Snails?!?!? Ewwww.....

[jcmissionary]

My 20 gallon tank is nearing the end of it's fishless cycling, and I've noticed around 8 or 9 insect looking things growing on the glass of my aquarium. From looking at some of the bigger specimens, it seems that I'm getting snails, appearantly brought in on the live plants I put in the tank.

Now, I've read that snails can be good for a tank, since they eat algae and whatnot, but will my tank suffer if I were to remove them? From what I've seen, some are growing fairly high up on the front glass, and I'd really rather not have some snail right in the middle of my view. Any advice anyone could give me would be great. Thanks!

[OrionGirl]

Snails move around--they are not stationary. Just confused by your implication that the snails will be in the middle of the glass all the time.

Removing snails won't hurt the tank, though.

[snakeskinner]

I personally would remove all the snails you can and as fast as you can. what kind of fish are you buying? If you're getting puffers then you're lucky, they need the snails anyway. Other than that, there's not much you can do in a 10 gallon besides some chemicals made to rid of snails (most people don't like these) or just scoop them out when you get the chance. cya, Kyle

[Aquarius0015]

Other than that, there's not much you can do in a 10 gallon besides some chemicals made to rid of snails (most people don't like these) or just scoop them out when you get the chance.

Ah, but you forget the lettuce/cucumber method of snail removal. I hear it works wonders.

[TKOS]

Well snails are very easy to control. Not their movements but their population. Snails, like all living craetures need food. Limit that food and you limit the number of snails that can live in your tank. That means feeding your fish only as much as they can eat in a 2 minute period. Fish have tiny bellys. Also make sure to do diligent water changes and gravel vacumms.

Stay away from chemicals as they can only lead to upsetting the balance of your tank. And snail removal chems work on the premis that the chemical is toxic enough to kill a snail but not quite toxic enough to kill a fish. Over dosing or having sick fish could result in disaster, IMO.

There are plenty of easy ways to remove snails, though personally I leave mine alone. It makes things look more natural, IMO. A better diversity is a good thing.

[jcmissionary]

I plan on keeping maybe 2 or 3 snails. The problem is that I see 8 or 9 baby snails, which is quite a few more than I want. I won't be using chemicals, though. I'm not a very big fan of them. The only one I use is my dechlorinator.

Anyways, I've been cleaning the baby snails off as I find them, so hopefully their population will settle down.

[OrionGirl]

Controlling the food really will control the snails. Even the ones you already have will die if there is not enough food to support them.

I have snails in every tank I own. In some, they stay in the substrate and I only see them during cleanings (or when one is dumb enough to surface in the puffer tank). In most, I see one or two snails if I look closely, or in the morning. Many, many fish will eat snails, and this will help control the population as well.

[caz]

a good gravel syphon should work well.

[snakeskinner]

well, I've tried the zuchini and lettuce with not much luck. I've floated both and sunk both with weights. I get maybe 2 snails every other day that way. I was getting 20-30 daily in my 55 gallon off the glass and decorations with a net but I've slowed them down a bunch. Recently we decided we are going to get a puffer tank going so I'm leaving the snails be until then when we can punish the slimy little suckers and put them in with the puffers. hahahahaha, you'll soon pay for your random multiplication my pretty's, hahahahahahaha...................Kyle

[fishdude]

lol

[sigmatauntaylor]

snailicide?:)