I have a 55 gal. African Cichlid tank that's over run with MTS. Yeah, I know that it's because I've fed too much, and yes., they are (relatively) harmless. The problem I have is I am (temporarily) forced to overcrowd my Africans, and so I use two large HOT filters to dispose of excess nitrates, etc. The darn snails are clogging up the filters, stopping the water flow, etc. I'd like to say, net the suckers out, but the stone grottoes needed for the safety of the crowded fish make this a losing proposition. copper sulfate (Had A Snail brand) doesn't seem to do the job, even without any charcoal, and in spite of hard alkaline water. I can't seem to kill any noticeable number. With the number of snails I see when I "visit" the tank at "Oh-Dark-Thirty", I would think I would see some carcasses (shells?) after treating the tank twice. My substrate in the tank is coral sand.
how do I get rid of MTS?
- Thread starter themoose11702
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You really don't have many options with those lil buggers. You can try to pick them out one at a time, but that will stink. You can try to put a peice of cucumber in the tank overnight and pull it out in the morning.
well first of all they can only breed if there is a food source. cut down on the feedings so there wont be as much extra food. also leaving dead plants out like what jodi said works also. they love dead plants over night it will be covered in snails and you can get a bunch out at once. keep doing that until the numbers are cut down a lot.
maybe they are dying underneath the sand? the empty shells won't automatically appear, they will only show up quickly if the fish move the sand around a lot. if there is no sand movement, the shells will stay hidden.
Thats how MTS are. I have hundreds of them in my tank, but never see them unless I actively move the sand around in search of them.
Thanks for your reply. My Africans are constantly "landscaping", so I would see the shells. I see very few, almost none, I'm going to do the veggie thing for sure, and install foam strainers over the filter intakes. I don't actually object to their presence, just the jamming of the filter impellers. If (as I am sure) I am overfeeding, then they perform a valuable function for me. By the way, who is that charmer whose picture you're using as an avatar? Looks as if it might be a relative of mine, but it can't be. My relatives don't have such fuzzy ears.
One way you can "thin the herd" of MTS, and other small snails is with the gravel vac. The trick is to set a glass jar in the tank before you start. As the gravel swirls around in the vacuum tube, the snails rise to the top. You can't lift the tube out of the tank without the snails falling out, so just move the tube over the jar as the gravel falls away.
The white empty shells are very light, so to get them to fall in the jar, pinch the syphon tube to slow the flow of water.
When you've finished vacuuming, take out the jar and see what you caught.
Fun!
The white empty shells are very light, so to get them to fall in the jar, pinch the syphon tube to slow the flow of water.
When you've finished vacuuming, take out the jar and see what you caught.
Fun!