# Snails are giving my wife the creeps



## titan97 (Feb 14, 2005)

My wife has asked me to post about our snail problem, as she is getting grossed out by how huge the population has gotten. I'd estimate that we have almost 100 small ramshorn snails in a 35 gal tank. Last weekend I rescued 5 clown loaches from WalMart and added them to the tank. Today, I can only find 2, maybe 3 of the loaches, but I think they may have found a good hiding spot, and I can't see them all at once. It doesn't seem that the loaches are cutting down on my snail population. In fact, it looks like the snails are multiplying. Now, it maybe be because the loaches are driving the snails out from their hiding spots, and are therefore more visible to my wife and I. 
Any ideas? Are the loaches "defective"? Are the loaches working so well that they are driving the snails to the front of the tank? What happened to the other 2-3 loaches that I never see?
I don't like the idea of removing them manually. I'd rather do it naturally. My wife has given the loaches one week before she puts on her HazMat suit and pulls the snails from the tank herself.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Give the loaches a bit of time to get used to their new home and they'll clean up those snails for you. They can be shy at first.

Patience...


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Also cutting back on feeding will help keep the snail population under control, over feeding can cause a population explosion.

What ever you do don't get rid of all the snails, they are beneficial to a planted tank.


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## titan97 (Feb 14, 2005)

Patience? What's that? 

Thanks for the input, I'll pass it on to my wife. Maybe she'll see the benefit of them like I do.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Titan,

Taking 10-15 minutes and crushing as many of the snails as you can reach will help the loaches get to them faster. They like to eat snails, but if you're feeding them well they're not going to go to all the trouble of getting their escargot on their own.

Another trick I like is to put some cucumber or other snail bait in a shallow saucer and let the snails congregate on it. It's as easy as pulling up the saucer then. 

Regards,
Phil


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## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

If you do decide to crush some of the snails, don't use a bare finger. I just read a scary account of someone who did, and got a small nick from a shell fragment. Well, it developed into some exotic infection from an organism that is endemic to snails, and the poor woman nearly lost her thumb!

It will take the loaches a little time to develop a taste for snails, they may not have experienced them before. But once they do, they will have a blast "hunting" them.

Be patient. 
-Jane


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## blue (Jul 5, 2005)

In my experience a ramshorn bloom is followed by a stable population of a few adults so it my look bad but it can swing back if left alone. Good luck with the loaches!


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