snails ! how do u get rid of them

[angel12]

as above just found a load of snails small but they are there do I leave them or is there a way to get rid of them answers on a post card or reply here :) :)

many thanks to those who reply ;D

[ChloroPhil]

Botia species loaches are incredible snail eating machines. If you can get your hands on some of them you'll be without snails in no time. Yo-Yo and Tiger Botia are the best for planted tanks, but the others are good too. Just watch out for Clowns they get too big.

[angel12]

Bio do u ever go to sleep ? or do u just live by the Computer forever keeping half an eye on the board whilst the other closes .. Once again many thanks for your input should have just emailed realy

;D ;D

[ronrca]

Depends on the snails too! Some will cause a mess like eating your plants! Some do not eat the plants. In my 90G, I have millions of snails but they do not touch the plants. So, I dont bother trying to get rid of them!

[ChloroPhil]

LOL!!

It's a rarely known fact that I am, in fact, an Artificial Intelligence that lives in the Gates mansion outside Bellevue, WA. ;)

Actually, I only work four days a week so I've got plenty of time to keep track of you scoundrels. That, and I have to get my fix somehow, I still don't have much in the way of tanks up right now. That should soon be fixed though, I just put in a nice fat plant order. :)

[RWM32779]

I have clown loaches and they do keep the snails down to a degree. However I have a nice planted tank with valuable plants,and I would love to get rid of all the snails.I have other tanks and I move fish ,and sometimes plants or driftwood and no matter how carefully I do it they spread.
You can empty a tank clean it and a week later when you feed beefheart its immediately covered with snails.
I use a python to do wc and they clog it up.Ilike to use floating plants with babies to help nitrates,but it seems like one snail egg on one plant turns into !,000 in one week.
Does anybody have a real way to get rid of them without distroying everything else.

[ronrca]

There is no 100% way to get rid of snails and keep it that way without causing harm! You can get chemicals that will kill snails however I recommend against it (the same goes for any chemicals actually). Therefore, if you cant beat them, just leave them! Let the clowns do their thing I guess!

One method to possibly ensure being snail free is taking out the fish and plants, treating with a chemical until snails all die, washing the plants in solution, putting it all back again and never adding adding plants or decor ever again! On the other hand, too much work but I thought Id mention it! ;D

[robmcm]

I had a snail explosion that caused the demise of several plants. At first I popped snails against the tank when they were near the top - quick, but a lot of dead snails...rotting snail meat not good...

Next I introduced two Clown Loaches and a half-dozen Malaysian Trumpet Snails. I read that the Trumpets would eat snail eggs and that Clowns were good snail eaters. While it took several months, between the two types of critter, the snail population is way down.

However, I did not learn enough about the Clowns - they've grown quickly and can get very large. So far they're fine, but the idea is to have them as custodians, not the main attraction! The trumpet snails are burrowers, seldom seen and don't appear to bother the plants.

My routine is to check the tank about 1/2 hour after lights out. Some snails will always be near the waterline, and I net or pick them out.

[Debbie]

Snails are a tough one. I find snails to be beneficial as long as they are not of the variety that eats plants. If yoou have too many you can put some frozen food on the bottom of the tank with a small plate or coffee cup over it (so the fish don't eat the food). The snails will go under the plate for the food. after an hour you can pick out loads of snails. This won't get rid of them, just keep the population in check.

[angel12]

if you wash the plants in salted water first before u put them in the tank will this get rid of the snails before you place them in the tank .. is this a viable soloution .... the snails I have are very tiny less than 1/8" big I have managed to get rid of a few but there must be more lurking around I think ... Thanks to all who have replied to this thread at least there are some alternatives

:)

[ChloroPhil]

I forgot to mention Potassium Permanganate. Give your plants a quick dip in that and it'll kill anything that hitched a ride. Just watch out, the stuff's like purple dye and will stain.

[Shari]

Years ago I had a horrid infestation...turn off the tank lights and just enjoy tv or whatever for while.....may take on hour-three but you will see all the snail come up to the water level - then go in and scoop out the handfuls. Do it every day until gone..I may have missed a few really little ones, but I never had that kind of problem again...and learned to soak plants in salt too before putting them in tank.
And I was another who made same mistake of getting clown loaches...so cute and got soooo big!!!!

[RAWesolowski]

Angel,

I was talking to an experienced aquarist. He swears that this will work:

- Put an inverted saucer on your substrate.

- Place a fresh piece of cut carrot on top of the saucer

- Turn the lights out and go to bed

When you wake up in the morning, you should have many of your snails crawling over the carrot piece. Empty the slimy creatures out and do it the next night until the population is gone.

[ronrca]

Interesting! I will have to try it!

But, I just had a horrid thought! What if there's no carrot left in the morning? :shocked: :yikes:

I guess its time for :soapbox: then! ;D

I just love the :yikes: smilie! I hope we get more and more! 8)

[Luca]

Angel, I too have a snail problem and doing some research i found a potential solution (and it doesn't involve killing your plants or messing up everything)

Take a piece of boiled chicken (i'm guessing not too large) and tie some string around it. Lower it in and remove the snails every morning. They should be drawn to it by the masses.

I also suggest removing all the fish before you try this though or they will eat the chicken and it could possibly infect the water.

I'm going to try this method soon, i'll let you know how it goes.

P.S The salt solution sounds great, will have to do that when i transfer plants to my discus tank :)

[angel12]

Welcome to the forum Luca Thank you for your suggestion however I have solved my issue with the snails and heres how I did it .. as above I went to my LFS and got some freshwater puffer fish 4... in just 2 days they ate all the snails and any eggs that where around they seemed to sniff out ive checked all my plants and there are no Snails in sight :)

then the LFS store told me to bring them back it would seem they kind of Loan these little babies out (not so sure this is a good thing due to the cross infection issue and also for the poor fish) but my problem is solved so.. .....far

:)

[bloom]

Anyone know if amano shrimp or ottos eat snail eggs?
Steve :juggle:

[Wahter]

Not in my experience. I've got ramshorns, malaysian trumpet snails living side by side with amano shrimp and otocinclus.

[razzbo56]

Hey guys i'm new to the forum. Please tell me the salt technique to get rid of snails on plants before they go into the tank.

[angel12]

best bet is to wash them in potassium permanganate soloution and then wash off once you have got rid of any nasties that have attached themselves oh yeah welcome to the board Razzbo56 if you get half the information that I have already gained on this board you will be one happy bunny as we say in old blighty LOL

:)

[razzbo56]

Thanks I was into Discus about 10 years ago,but got out. I have been doing large (175 to 200 gallon) saltwater setup's now for about 8 years. I guess you could say I am coning back to my first love !! I am going to try a 150 gallon planted Discus tank. I'm sure you guys will be an invaluable source of information.

[Luca]

Hey, sorry to sound dumb but what is potassium permanganate? do you need to create it with a mixture of ingredients? resources are limited in new zealand so i don't know if i can buy it.

[bloom]

Will coolie loaches eat small snails? Thanks,

Steve :computer2:

[angel12]

Not that Im aware of bloom it seems to be Mainly Clown loaches that planted Discus Tank Peeps Tend to use .. In fact I Think Im gonna have to get a couple for my tank as My LFS hasnt got any dwarf Puffers left
:(

Only thing is I dont like the idea of them taking a break and eating other stuff I want em to be Lean Black and Gold Snail Killing Machines

:) :)

Also dont fancy me plants being up rooted as they dash to and fro ...Oh well choices choices But im gonna have to do something as there are more snails than before (no wonder my tank was rocking) :D :D :D

[Luca]

Ok...i tried the potassium permanaganate idea suggested here and i'm not happy, it killed all my plants. the java moss seems to have survived but is looking brown. i've heard it's stronger than bleach, was anyone aware of this? i'd stick with a salt solution if anyone else is thinking of doing it.

>:|

[angel12]

Well I dont know if this is a feasbel resloution for any other members on here but I got some mintaure Puffer fish I will check out there latin name but ive had them in my tank now along with tetras and my plecs and they have eaten all the snails not a sight of them anywhere they are very peacefull not once bothering with any of the other fish in the Tank and I just feed them on frozen bloodworm to top them up ....I put 2 in a 48 US Gall tank and it took them about 2 days to sort the snails out they only grow to 1.5" max size in fact they are just a set of teeth on a tail ...

anyway just thought id post this as an alternative

;D

[alxjss]

u mention a salt salution for plants. What is the ratio? or does it matter?
thanks
Eileen

[Dan S]

Hello,

I used to have snail problems and tried loaches which worked but as has already been mentioned they grow to big and get to boisterous and not to mention that i dont actually want loaches in my Discus tank anyway.

Someone suggested to me that Wormer Plus (flubenol 15) kills them, so i tried it and its brilliant. Ive not had a snail since. Its great coz the Discus get wormed at the same time. Only word of warning is to watch out if you have alot of snails and they die off all at once as it can poisen the water so syphon them out as soon as the treatment has worked. When i had snails i repeated the treatment twice just to make sure all had gone.

Lifes great with out those pesky snails.

Dan

[Apistomaster]

That is what I have heard, too, that Fubenol is one of the best and least harmful ways to get rid of snails. I have the need but haven't it tried it yet.
I would think retreatment would be necessary until all the jelly encased eggs hatch and the baby snails get exposed to it.

All of the other treatments are only helpful in reducing the numbers of snails that get brought in on plants and do not affect the eggs cases.(ramshorn and pond snails). And alum, salt potassium permanganate, bleach do shock all plants and severely damage or kill others.

I tolerate them in most of my tanks but when trying to breed many fish the snails eat the fishes' eggs. This isn't usually a big problem with discus but it is when breeding Tetras, Barbs, and even Corydoras. Corys have very tough shelled eggs but take forever(4-5 days) to hatch which is long enough for snails to reduce the numbers of hatching eggs.

It never ceases to amaze me how they show up in a newly set up spawning tank that has been bleached and all but subjected to gamma irradiation.
I start thinking they live under my fingernails since my hands are in an aquarium so much of the time. It gives one a better idea just how easy it is to spread diseases if we even have trouble quarantining snails!

I have to try Flubenol out. I would really like to use live plants like Milfoil as spawnng media for Tetras instead of acrylic yarn mops. I think the fish prefer plants and plants contribute to improving the water quality and artificial media doesn't.

[phidelt85]

I used potassium permanganate to no avail. It was actually, Jungle Lab's Clear Water, which is potassium permanganate. I soaked the plants overnight. Didn't have any snails but it apparantly did nothing for any hitchhiking eggs. Newly setup planted tank and it is overrun with snails. I've got snail porn by the masses going on.