Help .... got Malaysian Trumpet Snail

[frontoes]

Does anyone know what is the best way to get rid of Malaysian Trumpet Snail, I've found heaps of my sump so I got rid of the media, turn up the heater to 40c with salt added?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I'm worried about cleaning my 6 foot and starting over again.

Thanks

Eddie

[Chuckmeister]

The only way I've had success getting rid of them is by starting over.

I was worried about snails making my planted tank but was pretty anal and soaked every plant in Potassium permanganate (been lucky so far and not seen one). You might be able to run a dose through your system for a few days but it might stain your silcone internally. Without fish in the tank of course. Doing this will nuke your system so you'll be looking at recycling your tank etc.

You could also try doing the same with h2o2 ( Hydrogen Peroxide) It is one of the most powerful oxidizers, stronger than chlorine, and potassium permanganate

I just want to note that I haven't tried either method though I would do h2o2 if I ever got any of these buggers again. Its a big undertaking getting rid of these guys.

There is also a commercial product. I think its called snail rid or something similar (never used it). I'd imagine you would still need to remove your fish and you have to expect a substantial ammonia spike as your snails die and decompose.

[Ged]

No easy method to control these snails. Reduced feeding, addition of clown loaches and other snail eating species, zucchini traps, the use of copper, gravel cleaning will not totally remove them from your tank. These methods are to reduce the chance of population explosions but in the end the only reliable method is to a total strip down.

[BengaBoy]

At the moment I am experimenting with the drug free method / leave the tank running.

put in some clown loaches who reduced the snail population a lot, but still obvious if you look after lights out.

then I ripped out 90% of the substrate so the loaches could get to the rest

spread the substrate out in the sun to dry out - amazing number of shells I hadn't seen (not sure how long they survive?).

still a few snails in the tank, so I took out the rest of the substrate and gave the rocks a hose down.

that small amount of substrate had a few snails as well

running two canisters, so cleaning them alternately, not too often but a bit earlier than usual. just a couple of snails at last clean.

am optimistic at next set of canister cleans might be none

when I did some research it seems they are live bearers. conflicting info on what eggs look like - maybe just like grains of sand? about 60 or 70 eggs per spawn. The smallest shells I have seen are about 2mm - could be my eyesight tho.

[Fins]

If it was me, I would take out all the sand. If the sand is cheap (bunnings play sand) then I would just buy new sand. If the sand is expensive, I would try to boil it.

Personally think there's too much risk if using chemicals. Unfortunately, There's no easy way.

[Buccal]

Never tried this myself,,, but for these snails Kusuri is meant to wipe them.

To try you could half dose, and make sure your fish are fine, proceed with full dose.

Also, as Ged mentioned, zuchinni,,,,, tie of a weighted large peice of blanched zuchinni.

Chuck it in at night and pull out in morning.

If you do this regularly it will keep the popution right down.

Once it's down, you'll likely be able to have a long break from doing it till population needs to be controlled again.

[Ged]

When you cleaning your canisters check the impellers. MTS are known to accumulate in the impellers. You wiuld hate to go the effort only to have them reestablish because they were hiding.

[BengaBoy]

When you cleaning your canisters check the impellers. MTS are known to accumulate in the impellers. You wiuld hate to go the effort only to have them reestablish because they were hiding.

yeah, been doing that, but haven't found them past the coarse filter pad yet.

it isn't the shells that are a concern to find/identify, it is the eggs - impossible to know until they stop breeding I guess.

oh, btw, don't share any hoses, nets etc between tanks.

[t3v0r0]

Do you like strawberries?

DIY snail trap for me.

Items needed:

1 x empty Strawberry punnet

1 x rock

1 x stanley knife or paper scissors

1 x piece of zucchini / cucumber / lettuce / algae wafers for catfish

access to gumtree.com.au

Instructions:

1. Eat the strawberries
2. Use the stanley knife to cut some extra holes or enlarge the existing breather holes
3. Place a piece of bait and rock inside the plastic container.
4. Leave the trap overnight
5. Remove the trap in the morning along with MTS.
6. List an ad on gumtree selling MTS for 50c each.

NB. you will never get rid of MTS completely.

[Ged]

It sounds as if it will be an effective trap and great instructions.

If you use a stanley knife to cut the holes as a cross and push the pointy edges inside the container it make it harder for the MTS to climb out.

[Chuckmeister]

If you have MTS then really you take the option of control vs nuking. You'll never get rid of them with any control method.

The easiest way to control them is by food control. If you start feeding smaller portions more often so your not getting food to the bottom feeding the snails.

Most people who get these just say embrace them lol. I'm a little more hard headed and prefer to nuke my tanks. I would be devastated if I got them in my 8 footer though because I would never get the fish out limiting my choices. I'm even careful introducing fish into my tanks. I dont put any water from the aquarium shop or breeder into my tanks though I dont go as far as quarantining them.

[BengaBoy]

actually, I put the torch on the tank in the middle of the night (bladder isn't what it used to be) and couldn't see any snails at all.

ok - so they are hiding in the canisters

just saying, that's all.

[Chuckmeister]

Everyone has different experiences, some better than others...i've never personally got rid of these pests other than a tank shutdown and clean. I've done loaches etc and never had a good run with them but I do over feed (and even light feeding didn't rid the problem). I did have better control with food contro (to an extent)l. Most people cant eradicate these through a few loaches and a simple google search indicates the difficulty of this snail. My assumption from the OP is that he is running a sump, not a cannister even though both probably harbour the same problem (containing snails)

edit - might revisit this in the morning, correct my spelling and grammer...its a late night

Edited December 9, 2015 by Chuckmeister

[ACTcichlidlover]

Where/ how do you get clown loaches that have been aclimitised to the higher PH / Hardness of an African Cichlid tank?

Most that I have seen on sale are all in water of a PH of 7 and medium (at best) hardness. I do not have a spare tank in which I could gradually aclimitise these fish to the high PH / hardness conditions.

I have the same snail issue too so I am also looking for options besides the big start over / again option.

[BengaBoy]

Where/ how do you get clown loaches that have been aclimitised to the higher PH / Hardness of an African Cichlid tank?

Most that I have seen on sale are all in water of a PH of 7 and medium (at best) hardness. I do not have a spare tank in which I could gradually aclimitise these fish to the high PH / hardness conditions.

I have the same snail issue too so I am also looking for options besides the big start over / again option.

in my experience they adapt quickly

I put in small ones, 7 at about 5cm at the start. Got them from the local lfs who runs "connected" tanks - reckon their ph would be 7.5 thereabouts since that Is what the tap water is these parts

I am running 8.5 - 9

max gh and kh for breeding tangs

just debagged them into a bucket, topped up gradually with some tank water over about 20 - 30 mins and tossed in the tank.

they thrive - tho they do like tank mates around them to feel comfortable, otherwise they like to hide

[malrift]

Supposedly C.rhoadesii eat them too. Never tried them but according to Ad it os their main food.

[mick19]

Hi all i had these beasts once put some plants in when i went on holidays came back and they were everywhere tried snail cures ,clown loaches nothing worked sowhat i did was to get a four litre plastic ice cream container emptied all the gravel out of the tank washed the tank down with salt then put the icecream container in the microwave and nuked them for five mins until all the gravel was done never seen a snail since but the downside is you have to strip the tank down

[BengaBoy]

On ‎9‎/‎12‎/‎2015 at 10:58 AM, BengaBoy said:

actually, I put the torch on the tank in the middle of the night (bladder isn't what it used to be) and couldn't see any snails at all.

ok - so they are hiding in the canisters

just saying, that's all.

just an update.

not declaring victory yet

put the substrate back about a month ago

external canisters (2) are getting cleaned alternately every 6 weeks

1 internal cleaned every week

haven't seen any snails in the tank and no snails in filters last few cleans.

patience, butterfly.

[Link2Hell]

Kusuri Wormer will knock over snails but if the tank is infested there will be a huge bio load

from the dead snail population

bonus is it worms the fish also

[mdk54]

Excellent, just ordered some and will give it a go in a couple of my MTS invaded tanks.

Will report back on results.

[mdk54]

Just added some to my Multi tank. Water is a bit cloudy now. MTS still crawling around. Will wait a couple of days and see the results.

[mdk54]

I know this is a bit late, but just wanted to let everyone know, the Kusuri Wormer killed every last MTS in that tank. I have since tried it in another tank with exactly the same results. Not one MTS left alive after about 3 days.

This seems to have a 100% successful kill rate for MTS if people are looking for an easy solution in the future.

[samrex]

Will Kusuri Wormer be safe for young fry and also Peppermint Bristle nose?

[Link2Hell]

Kusuri is safe with scaled fish but don't know about catfish

never tried it with them

you could also look at a group of Clown Loaches

[yanke]

i had them all in my tanks 

i have 4 x4fts and a 4ft sump had them in that there was 1000s the only way i found to kill them all was to 

take out all the fish  (did not have plants in there)

take a 2L. thing of bleach and pour 1 in to each tank

wait 3 day u can run the sump a little to get it down in it 

then drain full it drain full it keep doing it to u can not smell the bleach any more 

then take a tester fish put it in if it lives for 24hr than all is good to start over 

if not then back to draining and fulling for 2 or 3 day and start with the tester fish again

it will take u about 2 weeks to do it 

but i have not had one in any tank i did with the bleach

but u will have to start all over