Snails taking over my cichlid tank

ThalesthePearsei

I have snails taking over my 125 cichlid tank. I dont know what kind of snails they are. They have cone shaped shells. I have some snail killer called "Had-a-Snail". It is copper based. I am reluctant to use it because I dont want to accidently hurt or kill one of my beautiful, and expensive cichlids. I may be overreacting but, but has anyone used a copper based snail killer with no harm to their fish?

FordMan

well you can (A) leave the snails alone as they are benificial to the tank and tend to regulate their own population based on food supply. Another easy method is putting some food in a small jar too small for the fish to get into but big enough for the snails wait for the snails to enter then remove the jar and dump them i like to put them in chipped wine glasses i have and letting them live out their 60 day life lol adding alittle food here and there ps a salt shaker with no top makes a nice snail trap

SinCrisis

Wont cichlids just eat them after they get big enough?

Lupin

Malaysian trumpet snails (MTS) are well protected from predation. Their shells are far too hard and they have trapdoors to evade cannibalism from several predators. The trapdoor also allows them to survive harsh chemicals and copper meds will only cause more disastrous consequences than you can expect. Here's a guideline to minimizing their number.
Snail Infestations and Solutions to Eliminating Them - MonsterFishKeepers.com

Tyyrlym

If you're really over-run and slam a tank with something that will kill snails their decomp can give you a massive ammonia spike.

ThalesthePearsei

cool, thanks for the info, I really didn't mind the snails as I have had them for awhile. I am getting annoyed with them now that the accumulating shells are starting overtake the sand like black gravel I have in the tank, and its taking away the nice effect the black gravel has on the appearance of the tank.

Lupin

LOL...You can always vacuum out the empty shells.

wendex

Thanks for the link very helpful - I've also got a large population of trumpets now - but quite a small tank so it's not so hard to solve luckily, I've opted for the snail trap (for the rams mainly) and removing trumpets by hand just to keep the numbers in check and it seems to be working fine. Although i do feel bad for the little snails :O(

Feeding just enough to be eaten in 5 minutes is hard cos my cories don't tend to come out st8 away to feed on the bottom food I put in for them, but maybe i should put their food in just b4 lights out?

Lupin

MTS tend to appear at night. That's your opportunity to try the food baiting.