Will water changes keep snail populations down?

[myswtsins]

A new CO2...what, tank? Did you not have CO2 running for awhile? CO2 lowers pH values and snails cannot maintain their shell integrity as well in lower pH causing shell erosion which is usually deadly to them. So if you didn't have CO2 for awhile snail population could increase then adding CO2 again caused a decrease.

Hard to ID moss in general but probably java moss. Small plant in the bottom right looks like a crypt of some kind and a bit of water wisteria, picture is cut off and bit fuzzy.

 

[fishorama]

Copper will kill inverts now & into the tank's future but it's pretty drastic, I'm not a fan.

Your java moss is helping them to hide, feed & survive. You can reduce their population by squishing some before each vacuuming & looking for the jelly-like eggs masses, they easy to scrape of with a fingernail but need to be removed. This will only work for pond & ramshorn snails, MTS shells are way too hard & they're livebearers.

If there is less food, there will be less snails, as OrionGirl said. Cut back on feeding. You can also try trapping them in a small water bottle with food inside. Or even putting a piece of zucchini held down with a fork, skewer etc, & removing it & some snails daily or so. Repeat often.

I'd recommend trying to reduce their population not kill them all off. A few can help with a tiny bit of algae & excess food.

 

[OrionGirl]

Thanks, im glad you are always around to help those of us that have only been keeping aquariums for something over 30 years understand what what copper does.

I'm sorry, were you the only one posting here? Oh, right, no...this is a question from someone that is NOT you. As someone who has kept fish for 30 plus years myself, I tend to err on the side of caution and NOT advise someone who stated they have a PLANTED tank to put in something that will kill their plants.

To each their own.

 

[MChambers]

Years of experience does not automatically mean you know everything. No one knows everything and if you get defensive when someone replies to something, that the OP may not have known and you didn't offer in your response, you're not really helping in this situation. There was no need for the snark here. This kind of "I have this experience so don't tell me what to do" garbage, gets on my nerves for two main reasons. 1) You just assumed that someone else had less years of experience than you and 2) if you assume that because someone has less experience they can't teach you anything you close yourself off to learning something new. No one knows everything. Even the most experienced person in my field is willing to listen to young researchers in our field, because they might know something or have an idea that the older dude never thought of.

I'm sorry for going off topic, but I've been staring at my laptop making a poster for a conference for the last 13 hours and I have lost a little bit of my filter.

Why can't we all just get along?!?!?!

+1

 

[FreshyFresh]

Too many snails is a sign you're feeding too much.

 

[Bunsen Honeydew]

I think that snails are very helpful in a tank. I have a ton in my tank, and I haven't had to clean my glass in months. Well, the inside anyway, the kids get the outside plenty dirty.

 

[SirMuffin]

Whenever I do a water change I always try to crush as many snails as I can. I'm always fighting ramshorn snails. It keeps the population manageable, if you want to keep the snail population down then water changes are a good place to start.

 

[OrionGirl]

I think it depends on what else is done with the water change. Most of the time, I do water changes and do not clean the substrate or remove detritus--I want that left in the tank as food for my plants. If you clean the substrate at the same time, that will help control snails in the long run, since it reduces the food available.

 

[dougall]

Sigh... It's threads like this that are the reason that people do not like internet forums, facebook or other such online resources.. there are just too many differences of opinion, and no way to see who is right or wrong. lots of disagreeing ensues, then a bit of oneupmanship and all the while the original person with the question has just gone about their merry way.

I'm personally of the side that snails aren't too bad, if they get to be that much of a problem, control feeding and work out why they multiply so much.. you can use traps to remove bunches of them, and take them elsewhere, or give them someone as puffer food.

I would not use chemicals or additives of any sort, just because I don't see the need. if you kill the snails, either using a predator or a chemical... you will still have to deal with the leftover shells looking unsightly unless they blend in with your substrate.

 

[dereks]

Tiftastic, they are the top ones in your pic.

Also, does anyone know what that plant in the bottom right of my tank is called? From a couple posts back ^^^^

I've been trying to figure it out and now I have friends asking too!

Thanks!