# Stupid Snails!



## Paul Munro (Aug 5, 2007)

How on earth do I get rid of these:










They are between 1-4mm, pictured above is about 2.5mm.

I constantly pick them out with tweezers, and suck out loads of them on weekly water changes. They are everywhere!










I am setting up a nano, and have seen a couple in there already! Really don't want that looking a mess too. I am aware that they feed off of algae, I have 3 ottos in this 54L tank and have very little if any algae visible anyway!

CAN YOU HELP? see below for tank info


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

-remove all fish & shrimp.
-turn off all filtration, Co2 & lights
-dose the tank directly with;
3% Hydrogen Peroxide solution
(available at any pharmacy)
with 1ml per Liter of tank water.
-wait 2-4 hours or till pearling stops.
-do a 50%-75% water change
-turn filter, Co2 and lights back on,
-return fish & shrimp to tank.

these steps will kill all those snails
without damaging your plants.

if you do not want to remove
the fish and shrimp, use half
the dose, but over two periods.


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## Paul Munro (Aug 5, 2007)

Hi, thanks for the advice, I really wouldn't want to catch all those 23 fish though! Far too stressful, (for me just as much the fish)  

is there any other way to deal with these pests?

do other people have this problem?


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## Questin (Sep 30, 2007)

I always use botias for snail control, they can be a pain when they get older, but a pair of skunks may do an overnight express on them, I know they did for me in two differnt tanks.


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## Missy B (Jul 8, 2007)

I'd add a clown loach. They are snail killers! I had the same problem in my tank, and added one of these guys, since then, I rarely see one


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

spypet said:


> -remove all fish & shrimp.
> -turn off all filtration, Co2 & lights
> -dose the tank directly with;
> 3% Hydrogen Peroxide solution
> ...


Hmmm.. thanks for that suggestion. I will have to try this. So far, I have the same problem. Soaking plants in alum and water solution for 3 days did not kill snail and snail eggs and C02 overdose(40 + ppm) does not seem to bother them. They seem to be enjoying the excess c02. Let's seem how they like hydrogen peroxide.


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## mikenas102 (Feb 8, 2006)

Manually remove as many as possible and then stop overfeeding. It's extremely difficult in this hobby to completely avoid snails but if they are out of control in a tank that is by your own doing. Snails are not your fault. Snail infestations are from overfeeding.


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

If you go the botia route, don't do what I did- I got a yoyo loach, he turned my entire tank into a mudpit digging through the flourite for trumpet snails!

(I decided the snails weren't so bad after all, and the yoyo went into my 46gal with plastic plants.)


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Pea puffers and Botia sidthimunkis are my favorite snail eaters. Manual removal is the easiest way. Make sure to skim the surface of the gravel for detritus when you do water changes. Also, avoid overfeeding as mentioned.


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## MartialTheory (Dec 20, 2007)

Agree with above. Dwarf puffers will clean it out fast. But can be nippy to other fishes.


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

mikenas102 said:


> ..but if they are out of control in a tank that is by your own doing. Snails are not your fault. Snail infestations are from overfeeding...


Not so. The current snail growth issue in my 15 gallon experimental aquasoil based tank has no feedings as there are no fish and the snails are still replicating, so how can this be the result of overfeeding. No fish food is being placed in the tank. The tank that was torn down because the snails were out of control had one otocat that was fed every other day, mostly zucchini, and the piece of zucchini was promptly discarded daily with any snails that ventured on it. While I cannot speak for others, my experience does not confirm that my out of control snail issue was from over-feeding sorry. This may be true in some cases but not all and certainly not in my case. It is a blanket statement that does not apply across the board.


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## longhornxtreme (Feb 20, 2007)

If you don't have shrimp in the tank, you can go the water change dose of excel every day for a few weeks. This also assumes that your plants aren't ones that are typically sensitive to excel. It got rid of my minor pond snail infestation in its entirety. I'm 100% snail free now for 9 months or so.


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

If the snail isn't too large, bettas tend to do a good job at keeping them under control or completely removing them.

I use to have a ton of those snails in my tank. They're pretty good cleaners but unfortunately, my betta ate them all.


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## bsmith (Dec 13, 2006)

Just squish them with your fingers against the glass every morning and cut feedings untill there gone (dead snails are food for the fauna).....


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I recently purchased a Batik loach and boy does he eat snails. I just put him in a shrimp tank and he has already eaten a ton of little ones. Since it is a shrimp tank I am keeping a close eye on him and once he gets them under control I'm gonna remover him to another tank. He's a little guy and quite cute!


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## MartialTheory (Dec 20, 2007)

it really doesn't eat shrimp? wow i might get one.

does it up root plants? I am trying an HC carpet, do u think it will destroy it?


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## SnakeIce (May 9, 2005)

I have found that a few larger ones are less unsightly than the equivalent biomass of hundreds of little ones, the best way to control population numbers is to remove small ones and leave the largest few. If you want more snails remove the largest ones and the population numbers will boom.


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## Zippin (Oct 27, 2007)

I have these snails aswell, they came on plants !! there were two then 4 but now i see 5 adults and 6 baby ones.... and i do not overfeed and gravel is hoovered...

I think for me i do not mind them as they eat algea and i encourage any live to grow as long as it is controlled and not a threat to over live stock or pants...

I rather take them out by hand rather then use chemicals in my aquairum....

If they were'nt so popular you could seel them


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

MartialTheory said:


> it really doesn't eat shrimp? wow i might get one.
> 
> does it up root plants? I am trying an HC carpet, do u think it will destroy it?


It hasn't eaten any shrimp that I can tell. I am keeping a close eye on him. I don't have a small foreground plant in that tank. I do have little tiny Rotala mini type 2 and he hasn't uprooted that or my Downoi. I figure the snails are much slower than the shrimp so if he were to go after something I would think the snails would go first. The literature says they will eat baby shrimp. That is why I will watch him closely and when my snails are gone he goes in a different tank.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

I'll second the recommendation for sidthimunki loaches. Very fun, beautiful, totally mellow - oh, and they eat snails too.


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

yeaahhhh----sidthimunki.
just try to FIND them!

Puffers will clean snails out overnight, but then they move on to fish fins. Cute lil buggers, though.


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## doubleatraining (Feb 11, 2008)

I'll loan you my two Dwarf Puffers, they'll have it all cleaned out in a day or 2.


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## newbie314 (Mar 2, 2007)

Bait them...
Use Algae wafers , and then net them. Mine usually go in one area when there is easy food. Amazing considering they are suppose to be slow.
One could probably put a a thread through the wafer and pull it out too.

The snail usaully have a slime trail from the top to the bottom of the tank over the food, probably due to floating leftovers.
But again I have no filter and water movement so it is easy for me.
I only do it when it gets too much and then I put them in the betta tank, since he keeps eating them but I like having them for cleanup.


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## Afyounie (Aug 10, 2007)

I mean a snail plague is bad, but usually when the food supply runs out, the snails slowly die out. Just keep the amount of stuff the snails can eat really low, and they will die out, but you will probably have a few left. I have also noticed that ramshorn snails slowly decimate other snail populations, but I guess you don't wanna trade snail plagues.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

vancat said:


> yeaahhhh----sidthimunki.
> just try to FIND them!


Actually I wasn't even aware of these fish until you posted that you were looking for some. I looked them up and then just happened to find some recently at a not-so-local FS. It's probalby the only time I've ever seen them. No more snails though.


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## Paul Munro (Aug 5, 2007)

Thanks for all your responses, I opted to re-scape my tank, ripped out all the old plants, bought some nice wood, and plants and currently have about 10-15 snails in there (before I had 100+)!

I have considered getting some sort of loach type fish but really it won't fit in with the look of my tank, so I am going to try to keep the glass really clean and just make sure that they don't have too much food.

I tried baiting them with lettuce etc, they didn't even go near it at all! Currently very little algae in tank, hence low snail population,  unfortunately my ottos do look very hungry  I can't seem to get them to eat anything other than algae, (I have tried cucumber zuchini lettuce).

Lets hope the snails keep at bay, I reckon as everything in planted aquaria, it's all about the balance


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## newbie314 (Mar 2, 2007)

I bait them with algae wafers. They like those.


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