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My friends tank has been taken over with snails how does he get rid of them?

edith

Go to the forums Invertebrates section and look for the thread [link]Snails..... [/link]. Someone else recently asked the same question. I think you will find the answer there. Or click on Snails.... above.

"Talk is cheap. Action can be almost as affordable"

Edith,

Your friend can:
1. Add a predator that eats snails,
2. Change his water chemistry to kill snails,
3. Trap and destroy the snails.

Good snail predators are botia loaches and pufferfish. The botia are more agreeable tankmates and will do a very good job of munching the little beasties.

Snails require calcium and hardness to form their shells. If you reduce the hardness of the water, the critters are unable to make their shells and become extinct.

Lastly, you can bait snails and remove the bait and snails in the morning.

Frankly, I like using the botia and reducing the hardness.



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Depending on what sort of fish she has and the size of the tank, I have gotten rid of snails (sometime ones I even wanted to keep) by adding a bit of aquarium salt to the water. Certain medications will kill them too. I would try picking them out by hand first, however - if there are not too many. Snail eating fish are also a good idea, but you don't want to be overstocked either (depends on if you have the space for them).

Killing snails by chemicals or medications is a sure way to get rid of them but it has some major side effects. First there's the direct effect of the medication on the fish and some are very sensitive to certain medicines. Then all those dead snails will often cause a mini cycle creating ammonia and nitrites which can kill fish. Last you can't always get the medication out of the tank completely so the tank will never be useable for inverts or certain fish again. I only suggest it for trumpet snails because there's not really any other way to completely eliminate trumpets and only in a tank with no fish and using something like seachem's cupramine that has been proven to be removed 100% by any chemical filtration.

You don't really need to get rid of snails. They do no harm and should not get out of hand unless you overfeed the tank. They are actually beneficial in most tank setups. If you really dislike them though the best way is to borrow a botia such as a small clown, yoyo, or zebra loach and then return it to previous owners or lfs' tank. In a tank of 29g or larger that is not already overstocked you could maintain a group of somewhat smaller botias like yoyos longterm. Clowns can reach 12" in length eventually and should not be kept unless you plan to get a huge tank in the future. Otherwise you can just keep the population under control by dropping in bits of lettuce or other vegetable and pulling it out covered in snails the next morning or later that night. Some use small plastic containers with small holes punched in them in baited with fish food to remove large numbers of snails.

I don't think lowering the hardness works all that well. Many species can reproduce before their shells start to dissolve and if it's not done right has even more chance of killing your fish than using medications.

Thank you for all your help. My friend has gotten a new fish I for get what it was called. But the pet shop told him it would work all so he pulled all he could see out

edith

Most pet shops aren't to be trusted completely. They make mistakes on a daily basis. Pretty much all fish that eat snails are active social fish that need company(loaches/botias) or should not be in a community tank because they'll attack or eat their tankmates(puffers). If he really got only 1 fish that supposedly will solve all his snail problems there's probably a problem that the pet shop failed to know or mention.

You are oh so right they sold him a fish that started going at the fish he had we drove him to the pet shop and they took it back. I then took the advise of adding aquarium salt

edith

just be aware that not all species of fish are tolerant of aquarium salt. Scaleless fish don't seem to like it for instance. I have trapped them before, take a chunk of cucumber or lettuce in a cup and let it sit overnight. Pull it out in the morning it should have snails all over it. Don't leave it in too long as it will quickly disolve in the tank causing a gooey mess (Yes, my first attempt). A few yo-yo loaches will fit into a healthy community tank and clean up any snails in short order.

Im not sure what type of snail but if its a malaysian snail there only benificial. They eat leftover food and airate the graval. They wont eat live plant tissue only plant litter. Malaysian snail or trumpet snails have a cone shaped shell and spend most of the time burrowing into the gravel. I have a tank full of carnivors and so I add goldfish food once or twice a week for the snails. But if their not Mayalasian snails i can understand wanting to get rid of them clown loaches and small crawfish are great at ridding a tank of snails.