Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Curse the little hitch-hikers!!! (a snail invasion is begining)

12K views 36 replies 12 participants last post by  SinCrisis 
#1 ·
Hi.

I was enjoying watching my tetras, cories, and my new ghost shrimp swim around the tank. It is late right now. To my terrible dismay I saw a single snail crawling up the glass.:shock: ! Where on earth did this guy come from!? Must have been from some plants I got earlier this month. I checked the gravel from the tank it was in for snails, but the snails, being nocternal, must have hid too well.

How long before they take over? What can I do to stop them? I have seen 3 so far. I think if I put a piece of lettuce out, the ghost shrimp would slap the snails off all night (Kingston is Obsessed with slapping other fish over food). I can try it anyway, though.

It is my fully planted QT. I should have the fish out soon. I can move the GS over also. Will copper-based snail-killer injure the plants (anacharis, aponogeton, hornwort)? What about assassin snails? I have only read briefly over the topic of AS. Will they have a good effect on the invasive snail population? Will they damage the plants?

"I will never get a snail infestation, I will always check plants for snails".
It happened. Silly me. Pride comes before the snails completely infest my tank.:roll:

Tank stats;
Nitrates; 35ppm
Ammonia; 0ppm
Fish; 5 Lemon Tetra, 3 Corydoras (adding more soon)
Invert; 1 ghost shrimp, ? unknown species of snail
Size; 10g
Filteration; Carbon wo/ the carbon
Oldest member; Added June 15th (the day the tank started)
Current Diesases; none
Lighting; 15W 9350k (soon to change to 6500k)
Substrate; Gravel

Thanks for any info on the extermination!:-D
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Accept your snails as friends cos its very hard to get rid of them by all accounts! I think they're interesting and they provide a valuable service of clearing up any excess food and eating algae. If you don't overfeed your fish the snail population should remain manageable.

I'd be very sceptical about adding any snail killing medication because of possible side effects on the fish
 
#12 ·
+100. IMO it is practically impossible to remove snails once they are there. It can be done but your looking at replacing at least the gravel IMO. Half of it comes from the fact that most snails are asexual, if you only miss one all your efforts will be in vain. I enjoy my snails and wouldn't give them up if I could lol. Never had a "invasion", such a event is a sign your tank is imbalanced.

You all have weird shrimp. My cherries ignore snails. Most snail killers are copper medications, which don't work all that great. They will kill some snails, all shrimp, irritate the fish, and stress out the plants. We use the exact same meds for ich treatment, snails though is a much high dose.

I think you are fighting the inevitable but go for it if thats what you want.
 
#3 ·
If I were to use snail-killing meds it would be after the fish were QTed, in between 2 groups, after all the fish are gone. The only animal in the tank at time of treatment would be the snails. But I am hesitant to use such products. I am worried about my plants and my water chemistry later.

Snails as friends? Well, they are cute and everything. I just have 1 problem...what if it is a plant-eating snail species?? That would be terrible! Even with 3 Corydoras (more to come), 1 ghost shrimp, and 5 Lemon Tetras that never let the flakes touch the ground (terminal mouths, that means they eat in the middle), there is still abit of food for the snails.:-(

What about assassin snails? Even if they can't control the population that much, it would be nice to know that I am at least trying. What is the good and the bad when it comes to assassin snails? I don't know what they look like. Do they have another common name?

The snails would be a tremendous problem if they were plant eaters! I don't know what kind of snail this is. It appears to have a swirly shell, like a hermit crab. It is super tiny. I have only seen 3, and I captured 1.

Thanks!
 
#5 ·
My plants appear very healthy. They have good lighting right now.

What about assassin snails? No one has said anything about those.
 
#6 ·
assassin snails will eat snails and ignore plants, but really, ramshorn and pond snails ignore plants in my opinion (unless the plants aren't healhy).

All of my tanks have a modest population of snails. It seems pond snails can out-compete ramshorns... they're worse imo though. ramshorns are cute.
 
#7 ·
I'll keep an eye on the ramshorns, but I still think my tank would be more exciting with an assassin snail.:)
 
#9 ·
Ouch! Would 1 GS do that to an assassin snail?
 
#10 ·
I have a shrimp in my main tank, and I have snails.... I would bet that the shrimp has to be starving...

If a ghost shrimp got too close to an assassin, the assassin would probably eat it. They eat caridina species in the wild. (Although, they prefer snails since they're easier to catch.)
 
#13 ·
I knew about the snails being self-produceing, that is exactly why I want to get rid of as many as I can.

Maybe I can take my GS out and get myself an assassin snail!:-D! If that would be a problem with anything else other than the GS, please let me know. BTW, does assassin snail have any other "common names"? I couldn't imagine going to walmart and seeing a sign that said "assassin snail". Just wondering.
 
#14 ·
copper will get into your gravel and then you have a bigger problem since it becomes harder to get rid of the copper than the snails. Assassin snail hunting is like... watching two old persons hobbling after eachother down the street, i dont think its all that exciting... Snails are seriously not that bad, but since pond snails and ramshorns dont burrow, they are infinitely easier than getting rid of MTS, a friend of mine spent one month inspecting his tank each day and crushing snails with a spoon against his glass. His snail population eventually just vanished. IF you got the free time, the crushed snails make a great snack for your fish and you can kill some time playing the aquariums version of wheres waldo...
 
#17 ·
I got about 6-12 MTS for FREE at my lfs. I put them in my 5g tank. The MTS have infested my lfs, so they will give me as many as I can take home!:)
 
#20 ·
some snails do eat live plants and those are just plain annoying.. AS for MTS im 90% sure they can produce asexually because i added 1 to a tank and i now have over 75 of them without ever adding more snails. I check all my plants for snails and have never had any other snail but that 1 mts in my tank.
 
#21 ·
I have always heard that it just takes 1 to infest an entire tank. I have always heard they are self-produceing. Although, I have seen the ramshorns cralwing on top of each other....

Earth worms are both male and female, but it takes 2 of them, kinda like how flowers have both, but they can''t pollentate themselves, it has to be done from pollen from another flower.

Maybe the snails are like guppies. Once they mate, they can have several batches all by themselves.

Who knows? I don't even know if there is a reason to know. If you put them in (even 1) they will multiply. That simple.:)
 
#22 ·
some snails are like that, of both sex but requiring 2 to reproduce but there are many that can reproduce by themselves, i think MTS and Pond can both reproduce on their own, but Ramshorns need a mate (i could be wrong, havent done official research, but this is what ive been told).
 
#23 ·
Yikes! I have been there, done that when it came to the fight to rid my tanks of snails. I had a huge infestation of Ramshorn snails in my tanks. I had, had Guppy fry and was over feeding intentionally to give the fry the best chance to live. They lived but snails were breeding like it was going out of style. They litterally ate my heavily planted tank in no time.

To rid myself of these uninvited guests, I removed all decor and left over tidbits of plants thinking I could cut off their food supply and take away their hiding spots so they would quit breeding. That did not work. I began scooping snails out every single morning and cleaning my tank 50-75% water changes daily. I thought they would definitely starve doing that. NOPE! They continued to breed. Finally, I got a few Assasins. I added 2 Assasins to my 25 gallon tank and 2 to my 60 gallon tank. They successfully munched their way through the problem in the 25 gallon but 2 is not enough in the 60 gallon alone so I still scoop some out when I see them on the glass.

I know that the 25 gallon still has some snails too but the numbers are being kept down, which is fine with me.
I would caution you to research these little critters before getting any though. I thought about it for quite some time before getting these guys. So far, I have not been sorry I did. I just hope THEY don't decide to start over population next. Good Luck to you, I know it can be frustration.
 
#31 ·
That is why I am getting MTS. hehehe. I want to overpopulate the tank (my 5g) so I can get an assassin snail. Origanally, they were in my 10g. I moved them out so quickly, there isn't 1 left. I put them in my cycleing 5g. Along with MTS I got for free.

Has anyone on the forum had an assassin snail? They are beautiful! I am seriously considering haveing my LFS order 1 for me. I want the snails to breed, though. I don't know if I have enough to start with the assassin snail, though.

(BTW, Clown loaches, as well as most (if not all) loaches need to be kept in a group. 1 clown loach would be WAY to big for a 10g.)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top