Snails

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Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


colwyn
 
Posts: 40
Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2011 6:36 am

Snails

by colwyn

In my 10 gallon, I had an explosion of snails! I need a fish that will take care of the problem, yet not eat my bigger snails. What fish would fit in a 10 gallon that eats snails?


DanDman18
 
Posts: 115
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2011 12:56 am

by DanDman18

Loaches and Botias. However, they will eat all your snails, not just the small ones, there is no way to only kill off smaller ones. If you wanted your larger ones to survive, i would say to take the ones you want out, and put them in a well-sized container, (or spare tank) and keep them in there for a few days while the loaches kill the baby snails. But make sure to change the water and airate the container, as well as keep the water warm enough.


Alasse
 
Posts: 993
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
Location: QLD Australia

by Alasse

Loaches are not suitable for a 10gal tank.

What sort of snails are they?


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

by Okiimiru

So... you want the bigger snails but not the smaller snails? Are they different species? If they're the same species, then killing off the babies won't get rid of them because the adults will lay more eggs. If they're different species, then what you can do is remove the larger species from the tank temporarily, add a farm animal dewormer like Levamisole HCl, kill all the smaller species, and then re add the larger species after doing many water changes and using activated carbon to completely remove the invertebrate killing chemicals. Oh, CopperSafe(R) will work too, will kill the invertebrates. There are actually a few different chemicals you can use that will kill snails. *nods*

Google image search the following items:
Physa fontinalis
Lymnaea snail
Ramshorn snail
Apple snail
Malaysian trumpet snail
Nerite snail
Tylomelania snail
Assassin snail

See which one, if any, matches the 'large' and 'small' snails you're talking about. There are also a lot of good images on aquabid.com's snail section, from people trying to sell their snails. They post images of the species they're selling and post its name, so you'll be able to put a name to the snail if you match the auction image to the thing in your tank. Then post here again after identifying your species.

Edit:
Also, there are fish that fit in a 10 gallon and eat snails. The Malabar puffer is one example, the Tippecanoe and Least Darters are a second example, and the entire Elassoma genus, for example one of the more colorful species like Elassoma gilberti, will supplement their diet with the occasional tasty snail snack.


Alasse
 
Posts: 993
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
Location: QLD Australia

by Alasse

If you are Australian there is no freshwater puffer available

I did a search for the Tippercanoe, doesnt come up anywhere, so it must have a different name.
Not sure Least Darters or Sunfish are available either.

Honestly i would not be dumping chemicals into tanks to kill off snails. The chemicals that are used generally then make that tank unsuited for ever holding snail/shrimp species again.

I would be more looking at why you have an explosion of snails. I have snails in all but the tank holding my clowns, they cause no issues and they arent everywhere.
Overfeeding will very soon give you an overpopulation of snails. So be aware of that :)


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

by Okiimiru

Oh, does Australia have rules regulating what can be imported and what can't? Hmm, that would put a damper on things. Well, if you are legally allowed to import them, there are some vendors.

For the darters:
http://www.aquaculturestore.com/fwverts.html
http://jonahsaquarium.com/JonahSite/fishlist.htm
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/ ... fwusnative
http://www.zimmermansfish.com/Price.html
http://www.btdarters.com/content/pages/ ... s_fish.htm

etc. If they don't have them in stock at the moment, you can ask them if it would be possible to go out and catch some. Darters are very passionate about eating snails. They also enjoy thawed frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp.

Malabar puffers are easy to find (again, only if legal) on websites like thatpetplace and even liveaquaria.
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/21 ... a_7c213657
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... =560505834

And Elassoma, well, I breed those. You can also buy them from the vendors I listed above that sell darters, or the native fish section of aquabid. They love to eat baby snails, and they also enjoy grindal worms and thawed frozen bloodworms.

Alasse is correct when she says that overfeeding causes an overpopulation of snails. When you feed your fish, feed them only a little bit at a time and wait for them to eat all of their food before adding more. If they stop eating it, stop adding it.

Ah, and about the chemicals. Activated carbon will completely remove them from the water, especially if you do a couple water changes to help it out. SeaChem has a product that changes color when it's exhausted, so you'll know when to refresh it. The downside of activated carbon is it doesn't change at all when it's done absorbing things (when all of its little holes are full). So you'll have to use a bit more activated carbon than you need. Add it, wait, throw it out, add some fresh activated carbon, wait, throw it out, add some more, wait, repeat... Or you can use the Seachem thing that turns grey when it needs refreshing and white when it's ready to go. Then you'll know when all of the chemical is gone, when the seachem product stays white.


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

by Okiimiru

Oh, I should add: There is another alternative. When I had a 55 gallon tank with waaaay too many snails in it, once a month I scooped them up and offered 400 snails for $10 on aquabid. It paid for the fish food :)


DanDman18
 
Posts: 115
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2011 12:56 am

by DanDman18

I still would go with my idea, just see if someone you know or your lfs would let you "borrow" some loaches. I agree they normally would outgrow a ten, but its either that, chemicals (i don't ever recomend them though) or, you manually scoop out the small ones and do something with them.


Alasse
 
Posts: 993
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
Location: QLD Australia

by Alasse

Australia is EXTREMELY strict on importation of fish/snails/etc and many are not permitted.

Removing all traces of copper from our aquarium is virtually impossible. If used in a 'main tank' It can be absorbed by substrate etc. It then leaches out, for what can end up being a long time or indefinately for some others. It is a known fact to not use copper based chemicals in tanks that will house invertebrates is a dice with death for those critters.



The mass die off of snails can also be a major problem especially if you have a massive population.


marcusrose123
 
Posts: 45
Joined: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:18 pm

by marcusrose123

persionally i would go with a yoyo-loach if there is enough room, i had the same problem in my 4ft tanks so i went and brought 3 yoyo-loaches and now cant see a single snail really did the job :)
also yoyo loaches are very active and good to look at fish

Snails

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