Nitrite readings in snail tank. Overcrowding/overfeeding?

[Chickadee]

Originally I had just one apple snail in a used 5 gallon tank. Long story short, she was suffering from some irritant in the tank that I couldn't figure out, so I took the whole tank apart and cleaned it, substrate and all. The snail recovered almost immediately. Then my co-worker bought me 2 more snails as a birthday gift. Knowing I was also getting some babies soon, I upgraded to a 10 gallon tank (keeping the same substrate and filter media). All of this caused the tank to cycle again, which I sort of expected. After the cycling completed and all params looked good, I introduced the 7 babies and a ramshorn. So yeah, I went from 1 snail to 11 in a pretty short amount of time.

Params were fine for a few days, but now, whenever I put food in the tank I get trace nitrite readings the next day. (The test tube is light blue, so somewhere between .25 ppm and 0). Ammonia is 0. I'm doing about 15-20% water changes whenever I get a reading.

Here is my dilemma. I was told on another site that the babies should get some food every day. But as soon as I put any food out, the bigger ones naturally come bulldozing over and take over the food. So I find myself putting more food out for the babies. I try to remove the uneaten food the next day, but usually there are some babies still attached to it, and I hate to remove them when they're eating. Needless to say, the adults are pooping like crazy. I can see why all this is causing the nitrite readings, but I don't know how to fix it. I want to make sure the babies eat.

Are there just plain too many snails in the tank? I planned to move some to a 2nd tank when the babies got bigger. I'm wondering if I should do this now. Maybe keep the babies in one tank and the adults in another? Other than the food issue the adults aren't harming them at all. I'd rather not do this right now unless I have to. Any thoughts on how to handle this? Will the nitrite straighten out on its own? How do I cut back on food and still make sure the babies eat? Etc..

 

[mykidsmylife]

Water changes will help with the nitrite issue and some prime in the water will help detoxify it. It should eventually finish its cycle and right itself.
You can over stock your tank as long as you keep up with more frequent water changes and good gravel vac. Are there any plants in the tank? They would help soak up excess nitrites/ nitrates.


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[FrenchFry]

Fast-growing plants like floating plants and stems will go a long way in absorbing excess nutrients. Try not to leave the food in the tank very long, as the decomposing food is affecting your water quality. If you do have plants already, try to feed the snails in the morning, as plants will absorb more nutrients when the lights are on and they are growing.
In the meantime, frequent water changes will help mitigate the issue and keep your snails healthier.


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[snoopy65]

What you have done is thrown your tank into a mini cycle by adding so many at once....it will right itself, but in the meantime water changes water changes...what I would do for the little snails is this. Gather the little ones into a breeder net or even a fish net so long as when balanced on the top of the tank the net is still where the babies are is still below the water line. Feed the little guys in the net and the big snails in the tank. This way you kknow the little guys are getting their share.

 

[AquaticAustin]

couple things, what are you feeding, how much are you putting in and how long do you leave it? The 7 snails were very small so shouldnt do much. I routinely have 100+ babies drop into my 10 gal snail tank and dont have problems. I also have a heap of java moss, a marimo ball, and some other various moss so that prob helps. W.e food is dont leave it in more than 24 hrs. The babies will get their food when the adults get there fill, trust me lol also small fluctuations wont hurt those snails it happens sometimes in my tank too and iv never lost a snail to date (besides as puffer food! Lol)

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[vwill279]

I've got at least 100 (total for all species) ramshorns, MTS, and apple snails in my 20 gallon long, along with at least 50 livebearer fry (1 month of age and younger) and 3 CPOs. I have lots of plants in that tank and do water changes twice weekly and havent seen my nitrates spike since it was cycling. Snails may poop a lot, but they dont have as high of a bioload as most fish, so you can easily have 11 snails in a 10 gallon tank. Just keep up with the water changes until it finishes cycling, and maybe add some plants.

If you are worried about overfeeding the adults while not having anything for the babies, you can put one of those long lasting vacation feeders in the tank. It wont foul the water as much as regular food and will allow all of the snails to graze. I would still add fresh food to the tank, but at least then you wont feel bad about removing it.

 

[Chickadee]

Okay good, so if no one thinks I'm overloading the tank I'll leave it alone. The snails all look happy and I'd hate to disrupt them and make more work for myself.

About the plants: Yes, I have an annubias and a cryptocorne wendtii (sp?) and a moss ball. I'd like to get more but waiting on my mopani to arrive and the babies to get a little bigger before I do any rearranging. Glad these are helping with the params!

About the food: I'm feeding zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, collard greens and shrimp pellets. Not all at once, usually one slice of each squash one day, the next some collard greens and carrots peels, etc. I lay smaller pieces all over because I can't always see where the babies are. No, I don't think they are causing the spikes, but rather all of the excess food laying around and the big guys pooping it out like sausage makers . I wasn't planning to get the extra 2 adult snails, but my co-worker was so excited about getting them for me I just couldn't say no . They are very pretty, not full grown yet. I'll try to get more creative about leaving food in crevices where the babies will find it but the adults can't.

Oh yeah, and I leave out little piles of Caltrate too. The big ones usually slurp that down in a matter of minutes.

Also not helping the situation is that I'm afraid to vacuum the gravel right now because I can't see the babies. I've been using a turkey baster and just blowing puffs into the gravel and sucking up the debris. Once the babies get bigger I can go back to vacuuming. I also have netting wrapped around the filter siphon so the little snails don't get inside. I'm wondering if this is hindering the filtration process...? The breeding net is a good idea and I might look into that.

Okay, I'll just keep up with the w/c and trust that the nitrite straightens out. I do think it'll get better once the babies get bigger and I can get into a regular cleaning routine. To those who don't know, I got the babies from AquaticAustin and they are SOOO cute! They're growing like weeds already. The big snails are so tolerant of them. Even when they're hogging the food, they will lift their foot over the babies so as not to crush them. I could watch them for hours.