# controling malaysian trumpet snails poplulation



## lakai536 (May 24, 2006)

What is a good way to keep malaysian trumpet snail population under control


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Hmm, like all snails, manual removal, Dwaff puffers, and/or loaches seem to do the trick. Wait until night time when the lights are off for a hour or two, then go back in and pluck whatever you can out. Do this repeatedly, and you'll fight your snail problem, or at least control it. With the fish predator method, it works well and gets the job done without getting your hands wet.

-John N.


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## Shrimp&Snails (Mar 27, 2006)

I have mts in all my tanks and sell or them away when they get a little too much. Removing medium to large snails will help keep things under control but these snails are hard eradicate once they get going.

My hubby also has mts in his tank which has a loach (botia histrionica) and the loach does eat an odd smaller mts but there's still lots.

I've heard puffers can hurt themselves on their sharp, tough shells but i've never kept a puffer to see this first hand.

If you have any floating pellets pop a couple in and turn the lights out.....the mts will start making their way to the water's surface and can be plucked off the glass.


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Use a veggie when lights are out and remove in the morning. It will be full of snails. That way you can control them. If not use the fish mentioned by John above.

Cheers,
Pedro


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## erik Loza (Feb 6, 2006)

I used to have lots of trumpet snails in my fish-only Tanganyikan Cichlid tank. They are a detritus feeder and, well, lots of bigger fish = lots of detritus. My planted tank has many smaller fish and gets fed a lot less = less detritus. I get algae-eating ramshorn snails in there and see a trumpet or two upon occasion, but not in epidemic proportions. If it were my tank, I would just make a point to stay on the maintenance and they should die off on their own. Good luck.


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## lakai536 (May 24, 2006)

*dead snails*

thanks, but, when the snails die, do their shells begin to litter the aquarium after a while? or do the shells decompose or something...


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## 5380 (Jun 16, 2005)

They will decompose slowly, depending on the color of your substrate it might be unsightly. The best snail (and shrimp) killer i've seen is badis badis. They cleared a tank of a few hundred MTS, and are willing to eat the smallest newborn snails. They are reluctant to bother amano sized shrimp, but cherries are interesting enough to hunt.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I know I sound like a broken record, but the MTS's are beneficial in a tank, just like earthworms are outside. 
When they get out of control it means that you are over feeding, or that something else is amiss in the tank.

It's the same as algae being out of control; it's best to find out why and correct it from there. 
If the snails aren't out of control, I always recommend leaving them alone and letting them do their important job of keeping your substrate nice.


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