infestation! and hair algae help!!

[Sebas]

Hey every one take a look at this, can anyone identify what kind of snails they are? I also got some moss from my buddy and it came with a little hair algae, but now it has covered all my nice moss is there a fish that eats hair algae but won't eat my shrimp or stress my other fish. I have cherrys amanos kuhlies and otos. And how can I get rid of the hair algae?

Here some pics of the snails

you can see the hair algae on my moss in the second photo

 

[Vince G.]

Those are Red Ramshorn snails. In the right numbers, they are good at cleaning up the tank and eating algae. True Siamese Algae Eaters and some barbs will eat some hair algae, along with Otos and Bristlenose Plecos. I think that Mollies will also eat a little algae.

 

[Sebas]

Is there anyway to keep the population of ramshorns under control cause I literally have hundreds and hundreds, what about assassin snails?

 

[flyinggig]

My guppies used to eat hair algae in my last setup. Had a CAE, snail, ghost shrimp all take a chomp or two!

 

[Vince G.]

Oh, I forgot Nerite Snails. They are GREAT Algae eaters, and they can't breed in freshwater. The true key to beating algae is getting excess nutrients under control, making sure that the nutrients in the tank are available for the plants and not the algae. More frequent water changes, adjusting my lighting cycle, heavier planting, and adding nutrient hungry floating plants helped me to get my tank in balance. I had BBA and hair algae covering 75% of my tank at one time, and now I haven't had any algae for 2 years or so.

 

[aviva90]

My otos never ate hair algae. As for those snails, it is a process to get rid of a good number, but throw a piece of lettuce or zucchini on the bottom of a small container (tupperware or small mason jars work well) in the tank and once the container/veggie is covered in snails remove it, toss them (or squish for fish food) and repeat until they are gone. Assassin snails help too, but they are better for maintaining numbers than ridding completely (in my experience) so I would do the container trick until there are less and add then assassins.
As for the hair algae on the moss ball, the only thing I can think of is pick it off by hand, but other than that I don't know.. sorry

 

[Vince G.]

For one thing, you could scoop them up and sell them on this site. I'm sure I'm looking at 100 or so in that picture. They are used to feed pufferfish, and there are a lot of people looking for them as food.
Usually snail numbers skyrocket when there is excess food in the tank, you may want to try reducing the number/amount of feedings to help get them in check. Assasin Snails and loaches will eat snails. Unless you have a very big tank, avoid the Clown Loach, because it gets very big, and likes to live in schools.

 

[vwill279]

If only I had that many ramshorns for my puffers...

I agree though, you are probably overfeeding the tank. My rams never breed out of control, but I only feed my fish every other day or so. Cut down on the excess food in the tank and it will cut down the number of snails you see. I would just use a net and scoop them and either sell them, or donate them. Lots of people look for excess snails to feed their critters.

 

[hadesnuggz]

A nice sized Bristlenose Pleco would clean up that algae nicely and also maintain algae in your tank and keep the glass clean. But they poop a lot! And they wouldnt hurt your other fish either.

 

[saram521]

As far as I'm aware, bristlenose plecos and otocinclus don't eat hair algae; they do eat fine green algae that grows in a thin film on tank glass, decorations, etc. I say physically remove the hair algae and keep your nitrate level low to deter hair algae from growing back.