HELP!!! Still unable to get rid of the Ramshorn snails

thefishboy

i got a assasin snail its already eaten like 5 ramshorn snails.. It didnt even bother with mts..

Inga

I did have a HUGE outbreak of Ramshorns. It is a LOT better but there are still a lot in the smaller tank (25 gallon) The ones that are left in that tank are very very small about a 12th of the size of a pencil eraser and smaller.

IF I get Assassins, they won't have the option to eat the Mystery snails because they would be in the tank with the small tank and there are no Mystery snails in that tank. I can't imagine that they can't catch the Ramshorns as they seem to move much slower, then the Mystery snails anyway.

When you all say that the Assassins breed very slowly, what does that mean? I mean, is there a way to prevent them over populating? Once the food supply is cut off, is there a way to keep them alive? Will they eat fish food? If I toss 6-8 of them into the 25 gallon tank, shouldn't that help to keep the Ramshorn population down? The Assassins won't eat plants, right?

In my larger tank there are some Ramshorns too but someone in there is eating them and keeping the population under control. There are still a lot of them, but nothing like the numbers I had in the smaller tank. Maybe my Rainbow Shark or Gourami have finally gotten the idea of what they should do.

thefishboy

6-8 would be good... Once theve eaten the snails feed them like normal snails.. Thet will eat and hill the mystery snails.. You will find lots of empty snail shells in the tank.. I only have one as i just want to keep the snails at a reasonable level..

Ashcan Bill

I have assassins in both my tanks so I might be able to give you a little insight.

First, with a large outbreak of "other" snails, assassins won't cure things over night. When I first added half a dozen to my small tank, it had been taken over with pond snails. I kept watching for signs of depopulation, but it was slow and I gave up. Then one day about two months later, I suddenly realized there were no pond snails left. None.

That tank still has a low population of assassins. They don't eat plants, cause no trouble, and are a fairly nice looking snail. They now survive on excess fish food.

In my larger tank the assassins breed much faster, though nowhere near as fast as other snails. I suspect it's because I have more fish in it and more leftover food finds it's way to the bottom. While I have many more in that tank than I'd prefer, again, they don't cause any problems so I let them be. They breed slowly, maybe one or two a month, though as the population increases, those one or two a month from each female can add up.

Oh, and one other note. Assassins are fast. I doubt any other snail could outrun them. The little guys can really truck when they want to.

redchigh

Maybe I was confused... Maybe it's the pondsnails that they can't catch... (since they can swim in mid-water to get away).

Anyways, I know the assassins ate all my MTS in my 10G asian.

Inga

Good to know about the Assassins. My Mystery Snails are pretty HUGE so if they were to be taken out by the Assassins, I think they would have to be attacked by the whole gang at once. Um, the whole gang being 6 or so that I would have. :) Maybe I would start with less even, just to play it safe.

I would really like to get some more plants in the little tank again. This time, I think I will go with some harder, less tasty plants like Swords. I will add others when I am confident that the numbers of snails are under control.

tanker

Inga, just another thing that occurred to me reading the new posts. Are you sure that those snails were the culprits in eating your plants? When I started putting live plants in my tanks, I had guppies and they chewed through the stems of the Brazilian Pennywort that I added to their tank. (It was them, I saw them doing it.) Those little snails might have had some fishy help?

Inga

Sure Tanker, anything is possible. I never saw the Guppies damaging the plants but I am sure it could have happened. It would even make sense to the fact that the plants were destroyed so quickly. I guess I am blaming the snails mostly because it was beautifully rich, heavily planted tank until they took over. I did just toss another piece of Pennywort in there to float. It is only about a foot long and it is floating. I am seeing the Guppy fry nibbling at it. The adults ignore it from what I can tell. I just thought the fry were nibbling off tiny bits of algae or food left overs hanging on the plant. It will be interesting to see what happens to that Pennywort over the next few days now that the snail population has been so depleted.

This morning I turned on the lights with my net in hand and I was only able to find 5 extremely small snails. They were about the size of a pin head. I removed them anyhow since I do not want to give them a chance to take over again. Later today I will vacuum the gravel out really well again. It seems I am making wonderful progress but time will tell.

One of the hardest things about scooping out the snails over this past few weeks is that the Guppies are forever swimming INTO the net and then I have to wait for them to swim out so as not to dump out the snails again. UGH! I am guessing that Guppies are not the brightest bulbs in the fish world. That or they are so friendly. Even when I do my water test and dip my test tubes to gather a sample of tank water, they are trying to swim INTO the tube. Strange, funny little fish. I have to admit, other then the over breeding, I really do enjoy their "personalities."

tanker

I think it's because they're friendly. If something is happening, they want to be a part of it.

Cpt NAPA

Inga, Sorry to hear about your snail problem. After reading the posts I dedided to put in my 2cents worth. If I remember my chemistry correctly snails are quite sensitive to copper. I believe that in the past(long past) we used a product called Nox Ich not only to eradicate Ich but because it is a copper compound it works real well lon many invertabrates.
While I agree with the natural remedies that many of the previous posts brought up, This is another option you might consider. The copper compound in Nox Ich is malichite green. You must leave your lights off while treating with it and you would also need to remove any carbon from your filters as it will asorbe the Nox Ich.
BTW I have never had a problem with ramshorns destroying plants either. Luck to Ya Cpt NAPA