Battle: 8 Gallon Planted (snail problem)

N

Nomo

AC Members
Jan 31, 2011
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Howdy folks... I seek your combined wisdom once more...

My tank has been invaded and occupied by small snails... don't know what they are or where they came from, but despite my efforts to pluck them out individually, the horde persists.

The snails are about 1/4 the size of a finger nail, are olive colored and apparently breed like locusts! I believe I identified their eggs... small, oval shaped white things all over my tank.

Will assassin snails go after them (they are SMALL)? If so, who has some assassins I can buy for a reasonable price? What other options do I have? I have shrimp in the tank, so a loach would likely be out of the question I suppose?!
 
petluvr said:
Adding stock to take care of a problem is never a good idea. Try reducing your feedings a bit and as hard as it maybe in an invert tank try vacing the substrate more often.
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So reducing feedings of my fish/shrimp will impact the intrusive snail population significantly? I only feed my guys once a day, and I don't feed them THAT much to begin with... there's about 8 shrimp, some neons and 3 halfbeaks in there... so they don't eat alot as it is...
 
Reduce feedings, plus you can use lettuce to bait the snails. Weigh down a piece of lettuce and leave it in there overnight. There should be snails all over it in the morning. Take out the piece of lettuce and discard. Repeat as necessary.
 
Celes said:
Reduce feedings, plus you can use lettuce to bait the snails. Weigh down a piece of lettuce and leave it in there overnight. There should be snails all over it in the morning. Take out the piece of lettuce and discard. Repeat as necessary.
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Lettuce, huh?! Interesting! I shall try! Thanks!
 
If you're not going for breeding, I'd say cut your feedings back to every 2-3 days. For the most part fish do not need daily feedings.

You can also lure them with slabs of zucchini weighted down with a fork - it'll last longer than the lettuce before decomposing, thus multiple uses for removing snails.

If you've got as many snails as you say it's going to be a difficult task... but I agree with Pet about not adding more stock to solve your problems. That very rarely works.
 
Well, toothpicked a piece of lettuce in the tank yesterday after dinner... within 15 minutes, one of those little suckers was on the lettuce.

This morning... there wasn't a single snail on that piece of lettuce! I'll try reducing feedings, but in the event, what else can I try? I mean these little snails, so long as they don't eat my plants, don't bother me TOO much, but I kinda want a tank with only critters in there that I deliberately put in there! LOL
 
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