Melu Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 I was just wondering if anyone could help me in getting rid of snails in my cichlid tank. I have frontosa's and electric yellows in there. Is there anyway of getting rid of them without hurting the fish?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdo. Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Hmm they're a real prick ay! Get onto it ASAP if you can! I've got the same problem, started out in small numbers and now they've just about taken over the tank. I think a lot of people will tell you the only way to truly get rid of them is to clean the whole tank out and probably change all the gravel (which is what I'm preparing to do). Obviously this isnt the most convenient way though and you could try to avoid it... There are a few species of fish which are apparently keen on snails. If you want to keep with cichlids: I was told by the guys up at Asquith that mainganos will eat the little snails, but mine didnt so I'm not 100% on this. I know chilotolapia are definitely meant to eat molusks though. Otherwise, I think loaches are pretty good, as well as siamese algae eaters. I'm sure others will have plenty of other suggestions, but thats as much as I've got haha. I think there are also a few chemical solutions but I'd say these are best avoided if possible as this would be the most likely way to harm your fish. Search the forums coz I know there are a few threads regarding this topic. Here's one to start: http://www.aceforums.com.au/index.php?show...8&hl=snails Then there's always Google: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls...ils+in+aquarium Goodluck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priscacara Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 I had a snail problem in my community tank ad got a few clown loaches which completely wiped the snails out. I have been told by the lfs and also read on the forums that the same fish can be kept with chichlids usually without any problems but I havent tried them myself. Just another solution to think about. Clown loaches topic is a bit further down the forum page, link is http://www.aceforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=42642 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foti Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 i had a snail problem it was the round one the Ramshorn Snail not the Malaysian Trumpet Snail which you tend to see in the cichlid tanks i had bought some plants from st george and afew days later i seen a spect on the glass that spect ended up being thousands of these sails which killed the plants that i bought anyways was told get clowns, so i bought clowns clouns just keep them in check but not very well because there were are a lot they breed like crazy i got ride of mine by treating my tank with sail eliminator people on this site would not be happy to hear that! but i did it before i was a member i found them everywhere this was the advice for me at the time by an lfs that stuff puts a strain on your fish as i learnt but i recon this is the only way to get rid of sail's so if you can quarantine your fish for the 2 week prosess and then do some big water changes also make sure that you remove all carbon that would of been my advice to my self. was not a cichlid tank. now im extra careful when introducing any fish or plant mater!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japes Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 I had a huge infestation in a 5' display of mine that I wasn't really fully aware of for 9 months until I introduced a few new fish and went to check on them at night with a torch. Big surprise seeing hundreds of Malaysian Trumpet Snails on the glass of a night time, they had been building up for around a year. I had big plans for this tank and they weren't part of them. The other problem was a pretty major one - the tanks pH was very low and presumably unstable at the time (Source is 7.1 4dgH/kgH, tank water was always 6, unsure of hardness) and I believe so many shells growing were pulling calcium from the water causing it to soften. Thread regarding my issue: http://www.qldaf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10147 Copy/Paste of my solution: Well I got absolutely stuck into this tank last Sunday. - Removed all plants and placed them into a bucket full of water for later sorting. - Removed and permanently ditched all rocks - Removed all driftwood and placed in a bath full of scalding hot water - Drained water from the tank into a large 50L tub with air-pump running - Removed all filters from the tank, and completely and spotlessly cleaned the Internal (Tank runs 2 Canisters and an Internal) - Spent an hour catching all fish and moving them to the tub. Rummynose in a 5 foot are a nightmare. - Once all caught, drained tank and then used a dust pan to move as much remaining substrate as possible into buckets to dispose of. - Moved cabinet and tank for cleaning purposes, washed the floor behind the cabinet, and moved the tank into the back yard and hosed the absolute bejebus out of it with a pressurized nozzle. Tank was checked thoroughly, was spotless, not even a grain of sand before it was brought back up. - Using scalding hot water and a pipe cleaner, all canister hoses were blasted of pretty much everything - algae, muck and any possible snails. - Moved tank back on to cabinet and filled with 25kg of Play Sand that I had washed for half an hour, although it's still dirty as anything. - Filled with water and siphoned the tank 3-4 times while we played with.. - Filter media! We individually sorted each piece of ceramic media from both Canisters and removed about 100 snails. No doubt we missed some, so being thorough, we bucketed it and boiled it all. - But wait, what about your bacteria? I've used 2L of seeded media (JBL MicroMec) from my sump and have been dosing with Seachem Stability to avoid a complete cycle. Monitoring levels closely still, but the tank appeared to be cycled after just 4 days. The seeded media was put in later to make sure it survived. - De-chlorinated the tank and begun the acclimation process 20 minutes later for the fish in the tub using a drip setup. - Meanwhile, filters were rebuilt and connected up (flow rates!), heater organized, driftwood thoroughly checked and placed. - Spent 15min checking all 5 or so small plants for any possible snails. MTS don't generally hang around plants and we only found 1 on the plants which was good. Plants were then planted. - About 40min after initiating acclimation, fish were introduced. - Seeded media introduced. Everything happy, tanks still slightly cloudy due to both the play sand and bacterial bloom. In fact it's almost crystal clear now 6 days after the procedure - most importantly, no fish losses. I've been checking the tank with the torch a few times after lights out and haven't seen any snails yet which is a good sign of course. No snails since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod54 Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 I'm happy with snails as part on the micro ecosystem in all my tanks but they do need to be thinned....as do shrimps,plants and fish I recently bought some dried bamboo ($6 for a 2m lenghtx 5cm dia from local florist) to use as spawning caves for my wild type bettas....but I found snails love them Each morning I remove them covered in snails....with patience the numbers can be thinned significantly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazza Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 If your a tight buM like myself, get punnet of strawberrys and use the plastic container. Cut burn drill holes a little larger, a piece of fishing line to pull out of tank and a algea wafer. Works a treat, not my idea so I cant claim credit for it. Darren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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