[jgc2003]

Hi, recently my tang tank with leleupis, julies, and trets have been infested by snails, those pea-sized pointed ones. theyre not that many right now but i dont want it to proliferate. i pick n siphon em but i still see some during night time. i was thinkin of putting some predators in but i need advise what species would work well with my tang set up. i intend to house them in my tank temporarily, just to rid it of the snails. i hope to get some feedback on this, and also what other methods would be best. many thanks...

 

[ZeNozzle]

Depending on the snail they may need to grow more before they can proliferate. chances are they will starve each other out if you keep the tank nice and clean. In my experiece snails don't really hurt anything so i just leave whatever i find and let nature take it's course.

 

[fmueller]

You will have a very hard time finding better snail eater than trets - regardless if you are just looking among fish from Lake Tanganyika or anywhere else! A few snails are really not a problem, and can actually be beneficial for a setup, since they consume algae and leftover food. Only if you are overfeeding they get out of control. I would not worry about them, and if you see more than you like, just cut back a bit on the amount you feed. The rest of the problem should take care of itself.

 

[prov356]

My experience agrees with Frank, they thrive in tanks with substrate that's overloaded with detritus, so I'd deal with that. But if you want another easy method to try in combo, strap a piece of lettuce or celery to a rock and leave it overnight. You'll have a bunch of snails to harvest in the morning. In small tanks, I've noticed that if I vacuum out all of the sand and leave it that way for a few days, it prettty much takes care of the problem. They don't seem to be able to get going or stay established without the organic load in the sand. May not totally eradicate them, but I also don't mind or worry about a few.

 

[cichbillyia]

Feeder goldfish... a guy i work with threw on goldfish in his infested tank. Did the trick!

 

[M&S]

Sounds like you have malaysian trumpet snails?

As said above, they don't do any harm, won't eat plants, and generally keep the substrate moving and clean. Think earthworms for your aquarium :thumb: They should reach a "peak" level in numbers and maintain that as they will only breed if there is enough food/waste for them to do so. Once they reach their maximum numbers, prviding nothing changes in your tank, they should stay there.

The above lettuice leaf idea is a good one, but try and catch them just before lights on, as they quickly retreat back into teh substrate.

Oh, and people actually pay good money for Malaysian trumpet snails so don't be too quick to throw them away :wink:

 

[PfunMo]

While I can agree that snails can be tolerated in a carefully maintained tank, I do not want to work that hard at staying on a tightrope. For snails I go nuclear and do not want any of them anywhere. For that I first do not add anything that is not sterile other than fish. Second line if I do get snails is to remove the fish and sterilize the tank substrate, decor, and all. I far prefer to do the time now to kill all snails and eggs, rather than spend the rest of my life picking snails and shells off everything. Half cup of bleach and then rebuild, works best for me.

 

[jgc2003]

oh i feel relieved that they dont give much harm to a tank. they're not much of an eyesore anyways because they only go out when the lights are out. what i was concerned about is that they may carry some parasites. if they do help rid the tank of algae and help maintain the tank floor then i should not worry about em, unless they proliferate in outrageous numbers. thanks for the replies

 

[fmueller]

While I can agree that snails can be tolerated in a carefully maintained tank, I do not want to work that hard at staying on a tightrope.

I don't find I have to work hard to keep them in check. I think of them as a free indicator for overfeeding. If I see more snails than usual, it's a reminder to go easy on the feeding. If I didn't have the snails, I might have to test for nitrate, but I am lazy :zz:

 

[jd_7655]

The only way to totally get rid of them is to dry everything out tank, filter, ornamints, ect.

The only other alternative is to keep your tank clean and use lettuce. Put a peice of lettuce in the tank and remove it before you turn your lights on.

EDIT Almost forgot this one.
Or there is another way and thats assassin snails they will kill any other type. Assassin snails arent as prolific as other types meaning they won't take over your tank.

 

[brandon O]

there is a type of snail you can put in there tht will eat the pest snails

 

[fmueller]

Assassin snails are cool, but they are not cheap, and trets do eat snails. If they decide to eat your assassins, that's going to be one expensive snack!

 

[lektronimo]

Keep the snails,they do an amazing job cleaning,my pads in my wet dry filter are always blue like new!!! I change them every 6 months in a well stocked 180g tank!!

 

[punman]

I put my fish in another tank for two days. Threw out the sand, boiled the filters and sponges and rocks.
Used a bleach solution and cleaned the bare tank. Rinsed well and added some filter media from another tank and have not had problems since (also got rid of a live plant that might have been the cause).

 

[ZeNozzle]

yeah you need to quarintine new live plants just in case if you dont want snails.

 

[PfunMo]

Good thinking on the quarantine for live plants. How long do you feel is good for QT for them so that snails would have time to hatch and be seen? Someway dipping with all the risk involved has been my method but QT sounds much more reasonable.

 

[blusue2]

I got snails in one of my tanks by mistake (came in on a plant). Now I'm glad to have them as part of the ecosystem. They are good little cleaners. Sometimes I need to trap a few. I do the lettuce on a rock trick, and submerge that in a cup. They find their way in, and then I just lift the whole thing out.

 

[krfhsf]

I tried all the loaches and Trets. They did not work. Assasian snails did the trick. Now I move them around from tank to tank. Problem sloved. Try it you will like it.