Trumpet snails

[couchy]

I have an infestation of small trumpet snails in my Frontosa breeding tank. I wasn't too bothered by them until i stripped a female Frontosa recently and found it was a small batch of fry and 25 snails in with them.

They probably were living off the eggs in there unfortunately.

Whats the best way to get rid of them that won't hurt the Frontosas?

I haven't got anywhere to relocate them to so looking for a safe option.

Are there any fish that eat them that will get along with the frontys?

Thanks

[Adam_J]

I have an infestation of small trumpet snails in my Frontosa breeding tank. I wasn't too bothered by them until i stripped a female Frontosa recently and found it was a small batch of fry and 25 snails in with them.

They probably were living off the eggs in there unfortunately.

Whats the best way to get rid of them that won't hurt the Frontosas?

I haven't got anywhere to relocate them to so looking for a safe option.

Are there any fish that eat them that will get along with the frontys?

Thanks

i think clown loach will clean them up... but dont count me on that..

[bbish84]

clown loaches are the best thing to get rid of them

[LithoMan]

SEND IN A SQUAD OF LOACHES......

[robbo40]

I have an infestation of small trumpet snails in my Frontosa breeding tank. I wasn't too bothered by them until i stripped a female Frontosa recently and found it was a small batch of fry and 25 snails in with them.

They probably were living off the eggs in there unfortunately.

Whats the best way to get rid of them that won't hurt the Frontosas?

I haven't got anywhere to relocate them to so looking for a safe option.

Are there any fish that eat them that will get along with the frontys?

Thanks

G'day Couchy, Yep clown loach love all snails & will clean those pests up for you.

Cichlid POWER, Peter

[Gav]

just bear in mind that the clowns will also poach fronnies eggs when they breed. they will do a fantastic job at getting rid of your snails, but just as good a job at stealing eggs as mouth brooders spawn.

it shouldnt take the clowns more than a month to clean the tank of snails, depending of course on how much gravel you have. just also beware that there is likely a lot of snails in your filtration if you have them in your tank and they need to be eradicated from there as well if you want to have none going forward.

[killiguy]

I have used clown loaches for snail eradication which they did very well but found they grew fast and look over abit after 6 months or so I had to sell them,the snails immediately returned,skunk (4 inches) or yoyo/pakistani(5 inches) loach may be abit easier to controll,be a long term option and still eradicate snails

TFH August 2009 had an article on trumpet snails suggesting over feeding will swell numbers and recommending loaches .The article also mention yellow labs and Nandopsis hiatanensis can suck the snails out of their shell and the buffalo head (Steatocranus) and Hericthys minckleyi can crush them as can puffer fish.Some other options perhaps.

Doug

[CThompson]

1 siphon out all gravel, and discard (never use again)

2 clean filters checking for snails in filter container and bio media (if any)

3 wait and watch - squashing snails as seen

Yellows eat snails as well, though I haven't personally seen them tackle cone snails. It's nice to see TFH and I are on the same page. The yellows will at least appreciate the water conditions.

4 an extra step - remove all rocks etc. in tank as well if the above doesn't work, and continue with 2 & 3.

None of this will be an overnight success, with diligence and a squash on sight policy (go at night with torch), the battle can be won.

[robbo40]

G'day Couchy, There is another way to help reduce those incredibly pesky snails, attach lettuce leaves to rocks with rubber bands and place them in the tank. After dark use a torch and carefully remove them, you will find the lettuce crawling with snails. Get rid of those snails and replace the lettuce again, recheck after an hour they will again have a batch of snails, keep this up over a period and eventually you will reduce the critters to a low level & the loaches will handle those remaining. Another cichlid that will thrive in hard alkaline & love eating snails are convict cichlids, A. nigrofasciatum.

Cichlid POWER, Peter

[CThompson]

G'day Couchy, There is another way to help reduce those incredibly pesky snails, attach lettuce leaves to rocks with rubber bands and place them in the tank. After dark use a torch and carefully remove them, you will find the lettuce crawling with snails. Get rid of those snails and replace the lettuce again, recheck after an hour they will again have a batch of snails, keep this up over a period and eventually you will reduce the critters to a low level & the loaches will handle those remaining. Another cichlid that will thrive in hard alkaline & love eating snails are convict cichlids, A. nigrofasciatum.

Cichlid POWER, Peter

Unfortunately Peter, I believe this will only reduce, not eliminate these snails, but your point regarding the lettuce is a good one and will make harvesting easier, and I think adding it to step 3 is worth doing.

All it will most likely take is one snail to repopulate.

[Citypainter]

They must be tiny when they hatch. And are their eggs easily identifyable?

In a new set up that is totaly free of snails the question remains

How do they get there in the first place?

[CThompson]

They must be tiny when they hatch. And are their eggs easily identifyable?

In a new set up that is totaly free of snails the question remains

How do they get there in the first place?

mate, these snails are live bearers, and quite small when young. If you leave two behind 2 they can change gender once mature to enable breeding.

One adult has a 50/50 (?) chance of being female = more babies. How lucky do you feel

I've had snails (pond snails) turn up in my big tank and my 800 l mbuna tank, and I had absolutely no idea where they came from as NOTHING was added other than NLS and live home grown food and there were and there are no snails still in the live food barrels.

I got burrowing snails once when I added live mystery snails, no water went in with the snails so I figure the burrowing snails were babies trapped inside the closed mystery snail's door. I spot-lighted and squashed them out before they got established, but when I first saw them there were adults present.

[Citypainter]

So they must be introduced through our tap water.

There fore every tank in Sydney probably has them.

Is there anybody out there that has a well established tank that does not have some degree of snails in them????

[Gav]

i have no snails whatsoever in my display (2 years established)

[chorrylan]

So they must be introduced through our tap water.

Nah that's just an old wives tale but they are a very good test of your quarantine procedures.

Trumpet snails are amazingly resilient; the reason Craig notes "and never use it again" in regard to removing the gravel is because if you ever try to reuse it (even years later and after all sorts of brutal treatments) you'll find some survivors somehow.

I've managed to rid trumpet snails from my systems and some years later am "fairly" sure it's for good this time.

I ran pretty much the program that Craig lists plus added one more step that killed off the last of the varmints that were infesting sumps and filters.

I found (by accident) that the Malaysian trumpet snails are sensitive to Trichlorphon (a common ingredient in many fluke/parasite treatments).

It's not potent enough to use as a primary treatment (nor would you want it to or you'd overload filters with lots of dead and dieing snails) but it's definately helpful to finish off the eradication program.

[CThompson]

Nah that's just an old wives tale but they are a very good test of your quarantine procedures.

Fully agree

Though I'm buggered if I know how they got into two of my tanks as mentioned above But I got the suckers

Is there anybody out there that has a well established tank that does not have some degree of snails in them????

ME ME ME - I an't got NO snails in my tanks!

[luket]

Thanks for some of the tips in this thread, I have a rack system that is totally overrun with these guys, I really don't know where to begin in tackling them...I have three loaches in one tank as a a trial I think they knock a few off here and there, theres simply to many.

The trouble is if I eradicate them from my main tanks they are all through the media in the sump...

[CThompson]

Thanks for some of the tips in this thread, I have a rack system that is totally overrun with these guys, I really don't know where to begin in tackling them...I have three loaches in one tank as a a trial I think they knock a few off here and there, theres simply to many.

The trouble is if I eradicate them from my main tanks they are all through the media in the sump...

Your first step is to remove gravel - then there's the thousand miles after this.

If you can move your fish and biomedia elsewhere, flush the system with pool salt; will kill all snails, inside and outside filters.

[Rod54]

Just for the newbies who read this thread....go into a panic and buy a dozen loaches.....

There is another way of looking at "The Problem"....

Not trying convert the snail haters....just provide a different perspective!

Personally I think MTS are great....

They provide a very valuable function....clean up uneaten food and bury their rubbish in the substrate aerating it and adding fertiliser

They don't eat eggs in my experience....certainly not cichlid eggs and they don't eat plants

They can get out of control if you overfeed.....but are easy to thin down and give a Good indication of what amount you should be feeding

When I first started....every fish shop recommended scavengers for community tanks(corys)

now it seems bristlenose are a must have.....personally I rather have the snails....they do their best work in growout tanks!!!(their feces are a good substrate for infusoria)

I tend to overfeed fry.....but I'm Happy that the snails are there to clean up any uneaten food before it goes septic...even if it is caught where fry would never find it!!!