tricky Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 Ive recently had a snail invasion on my peppermint tank. I dont really want to medicate because i have a number of 1 - 3 cm babies in there. I have been manually pulling them out and putting food down and scooping them out. I was going to introduce some clown loaches but was wondering.... Will the loaches eat bristlenose fry? If not how big do the loaches have to be before they start to eat snails? Any other ideas how to get rid of them? Thanks in advance Ricky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 Ive recently had a snail invasion on my peppermint tank. I dont really want to medicate because i have a number of 1 - 3 cm babies in there. I have been manually pulling them out and putting food down and scooping them out. I was going to introduce some clown loaches but was wondering.... Will the loaches eat bristlenose fry? If not how big do the loaches have to be before they start to eat snails? Any other ideas how to get rid of them? Thanks in advance Ricky Information such as tank size would be good? What sort of snail? Clown loaches, electric yellows, and Julidochromis (regani) all eat snails. But if young are small enough I don't see why none of them would not eat young from your peppermints. Others could confirm this. If the tank is not too big, try squashing them out, including using a torch at night time (that is use your finger but spotlight with a torch before some smart a….person jumps in). I have done this in the past, and you'll be as successful as you are dedicated. You can also try out competing the snails with some mystery snails, but you would need fairly large numbers (tank size dependant), but you may have issues with your young if the mystery snails get too hungry. You can also use say some zucchini to attract snails to one spot, to help bring them into the open. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tricky Posted February 8, 2007 Author Share Posted February 8, 2007 Ive recently had a snail invasion on my peppermint tank. I dont really want to medicate because i have a number of 1 - 3 cm babies in there. I have been manually pulling them out and putting food down and scooping them out. I was going to introduce some clown loaches but was wondering.... Will the loaches eat bristlenose fry? If not how big do the loaches have to be before they start to eat snails? Any other ideas how to get rid of them? Thanks in advance Ricky Information such as tank size would be good? What sort of snail? Clown loaches, electric yellows, and Julidochromis (regani) all eat snails. But if young are small enough I don't see why none of them would not eat young from your peppermints. Others could confirm this. If the tank is not too big, try squashing them out, including using a torch at night time (that is use your finger but spotlight with a torch before some smart a….person jumps in). I have done this in the past, and you'll be as successful as you are dedicated. You can also try out competing the snails with some mystery snails, but you would need fairly large numbers (tank size dependant), but you may have issues with your young if the mystery snails get too hungry. You can also use say some zucchini to attract snails to one spot, to help bring them into the open. Craig Thanks Craig, The tank is a standard 4 footer. As for the type of snail i have no idea. I tried to do a search for types of aquarium snails but to no avail. If somebody has a link so i can id it would be appreciated. I could take a photo but they are so small and i dont think it would help. Biggest snail would be about 2mm diameter across the shell. They have clear jelly like eggs that they like to lay on the side of the glass and sponge filter if that helps. Cheers Ricky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquadog Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 I had snails going crazy in my 6fter, tried all those things and they helped a bit. However, now the snails seem to be under control - still there, but not enough to worry about. I didn't think I had anything that was particularly going to eat the snails? Rainbows, corys, bristlenose and small loaches (kuhli, small hillstream loaches), SAE? Not that I'm complaining Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Miller Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 I too had a snail problem and I found that the best way to rid them was to place a weighted down container with half a zacinni in it and then just simply remove the contanier with the snails as they enter for a feed in masses. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart74 Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 They sound like the common pond snail, Harmless but sometimes annoying If you add a loach or two to the tank they won't last long If you have the barstool malaysian cone snail then I would say you have troubles as they are almost impossible to get rid of, Even stripping the tank,cleaning with bleach and leaving out in the sun doesn't seem to work I now have loaches that do the rounds in my tanks to help keep them under control but accept that I won't be getting rid of them in the near future Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tricky Posted February 9, 2007 Author Share Posted February 9, 2007 Thanks for all the tips. I will give the weighted down container a go tonight and see if i can put a dent in the population. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 Biggest snail would be about 2mm If that is the biggest there is, then the only snail it can be is one called a "clockspring" snail. All other snails, rams horn, pond, Malaysian, all grow bigger than 2mm. The only thing that put me off is that you said you saw eggs on a sponge filter. This more describes a pond snail, as the only place I have ever seen clockspring snail eggs are on the front glass, usually8 a mm or two below the level of the substrate. These egg masses are very small with a low profile, where as a pond snail will lay their eggs everywhere, and be a roundish little lump. In just a four footer, I’d go the batted snail trap and squashing at nighttime spotlighted with a torch. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosco Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 Julidochromis (regani) all eat snails AH that would explain the large volume of empty trumpet snail shells in the tank were the J Regani "mboka" live. Nicve I will keep them there for sure. If only the Mboka would breed like that darn snails . cheers rosco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTR73 Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 They sound like the common pond snail, Harmless but sometimes annoying If you add a loach or two to the tank they won't last long If you have the barstool malaysian cone snail then I would say you have troubles as they are almost impossible to get rid of, Even stripping the tank,cleaning with bleach and leaving out in the sun doesn't seem to work I now have loaches that do the rounds in my tanks to help keep them under control but accept that I won't be getting rid of them in the near future If you were to strip down the tank, Conde's Crystals does the job on any traces of snails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod54 Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 There is another alternative...!!! Learn to appreciate them as little vacuum cleaners? I have Malaysian trumpet snails in all my tanks.... They haven't stopped any fish spawning and they don't eat fish eggs They eat any left over food and they turn the gravel over. The only time I've had a population explosion is when I feeding too heavily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigtank Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 I got this problem in my 7x2 the snails only seem to come out at night when the light is on and it is not a attractive site i can tell u.. Ive got my hand on some Pakistani Loaches recently but its too early to say if they are getting ontop of things due to the massive amount of snails. As said before they seem to thrive if your over feeding. The zucchini idea sounds very easy and i can see how this would work. Good idea ! Gonna try it ASAP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 There is another alternative...!!! Learn to appreciate them as little vacuum cleaners? I have Malaysian trumpet snails in all my tanks.... They haven't stopped any fish spawning and they don't eat fish eggs They eat any left over food and they turn the gravel over. The only time I've had a population explosion is when I feeding too heavily. The problem with this is when there is a power outage. If snail populations are great enough, they will consume a far amount of O2. Dependant on its availability, this may become critical when (and I say when) the power blacks out. Will it cause an issue? Who's to know, but personally, call me control freak, but anything I can't keep complete control of in my tanks I don't want. With the fish consuming O2 and the bacteria, one more "bulk" consumer may be enough to tip the balance. After all I keep tanks for fish, not for the snails. Incidentally, snails can also get caught inside filter, in their propellers if the snail is big enough, and jam them up. Who want to replace their filter motor? And who wants a tank to run for an indefinite period of time without a filter because the pump motor is stuffed? These thing may not happen, but without the snails they won't happen, or should I say won't happen because of snails. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod54 Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 There is another alternative...!!! Learn to appreciate them as little vacuum cleaners? I have Malaysian trumpet snails in all my tanks.... They haven't stopped any fish spawning and they don't eat fish eggs They eat any left over food and they turn the gravel over. The only time I've had a population explosion is when I feeding too heavily. The problem with this is when there is a power outage. If snail populations are great enough, they will consume a far amount of O2. Dependant on its availability, this may become critical when (and I say when) the power blacks out. Will it cause an issue? Who's to know, but personally, call me control freak, but anything I can't keep complete control of in my tanks I don't want. With the fish consuming O2 and the bacteria, one more "bulk" consumer may be enough to tip the balance. After all I keep tanks for fish, not for the snails. Incidentally, snails can also get caught inside filter, in their propellers if the snail is big enough, and jam them up. Who want to replace their filter motor? And who wants a tank to run for an indefinite period of time without a filter because the pump motor is stuffed? These thing may not happen, but without the snails they won't happen, or should I say won't happen because of snails. Craig I'd suggest a old fasioned planted tank with lots of snails and a few fish would do a lot better in a power outage than a big tank with heaps of fish and filtration of 6 to 10 times an hour....snails or no snails I've had a similar discussion before on another forum about the bio-mass of the snails and did a little experiment....2/ 1 gallon jars.....10 snails in one....none in the other and added a couple of fish protein pellets each day....the water was too toxic for the snails after 7days. Point is.......uneaten food will use the oxygen before the snails will We are all different.....I like to create a Natural enviroment.....fish, shrimp,plants,bacteria,worms and snails all being part of a closed system and all doing a job.....obviously not applicable or workable with all set-ups...but it works well for the ones I choose to keep I know a lot of aquarists hate snails....that's their choice...and sure if you have snails you need to arrange filtration so snails can't get into motors. But no worries it's just another point of view for consideration... You don't have to keep snails if you don't want too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 There is another alternative...!!! Learn to appreciate them as little vacuum cleaners? I have Malaysian trumpet snails in all my tanks.... They haven't stopped any fish spawning and they don't eat fish eggs They eat any left over food and they turn the gravel over. The only time I've had a population explosion is when I feeding too heavily. The problem with this is when there is a power outage. If snail populations are great enough, they will consume a far amount of O2. Dependant on its availability, this may become critical when (and I say when) the power blacks out. Will it cause an issue? Who's to know, but personally, call me control freak, but anything I can't keep complete control of in my tanks I don't want. With the fish consuming O2 and the bacteria, one more "bulk" consumer may be enough to tip the balance. After all I keep tanks for fish, not for the snails. Incidentally, snails can also get caught inside filter, in their propellers if the snail is big enough, and jam them up. Who want to replace their filter motor? And who wants a tank to run for an indefinite period of time without a filter because the pump motor is stuffed? These thing may not happen, but without the snails they won't happen, or should I say won't happen because of snails. Craig I'd suggest a old fasioned planted tank with lots of snails and a few fish would do a lot better in a power outage than a big tank with heaps of fish and filtration of 6 to 10 times an hour....snails or no snails I've had a similar discussion before on another forum about the bio-mass of the snails and did a little experiment....2/ 1 gallon jars.....10 snails in one....none in the other and added a couple of fish protein pellets each day....the water was too toxic for the snails after 7days. Point is.......uneaten food will use the oxygen before the snails will We are all different.....I like to create a Natural enviroment.....fish, shrimp,plants,bacteria,worms and snails all being part of a closed system and all doing a job.....obviously not applicable or workable with all set-ups...but it works well for the ones I choose to keep I know a lot of aquarists hate snails....that's their choice...and sure if you have snails you need to arrange filtration so snails can't get into motors. But no worries it's just another point of view for consideration... You don't have to keep snails if you don't want too! G'day Rod, thanks for your return comment. Your point in regards to "you don't have to keep snails if you don't want too!" is spot on. But equally I think it is true to say, anything you can't keep complete control of in a tank, bearing in mind when we keep an aquarium we control our denizens entire world with god like controls of life and death (a closed system as you put it), isn't a good thing to keep. I've had a similar discussion before on another forum about the bio-mass of the snails and did a little experiment....2/ 1 gallon jars.....10 snails in one....none in the other and added a couple of fish protein pellets each day....the water was too toxic for the snails after 7days. Point is.......uneaten food will use the oxygen before the snails will Good on you for taking it further. But I don't see the point of this. Our fish tanks are a closed system as you put it, but more over, and most importantly, they are a closed "balanced" system. A jar with snails and too much food is not a balanced system, nor a closed system where apples can be compared with apples and be extrapolated out to = a balanced aquarium. All this test proves is that you can't keep snails in a jar and over feed them. Correct, decaying food will consume oxygen, but in a fish tank, there is greater volume of water, not to mention the bacteria that existence to consume this excess food as it breaks down. Not to mention anyone anywhere will tell you not to overfeed. Totally agree, people are fee to keep snails, but be aware with most species you will not be able to control (mystery snails the notable exception due to their size) their numbers, and it is highly likely as time goes by you will have to initiate some strategy to reduce or eliminate their numbers. The main point of my comments are this, in an aquarium, we must maintain a balanced closed system. Snails hold the potential to increase to such numbers to tip this balance, and if you happen to have a power outage, as you one day will have, IF these snails are in such numbers, and IF oxygen becomes at a premium, what do you think will role over first, your fish, or the snails? And if you have a full on planted tank, with excess snail numbers, and a black out occurs at night time, with the plants consuming oxygen and releasing CO2, the fish consuming oxygen and releasing CO2, and the excess snails consuming oxygen and releasing CO2, your fish will may not only die from lack of oxygen, but also from the resulting pH crash due to all the CO2. Remove the excess snail population and given the same scenario, your fish will have a much greater chance of surviving until the power comes back on. People are welcome to keep snails, but from my experience, every time a tank of mine has gotten snails, and even when witnessed in friends tanks, they ALWAYS get to population levels where they are not only unsightly, but in my opinion (which you are free to disagree with), should this population explosion correspond with a finely balanced aquarium with little “Life Buffer”, and a black out, it is the fish that will suffer. Personally I keep my tanks for fish, not for snails (I do have mystery snails though). I like to create a Natural enviroment.....fish, shrimp,plants,bacteria,worms and snails all being part of a closed system and all doing a job..... This is I've got to say, not the usual aquarium. You have great goals, but they are very different from the usual "fish" tank. If this is what you want to do, then I agree snails would be amiss if not added. But they still hold the potential to cause problems. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod54 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Hi Craig, Everything you put in a tank has the potential to cause problems....fish,rocks,gravel water! Observation of all occupants can give an indication of a tanks health If snail population explodes....then time to reduce feeding If their shells look poor then perhaps the water is too acidic I find them particularly good in fry tanks where there is a tendancy to overfeed because they do clean up some of the mess and they won't eat fry...live ones anyway. My tanks are healthiest when I'm continually removing occupants.... fish,plants.....but I find I don't often have to remove snails....other than from fry tanks,but I will remove snails if the population is too high. I suppose I'm just trying to offer an alternate solution... I'm comfortable that my fish(and snails) will live through a Black out because I have minimal filtration....and stock my tanks accordingly. I suggest the big risk most fish keepers have in a power blackout is not the risk of snails consuming all the oxygen....it's the stocking levels possible with High levels of filtration are unsustainable if the filtration stops. Regards....Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Everything you put in a tank has the potential to cause problems....fish,rocks,gravel water! True, that is why it is an information hobby, and the more info we have the more informed our choices will be. Observation of all occupants can give an indication of a tanks health Yes and no. You may not keep high stocking levels, but many many people will, and it could be a tough call. If snail population explodes....then time to reduce feeding I agree that snail population levels can be affected by feeding levels, but the relationship in my opinion is quite elastic, and once you have a plague, it’s a bit late to reduce feeding. And it is snails in these numbers that I say are an issue, and one that is best avoided by not having snails (pond, clockspring Malaysian and even rams horn can cause issues). If their shells look poor then perhaps the water is too acidic Gosh, if I had snails in with my Africans and I can only tell I’ve got acidic water by looking at the snail shells…… I find them particularly good in fry tanks where there is a tendency to overfeed because they do clean up some of the mess and they won't eat fry...live ones anyway. Couldn’t agree more. I use Mystery snails for exactly this purpose My tanks are healthiest when I'm continually removing occupants.... My tanks are healthiest when I’m keeping my hands out fish,plants.....but I find I don't often have to remove snails....other than from fry tanks,but I will remove snails if the population is too high. This is my point. Snail populations will get too high. I suppose I'm just trying to offer an alternate solution... I'm comfortable that my fish(and snails) will live through a Black out because I have minimal filtration....and stock my tanks accordingly. The whole point of my comments are aimed at a blackout situation when stocking levels are medium to high. If your stocking levels are minimal, you will be the exception to most hobbyists. I suggest the big risk most fish keepers have in a power blackout is not the risk of snails consuming all the oxygen....it's the stocking levels possible with High levels of filtration are unsustainable if the filtration stops. Yes but with the electricity junkies that our fish are, and with all the gear we can put on our tanks, it is perfectly normal to have stocking levels that require this level of gear for supporting their lives. Your way is undoubtedly better, I must say, but at the end of the day in black out I pull out the generator, and power my tanks. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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