# Snails!!!



## chris83 (Mar 28, 2009)

Hi i have a tropical fish tank and its being overrun with snails! i did originally have live plants but got rid of them ages ago, i spent ages cleaning the tank out and changing the stones etc, all was clear for about 2 weeks then i noticed a few snails and now i have hundreds!
Anyway my question is does anyone know how to get rid of them? i did have clown loaches which apparentley keep the snails down but i dont think they were ever told that!:bash:
Is there a way of getting rid of them? any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Chris


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## Doodle (Aug 7, 2008)

I had this problem, and my LFS was kind enough to give me some assassin snails they had, took a while for them to make a proper dent, but they have now and i barely have any snails left (and a couple of lil assassins have popped up as well! :2thumb

Got to a point where i was taking out 50+ empty shells a week from the bottom of the tank :lol2:


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## Ash1988 (Nov 9, 2010)

Snail populations normally explode when there is plenty of food for them. 
Your best bet would be to make sure there are no left over foods and introduce some assassin snails and hopefully the population should calm down.


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## chris83 (Mar 28, 2009)

They are a nuisance! everytime i look in the tank i see more and more and its so frustrating:bash:

I did have 3 asassin snails but i can only see one now and i dont think its alive :sad: how many do i need to actually make a dent in them?

Thanks for your replies


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## courseithurts (Dec 29, 2010)

put a bit of cucumber in the tank then loads of snails will go strate to it allowing you to remove it with lots of snails atached


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## chris83 (Mar 28, 2009)

I tried that but my bristlenoses jump on it and nothing else gets a look in! lol


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## courseithurts (Dec 29, 2010)

chris83 said:


> I tried that but my bristlenoses jump on it and nothing else gets a look in! lol


 oh fair doos lol


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## goldie1212 (Mar 5, 2010)

what size tank do you have? clown loaches grow very large, and from what ive heard they arent the best snailers.

do you have anything other than fish in there that you wish to keep alive? i had to treat with kusuri wormer a while back in my tank, it warns it will kill any and all snails,shrimps etc, and well after 2 days i had literally hundreds of dead snails on the gravel. took a long time to fish out all them bodies and the fish seemed to enjoy eating them too, but ive not seen a single one since then. it will give you a whopper of an ammonia spoke afterwards though with all the dead snails in there unless you can find a way of removing them. you could remove the substrate and treat the tank then put in new substrate, that way the majority of the snails will be gone before treatment.

assassins are a waste of time IMO, they did nothing for my infestation.


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## chris83 (Mar 28, 2009)

goldie1212 said:


> what size tank do you have? clown loaches grow very large, and from what ive heard they arent the best snailers.
> 
> do you have anything other than fish in there that you wish to keep alive? i had to treat with kusuri wormer a while back in my tank, it warns it will kill any and all snails,shrimps etc, and well after 2 days i had literally hundreds of dead snails on the gravel. took a long time to fish out all them bodies and the fish seemed to enjoy eating them too, but ive not seen a single one since then. it will give you a whopper of an ammonia spoke afterwards though with all the dead snails in there unless you can find a way of removing them. you could remove the substrate and treat the tank then put in new substrate, that way the majority of the snails will be gone before treatment.
> 
> assassins are a waste of time IMO, they did nothing for my infestation.


 
Not sure on the size tbh its only small tho i did have clowns but they grew too big so my mum had them, i only have fish and a few aquatic frogs in there, i tried to find something that would kill off the snails but couldnt find anything.

i did a massive clearout a little while back and it was lovely for about a month then the buggers re-appeared. I've tried to convince the mrs we need a new tank but she is having none of it lol


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## Lucifus (Aug 30, 2007)

You can get medication to kill snails but im unsure how effective they are and how it will effect the fish.


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## Doodle (Aug 7, 2008)

the assassin snails do take a little while to kick in, mine took about a month to get going and start to limit the number of snails, and i'm now 3 months in and i can say the snail problem is pretty much finished. 

That was only 2 assassin snails, I would reccomend getting about 5 as they seem to do better when theres more (as in 2 does better than double what 1 would) as i have noticed they will 'herd' the prey.

Also, don't dispair if they seem to be dead/not doing anything, they like to try and bury themselves in the day and hunt at night, and mine often dont move for a few days, or seem to just be boinking for days on end, which was very infuriating when there was clearly a snail problem!!! :lol2: :lol2:


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## scorpion-boy (Dec 14, 2009)

i have the same problem in my piranha tank - so cant even try clown loach etc - it would seem they are immune to everything - i got fed up of seeing them that i removed the piranha to a temporary tank for the day - took out all the plants and washed each leaf rinsed and put in fresh water - scooped out all the snails from the tank - there were hundreds - cleaned the tank thoroughly getting intop all the corners - i use sand as substrate, i boiled this to kill off any eggs or babies - i cleaned the bottom of the tank with boiling water - took the filter appart and checked in there cleaned it all and used pads from another tank incase there were eggs in the pads 

put everything back - reintroduced the piranha - all was fine for all of two weeks then i start seeing in the sand little tracks where theyve been moving - now theyre back and im just bored of them i scoop out the bigger ones when i can and just try to keep it at a level where i can manage them - they are good at hoovering between rocks etc and they eat dead leaves - though i was told they wont eat plants - just the rotting parts - i have had a few lants die not sure if thats down to snails 

i was told about anti-snail - a chemical you add that is supposed to kill them - i was weary about using it so did a little research and found out it doesnt kill them - rather it just acts as an anaesthetic and puts them to sleep. 

Piranha are shy timid fish and dont like very much light so the fact i keep my tank darker gives the snail the perception it is constantly night time and so they are constantly out - i dont even have the luxury of not seeing them out in numbers throughout the day


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## Doodle (Aug 7, 2008)

scorpion-boy said:


> i have the same problem in my piranha tank - so cant even try clown loach etc - it would seem they are immune to everything - i got fed up of seeing them that i removed the piranha to a temporary tank for the day - took out all the plants and washed each leaf rinsed and put in fresh water - scooped out all the snails from the tank - there were hundreds - cleaned the tank thoroughly getting intop all the corners - i use sand as substrate, i boiled this to kill off any eggs or babies - i cleaned the bottom of the tank with boiling water - took the filter appart and checked in there cleaned it all and used pads from another tank incase there were eggs in the pads
> 
> put everything back - reintroduced the piranha - all was fine for all of two weeks then i start seeing in the sand little tracks where theyve been moving - now theyre back and im just bored of them i scoop out the bigger ones when i can and just try to keep it at a level where i can manage them - they are good at hoovering between rocks etc and they eat dead leaves - though i was told they wont eat plants - just the rotting parts - i have had a few lants die not sure if thats down to snails
> 
> ...


ouch.. I would deffo try the assassin snail approach, they're fairly cheap from fleaBay, and once they start to get going, they really nail the snail population (hehe, rhymes).

Mine are eating about 4-5 a day I would hazard a guess at, and whilst there are eggs, it takes quite a long time for this to noticably kill off the population, but once they start to finish off the larger adults, the snail count drops really rapidly


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## chris83 (Mar 28, 2009)

Right, i got 8 assassins today so hopefully will see some improvement in a month or so.

Thanks for the help guys


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## AnythingWithAShell (Apr 14, 2009)

If you want to help the assasins along, you could try putting some frozen daphnia in there. My snails all surface when I put something like that in, so you could scoop out a load maybe. Or float a leaf of romaine on the surface, a load of them should go to that if you can't use the cucumber trick.


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## enDANgered (Dec 25, 2010)

chris83 said:


> Right, i got 8 assassins today so hopefully will see some improvement in a month or so.
> 
> Thanks for the help guys


As much as people say assasin snails help its generally hit or miss, i've heard comments of them trailing the whole tank to hunt down a snail but i also know that if there is an abudance of algae they'll not touch the snails, hope they help you in your snails problems and not steal your bristles algae! :whistling2:


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## goldie1212 (Mar 5, 2010)

assassins are meat eaters, they dont eat algae as far as im aware. chances are if there is a lot of algae the pest snails will be a huge abundance so the assassins cant keep up with them all.


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## Mynki (Mar 24, 2010)

Lucifus said:


> You can get medication to kill snails but im unsure how effective they are and how it will effect the fish.


Gastropex by esha works. It can be picked up for less than a fiver on fleabay delivered!

Clown loach are a very silly solution. Yes they do eat snails. They also need keeping in shoals and grow large enough to warrant a 6' tank. Buying babies for getting rid of snails is plain daft.

Assain snails (And I've trialled them for around 2 years now) have a limited effect. They will only attack snails smaller than themselves and won't erradicate a large snail infestation. 

Placing a saucer with some catfish pellets on there at night after lights out and then removing it in the morning will help. As will the snail traps you can buy, such as those made by Sera.


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## chris83 (Mar 28, 2009)

Well ill try the assassins approach for now and see if they do anything at all, they are fairly big and the pest snails are small so hopefully they will sort them out. If not i will have to reclean the tank and filters again and hope the assassins can keep on top of any that remain.

Thanks, chris


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## Mynki (Mar 24, 2010)

Chris, assasin snails are very small. They grow smaller than many pest species. Bear that in mind.


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## chris83 (Mar 28, 2009)

goldie1212 said:


> assassins are meat eaters, they dont eat algae as far as im aware. chances are if there is a lot of algae the pest snails will be a huge abundance so the assassins cant keep up with them all.


I dont have an algae problem, only a small amount as the bristles are doing a good job in keeping that down : victory:


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## chris83 (Mar 28, 2009)

Mynki said:


> Chris, assasin snails are very small. They grow smaller than many pest species. Bear that in mind.


The pest snails i have are very small and the assassins are far bigger than them. How big do the assassins grow?


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## hippyhaplos (Jan 12, 2010)

chris83 said:


> The pest snails i have are very small and the assassins are far bigger than them. How big do the assassins grow?


About an inch adult size.


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## chris83 (Mar 28, 2009)

hippyhaplos said:


> About an inch adult size.


So how big will the pests get?!?


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## AnythingWithAShell (Apr 14, 2009)

What type of snails are you over run with? There are a few that are classed as pest types. Can you add a pic, or describe the shape of them?


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## chris83 (Mar 28, 2009)

AnythingWithAShell said:


> What type of snails are you over run with? There are a few that are classed as pest types. Can you add a pic, or describe the shape of them?


Erm...small...swirly shells...does that help? lol i have no idea what they are, the biggest i have ever seen one is about half the size of your little finger nail


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## Mynki (Mar 24, 2010)

AnythingWithAShell said:


> What type of snails are you over run with? *There are a few that are classed as pest types*. Can you add a pic, or describe the shape of them?


I like planted trop tanks. I hate them all other than assasins.


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## AnythingWithAShell (Apr 14, 2009)

chris83 said:


> Erm...small...swirly shells...does that help? lol i have no idea what they are, the biggest i have ever seen one is about half the size of your little finger nail


Any of these? First one comes in different colours btw




























I think you have the 3rd ones...?




Mynki said:


> I like planted trop tanks. I hate them all other than assasins.


Yep, aquatic snails only eat dead/dying plants is a LIE! :lol2:


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## Mynki (Mar 24, 2010)

AnythingWithAShell said:


> Yep, aquatic snails only eat dead/dying plants is a LIE! :lol2:


Yeah, after they ate £30 worth of HC Cuba (They snuck in) I decided I hate them!!!


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## AnythingWithAShell (Apr 14, 2009)

Mynki said:


> Yeah, after they ate £30 worth of HC Cuba (They snuck in) I decided I hate them!!!


No wonder! I like snails but that would have got me too


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## Mynki (Mar 24, 2010)

AnythingWithAShell said:


> No wonder! I like snails but that would have got me too


That was the trade value. The retail would have been nearer £180.


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## hippyhaplos (Jan 12, 2010)

Mynki said:


> Yeah, after they ate £30 worth of HC Cuba (They snuck in) I decided I hate them!!!


I've had this with ramshorns... my betta took things into his own hands and removed all their eyestocks haha

I was £18 for 6 pots... did you have a fields worth? :lol2:


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## Mynki (Mar 24, 2010)

hippyhaplos said:


> I've had this with ramshorns... my betta took things into his own hands and removed all their eyestocks haha
> 
> I was £18 for 6 pots... did you have a fields worth? :lol2:


A pot costs 50p trade.


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## AnythingWithAShell (Apr 14, 2009)

Mynki said:


> That was the trade value. The retail would have been nearer £180.


Oh my life! Well, at least you didn't have to pay retail!


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## clairethorn (May 2, 2008)

I had this problem about 2 months ago in my trop tank. I tried lots of different treatments and nothing worked, so in desperation i took out all the gravel (and snails) and boiled it! 
Replaced the gravel and and no more snails since.
My turtles seemed to appreciate the cooked snails too :whistling2:

Obviously this was a desperate thing to do and i'm not suggesting you do it but i had hundreds of the bloody things in there!


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## Doodle (Aug 7, 2008)

seen any empty snail shells showing up yet? : victory:

also, the snails i had were pond snails that tried to over-run my tanks, and teh assassins loved them.

However, in response to previous comments, Assassin snails will eat algae (i give them a pellet every 3-4 days) and i found that having algae pellets helped them, they started eating far more of the pondsnails when they're there... hmm...

Also, my assassins have eaten pond snails bigger than themselves (albeit, not much bigger)...


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## chris83 (Mar 28, 2009)

They look like the first picture just tiny, and it looks like the assassins are doing something as i have seen alot more floating shells : victory: 

Although i dont think the frogs like the assassins very much, they keep headbutting them:lol2:

Thanks for the help :2thumb:


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## AnythingWithAShell (Apr 14, 2009)

If they are ramshorns (first pic) then they lay loads of eggs on any potentially algae-growing surfaces, so if you see any just scrape them off. You could just be seeing tiny ones cos they get eaten before growing (most fish will eat tiny ones, even if they're not known as snail eating fish) but like I say they lay thousands of eggs so it could seem like a never ending battle! My ramshorns love romaine so you could float a leaf in there to capture some and help the assassins along.


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## Ash1988 (Nov 9, 2010)

Mynki said:


> Yeah, after they ate £30 worth of HC Cuba (They snuck in) I decided I hate them!!!


 Are you sure it was the snails that ate the cuba, ive had snails quite a while now, bladder snails, ramshorn and apple snails and none of them eat live plants, when i had HC in my tank it was the fish that ate it.


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## Doodle (Aug 7, 2008)

chris83 said:


> They look like the first picture just tiny, and it looks like the assassins are doing something as i have seen alot more floating shells : victory:
> 
> Although i dont think the frogs like the assassins very much, they keep headbutting them:lol2:
> 
> Thanks for the help :2thumb:


Glad this is working for you! I always love how elegant a solution assassin snails are : victory:


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