What ae these varmits?

[gophish]

I have these snail like creatures in my tank. Not just a few, but thousands. At times they attach themselves to the glass. It seems as if the whole substrate is moving. I have added two red tailed botias to eat some of them; they are just getting fat and not making a dent. Are there any tricks to get rid of them? I have thought of getting rid of the substrate and replacing it to kill most of them. I thought this would give the botias a chance to catch up. However, this seams like a lot of work. Any other ideas?

 

[PunkRock050]

Drop a penny or two in the tank, copper kills snails.

 

[gophish]

Will the pennys hurt the fish?

 

[William]

Yeah I don't think the pennies idea is a good idea, coins usually have a couple of other metals in it which may have adverse affects on the fish. Unfortunately the only sure fire way to get rid of snails is to use chemicals, there are many products on the market such as "snail away".

However... One must consider why the snails are there in the first place!! They are there because their is a food source for them, they don't eat fish waste, and so they must be eating fish food, excess from the stuff you are giving to the tank. How much are you feeding your fish and how often? I suggest you cut back to a small feeding every other day and the snails will naturally drop down in population after a few weeks, the botias will also give the snails more of an attack because they are not getting so much food.
Good luck!!

 

[Thomas A. Anderson]

Try this: put some blanched lettuce in the bottom of the tank (weigh it down) before you sleep. When you wake up, in theory you should have loads of the critters on the lettuce leaf. Remove leaf and discard.

If you try this let me know if it works or not