Snail problem.... any suggestions on a full overhaul?

[SandySquarepants]

OK guys, help me out... I've got a 10 gallon with 1 male betta, 4 inbred "mini" platies and 2 corys. Every white dot you can see is a snail. I can't add any predator fish that would eat the snails and I don't want to use chemicals... looking for any suggestions for the process of breaking this tank down and cleaning it out

 

[tanker]

Snails actually is a sign of a healthy tank, and maybe a little too much food. Clean the algae off the glass, and clean the gravel during WC, and the snails will go away=no food.
I would add an assasin snail (I heard, you do not want to add a "snail preditor"), but assasin snails do not grow big, will not multiply, and they look nice.. One would be enough to keep the population under control.

 

[NeverFadeAway86]

assasin snail will help, another way is to put a slice of cucumber in the tank, wait 6 hours and remove it, alot of the snails will be on the piece of cucumber and just keep doing that till you get em all

 

[calivivarium1]

Don't tear the whole thing down.. follow one or both of the above suggestions and you will get things under control.

 

[Gabler]

I thoroughly enjoy the pond snails that came with the plants in my tank. Cut back on how much you're feeding your fish, and you'll have a pleasant, manageable number of snails left. Keeping a few in the tank can help to clean up detritus. I wouldn't recommend getting rid of all of them. Just limit their food so they stop breeding so much.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Yep, Totally agree with all the above. Feed lightly and the snail population will be light.

 

[SandySquarepants]

When I said "predator fish" I just meant I'm a little overstocked as it is... but I forgot what assassin snails got their name for so if I can find one I will most likely get that but in the meantime I will try cucumber traps and more frequent water changes with the gravel vacuum as well as cleaning the tank walls of algae to decrease the population boom.

Should I be worried when the population crashes and I have dozens of rotting snails in my gravel? Or will a gravel vacuum take care of this?

 

[tanker]

The gravel Vac will take care of the shells, or they will disolve back into the water.

 

[henningc]

Dwarf crayfish like CPOs love snails