My worst nightmare coming true.... SNAILS

[TheBigSpoon]

This morning I woke up and noticed a little snail crawling along on the glass. I removed him and several others i found on plants, most of them were still very small, about the size of the eye of a needle. I put a snail trap in to hopefully catch any I missed. What else can I do to rid my tank of snails before they get out of control? And is there a way to take care of any snails or eggs that may be on new plants before I add them to my tank?

 

[FastFly67]

Not overfeeding is the best way to control population that is already in your tank. Visually check plants for small gel like bubbles before adding them to the tank.

Also, get over it! (sorry but that's how i really feel) Snails are a natural part of nature and don't really hurt much of anything. (pond snails and rams as those are usually the ones considered pests)
I love all of my snails from MTS to rams to briggs to the lowly pond snails.

 

[blue2fyre]

Snails are not necessarily a bad thing. They can actually be pretty beneficial. They eat dead and decaying plant matter and clean up left over food. To keep their numbers under control just don't over feed your tank. They are a good indicator of if you are feeding too much.

 

[Industrial]

If you truely do not want those snails, get 2 or 3 assassin snails. They cleaned out my overrun 29 gallon in two weeks, and they have not bred so I am not overrun with them.

 

[svf]

Don't overfeed.
I have to admit that I like my snails. Especially the MTS. They keep the substrate aerated.

 

[harmsup]

What's wrong with snail? I mean they eat leftover fish food, dead fish, algae, and dead plant.

 

[TheBigSpoon]

There's nothing wrong with snails, I absolutly agree that they are beneficial and I actually think they're pretty cool, I just dont want them in THIS tank. I value everyone's opinion but I still want to get rid of them.

If you truely do not want those snails, get 2 or 3 assassin snails. They cleaned out my overrun 29 gallon in two weeks, and they have not bred so I am not overrun with them.

Thanks Industrial, I'll probably try that. I've also heard that some fish eat snails, anyone know which ones? I appreciate any suggestions.

 

[jeninok]

If you absolutely don't want any snails I guess you could dose with something like Had-a snail or copper, but that will be hard on your fish and plants as well.

I find the snail trap method to be fairly effective, you just have to do it several times to really clean them out.

 

[blue2fyre]

Remember that if you get fish/snails to take care of your current snails, what are you going to feed them once the snails are gone? Many common snail eating fish can get to be large or need to be in groups. What size tank do you have?

 

[TheBigSpoon]

The tank is a 10 gallon. The plants were in the tank for about 5 days before I noticed any snails so I'm hoping the sails that I found were from pre-existing eggs and that I got all the snails out before they had a chance to breed. I don't want to buy a fish for the sole purpose of eating snails, I'm pretty much just trying to learn all the possible methods in case they get out of control.