ramshorns that just becomes a pest

[Sounguru]

When i first set up my invert tank I thought my ramshorns were eating my plants as well. My plants had holes in them and I thought they were healthy and the snails were making the holes. I posted on here and found out that ramshorns don't eat healthy plants. I thought that was odd since my plants were growing well. I later started dosing excel and flourish and now my plants don't have holes in them anymore even though I still have the ramshorns.

:iagree: Most of the time the holes are a nutrient problem mostly potassium levels not being high enough.

Here is my trick for Ram removal (of course this is just to another tank where the assassins await) Throw in 3 green beans wait until it is a snail log usually less than an hour. Scoop out entire snail log with a net then remove snail from green bean and reinsert in the tank. You can usually get 3 or 4 snail logs out per bean.

Shipping Rams in the winter without heat pack is usually a good way to dispose of them. They will freeze and thaw several times and if the other person on the other end doesn't mind the gag a maggot smell produced they can then throw them away for ya.:grinyes:

 

[Turbosaurus]

If you send them priority mail to an address where they won't sit outside- like you would do with any other livestock, they will survive the trip just fine. They are tough little guys and the post office is temp controlled- the only problem is if they freeze outside on someones door step and even tnat would take a while in most of the US this time of year.

I am also concerned about the breed of snail you have. The giant Columbian ramshorns will eat plants. The little pest ones we get in aquariums (and there are two versions of those) don't eat the plants, and I will encourage you to look to nutrient deficiencies. The idea that either the snails are SO BIG that they block the entance to the pleco caves? that can't be the little nusiance rams horns we're talking about- they shouldn't get larger than a dime- unless they are the giant columbian type. I've never heard of a giant columbian being introduced accidentally. If your PH is acidic the nusiance varienties won't even get that big, mine barely ever reach pea size. If you have so many that they are blocking your caves you are likely overfeeding your fish. Cut back on your feeding if they are that out of control.

I applaud you for not just letting they dry up. Nuisance or not, they are still living creatures, so if you need to kill (and if you remove them from the tank, you should kill them- they will reak havoc if they ever get into your local water supply) try and do it humanely- or at least quick. Potasium permanganate will kill them, but you can't add it to the tank. Fish meds that contain copper will also kill them, and can be dosed in the tank if you do not have other inverts (like shrimp). I can't think of any names off the top of my head, but read the labels, some ich meds will contain copper sulfate, which will kill them. Just make sure you gravel vac the bodies out of the tank so you don't get an ammonia spike.

 

[7itanium]

I would bet money that both of these people in the thread that claim to have plant eating ramshorns dont have normal ramshorns at all.

you guys have COLUMBIAN ramshorns.. which is a whole different boat. they look similar but they get a bit bigger and DO eat plants.

Pics please (cant promise anything.. but ill do my best to make a posotive ID)

 

[Sounguru]

If you send them priority mail to an address where they won't sit outside- like you would do with any other livestock, they will survive the trip just fine. They are tough little guys and the post office is temp controlled- the only problem is if they freeze outside on someones door step and even tnat would take a while in most of the US this time of year.

Would like to note here that this is not always the case... Take my local po-dunk post office here. They collect mail all day then load it on an unheated truck and it sits for about 11 hours before the driver arrives with that days drop off and picks up the mail from the day before basically a trailer/truck swap. They do it that way so that someone does not have to be there at O dark thirty to open the local PO, it then sits for another 2 hours before the first person arrives to unload. Also in transit across country the trucks are not heated. I went thru all of this with my local and the main hub when I started shipping shrimp and snails to make sure I had all my bases covered.

But that is all beside the point. I doubt they are columbian rams more than likely as I and a few others mentioned it is a nutrient problem. If the OP is using 1/2" PVC for his breeding caves I have several Rams that are big enough to block up the entrence of a tube well enough to stop anything else from getting around it. Not to mention if you get a snail ball at an entrence then no way is anything getting around that.:laugh:

 

[MotionInSilver]

But that is all beside the point. I doubt they are columbian rams more than likely as I and a few others mentioned it is a nutrient problem. If the OP is using 1/2" PVC for his breeding caves I have several Rams that are big enough to block up the entrence of a tube well enough to stop anything else from getting around it. Not to mention if you get a snail ball at an entrence then no way is anything getting around that.:laugh:

hah never thought about it that way I always seen it as a big football hurdle for the little guys to try ram through. No chance.

yep thats how small my catfish guys are. They need small caves, and one of the adults could just block the caves. my pipes are 1/2'' in diameter just for those guys- the caves is about 1'' in diameter for the BNs which is going to be moved into another tank anyhow


Maybe people are right about my plants needing more nutrient. No bones about it i'll just shift my focus on the plants and not the snails after I do some adjustments on the snail population control and thank everyone for their ideas- I am not going to even try dosing anything other than excel, and stress coat- because of the delicate nature of my catfish- its not commonly found in the pet trade and I was just purely lucky to get my hands on those when I brought them as another sp.

- My plan of attack is to cull the snails- give them to locals to give to their puffers/loaches if they ask for a big bag I'll be glad to bait the tank few times for a bag and move my assassins whatever I have left in another tank and let them focus on one tank and when they're done I can just shift my focus on the other tank maybe let some red ones live-

Thank you everybody!

 

[MotionInSilver]

I would bet money that both of these people in the thread that claim to have plant eating ramshorns dont have normal ramshorns at all.

you guys have COLUMBIAN ramshorns.. which is a whole different boat. they look similar but they get a bit bigger and DO eat plants.

Pics please (cant promise anything.. but ill do my best to make a posotive ID)

I think they're the common ones shots taken yesterday of them munching on pumpkin pieces

now today theres only the rind left :nilly:


lets play how many BN fry you can spy in the picture! :clap:

heres picture of the male panda cory as hes a papa of few of my little pandas trying to get into the picture he wouldn't even leave the scene it was very difficult trying to take shots without him in each one as a blur so I had to include him in at least one of them

heres a picture of how big one of the adults usually get however hes the worst in shape maybe due to water being to 'soft' did start doing seachem trace doses again last week though

 

[Chrisinator]

Just wanted to point that if there are too many snails like that, I'd think about how much your feeding your fish. Overpopulation could easily mean overfeeding also.

 

[MotionInSilver]

Just wanted to point that if there are too many snails like that, I'd think about how much your feeding your fish. Overpopulation could easily mean overfeeding also.

i wish that was easy to do to reduce the feed-like I said few times before- I simply have difficult dwarf catfish to feed as they're really difficult as they won't come out until the lights are out and by the time they come out the food is already all gone by the ramshorns so what am I supposed to do :huh: its not overfeeding- my panda cories are lean compared to other cories in other tanks that tells you how much pest they have become

they're getting to the food FIRST before most fish home onto it. The pumpkin was just put down 10 minutes earlier before I took the shots and few fry found their way to the pumpkin. And few of them are on the thin side due too many fry in that tank anyhow just removed a good number of them to earn their keep in other tanks anyhow


if one more person says I'm overfeeding.

i'll go bonkers. :nilly: if ramshorns weren't there in the first place- no problem!

 

[blue2fyre]

What type of catfish are they? I'm really curious.

If the catfish only come out at night to feed then make sure the lights are out for a couple hours before you feed the fish.

 

[MotionInSilver]

http://www.planetcatfish.com/scripts/clog_link.php?q=trachelyichthys+exilis

Trachelyichthys EXILIS - not sure how many I have in the tank as I had 10 of them. No thanks to the stealth heater diaster I lost 2 or 3 of them. Now only see 3 regularly -


I do feed em at nites long after the lights are off- I don't think my feeding or "overfeeding" or whatnot is a problem here- its the snail that is the problem and I'm not going to adjust my "feed" just because of those dang snails


one way or another- the ramshorns are going bye-bye then no more headache of how/when/where/what to feed my fishies because of those pesky little ones.