thanks for the suggestion.

Why shouldn't they enter a watercourse?

I've been binning them rather than flushing so I guess that's alright... unless they can crawl out of the bin?

 

[charking]

i just kept pulling them out of an old snail infested aquarium when it happened to me, took a while but it worked, the anti snail stuff is pants, it knocks them out then your ment to gravel vac, and then just just get lost in the gravel, useless!

 

[mark4785]

i just kept pulling them out of an old snail infested aquarium when it happened to me, took a while but it worked, the anti snail stuff is pants, it knocks them out then your ment to gravel vac, and then just just get lost in the gravel, useless!

Well thats what is personally making me stressed. I don't know of anyone who comes home only to stick their arm in a tank and start anchoring snails between finger and nail. I guess it's the best way of removal but its getting a bit relentless now.

 

[simonas]

stressful? I wish my days were that stressful lol

but seriously the suggestion of food is a decent one, also with a snail infested tank when you swith the tank lights on at night you will be amazed how many there actually are, also try and look for the eggs on the glass and destro them

 

[dayzofspeed]

you can get snail eating fish but it depends on your tank size. you could also trap the snails by floating a piece of lettuce overnight and come the morning the snails can be very easily removed but dont discard them in a way which would allow them into a watercourse or what i used to do was squish em and let your fish eat them. cutting down on uneaten fishfood will also help as they multiply quite quickly if you are overfeeding your fish

I think I will try putting some lettuce in there. Thanks for the suggestion.

Why shouldn't they enter a watercourse?

I've been binning them rather than flushing so I guess that's alright... unless they can crawl out of the bin?

they shouldnt be put into a watercourse because most likely they arent indiginous and could cause havoc in the local water system

 

[This Old Spouse]

They've just about overtaken the 5 gallon tank I have that now houses my guppy fry. I'm cycling a 10 gallon for the fry now, but in the meantime there's hundreds in the smaller tank. Past the point of doing anything but starting over with that tank, I'm afraid.

 

[EllieW]

How about a couple of Assassin Snails in there?

 

[This Old Spouse]

I'd love to ... hoping to travel the 100+ miles to go get a couple, but the price of gas just went up AGAIN so I'll have to check out my options.

 

[mark4785]

Can chemicals be used to kill them off?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Probably, but I'm loathe to use them.

 

[mark4785]

Probably, but I'm loathe to use them.

Sorry, I'm in fact asking for the name of a chemical that can be used (if any exist), not whether you'd personally use it or not.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Oops! Sorry!

 

[jonwhite2k]

On the subject of snails... I too have noticed them multiplying in my new aquarium. Recently I've noticed some of the live plants having a small clear gel type with several small white dots inside. I'm guessing these are eggs but don't want to remove them yet until it's confirmed they are snail eggs as I have Tetras and wouldn't like to remove the eggs if they are theirs?