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Someone please help, I have tons of snails in my 30 gallon tank and I need to know something, ANYTHING to get rid of them. They are making my tank soo dirty from all their poo. Please help, is their any meds I can buy and put in there? Thanks so much!

~!!I lOve LiFe!!~

What kind of snails are they?

There are chemicals you can use to kill snails, but if you do that with such a dense population as you seem to have, you'll have a HUGE ammonia spike from the decomposing snails. Your best bet is to try to remove as many as possible manually, or get a snail-eating fish like a loach. If you manually remove the snails, reduce your feeding, because overfeeding is what leads to population explosions in snails. I have both pond snails and MTS in my aquaria, but the populations are manageable because I only feed what my fish will eat. Otherwise you're just feeding the snails.

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Thank you so much for the reply. I am just going to have to take them out by hand I suppose. And im not sure what kind they are but they have the shell that is kinda spiral and pointed at the tip? Some of them are pretty big. Its going to take awhile, but I want to get them all out. I will cut back feeding too.

~!!I lOve LiFe!!~

I've tried a chemical (Had-a-Snail) on a tank that had no fish in it with tons of pond snails as a test. I required several times higher dosage to exterminate the snails than instructed, and it took several months for the snails to disappear. I stopped dosing after it looked like they were all gone, but I've later found that I have one left. Not sure if it's going to reproduce, but he's been alone for over a month. I purchased the product on sale since a store was closing, though, so that may mean something about the age of the product.

A snail-eater is a far better way to clear snails; this is what I did on one of my other tanks. Shortly after adding juvenile clown loaches to my 55 gallon, the snails were gone. In smaller tanks, smaller loach species may be more appropriate, such as kuhli loaches.

Manual removal is possible as well. You can bait the snails by putting something such as lettuce in the tank; the snails will come out to eat it and you can discard the lettuce with the snails. I would also comb my plants for snails. This I have also found to work, but is less reliable and more work-intensive than simply buying loaches.

However, superlion touches an important concept, and that is that the poo that the snails are producing is only being produced because the snails are eating something, and this means something is being added to the tank that they are eating. Lowering feeding can help.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Yeah I have even bought a zebra loach, thinking it would eat the snails and it hasnt and I have had it for about 4 months now! I really dont want to add anymore bottom feeders to my tank until I upgrade to a 55 gallon when I move in a few months. Im going to try the lettuce as bait, do I put the lettece at the top of the tank, with a little of it in the water? And when I do my water change soon Im determined to get as many out as I can see. And make sure I get them all out of the filter as well!!!! I have no live plants in my tank either.

~!!I lOve LiFe!!~

I'm attempting to cut and paste photos of MTS and pond snails.

This one is MTS on tank glass.

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Kelly ;o}

Pond snail

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Kelly ;o}

MTS

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Kelly ;o}

Pond snail (not so pointy end)

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Kelly ;o}

Pond snails are usually easy to remove by loach or bottom feeders, since their shells can be soft or brittle and easily broken, or the fish can suck them out. Trying to remove them by hand can be done, but somewhat tricky. I was told if you crush any type of snail, it releases a mating hormone. This in turn causes the snails still in the tank to reproduce spontaneously. Since most snails can reproduce without a mate... I don't think would be fun to test. I don't know if the spontaneous mating is true, but it is true with ladybugs. Hence you should never kill crush a ladybug or similar species in your house. You'll be swarmed by amorous ladybugs looking for some action.

MTS would be easier to remove by hand as you see them raise up on the glass. Puffers love 'em. But puffers don't play well with others... As long as you are not overfeeding the tank MTS will pretty much stay out of sight/out of mind, occasionally coming up the glass when the lights are out. They usually go back into the substrate when the lights come on and the activity of the tank picks up. Bottom feeders will eat MTS only when the snail is very little. Once the MTS is big enough to be seen (without squinting) the shell is too hard for anything but a puffer to eat.

You can always try the chemical treatments, but be prepared for it to take time and money. I've talked to quite a few chain stores and LFS. Once you get loaded down with snails you don't want... It's pretty hard on the wallet, trying to find which chemical works best.


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Kelly ;o}

zebra

I have had a good snail attack in my 45lt and I bought a small Clown Loach and let him have a good feed for a few months. By doing this I knew all the snails would be gone plus all their eggs as well.

The CL grew fat and fast, I also have a 5ft with larger CLs and that small CL is still a happy fella.

I would never use any chemicals I believe it can cause other problems.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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Keith are the CLs safe with your shrimp? Just wondering because I have a pond snail problem in my tank as well and been popping them on the glass for the khulis to eat... I just need something that I can get to take care of the snails and then I will return it for store credit and get some more plants or something.

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

I had the CL in the tank before I had the CRS

I have 3 Khuli loaches in the tank now and not a problem though I have been told by so called "experts" that the KL will eat the baby shrimp.

My shrimp are breeding like mad either they are fed enough or my shrimp are breding faster than the KL can eat them.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

I wouldn't use chemicals either. I have MTS in my tank and 5 Kuhli loaches. I don't think Kuhlis will eat snails. Skunk Loaches I have heard will. If you don't want any more bottom feeders then I would use lettuce and cut back on feeding as already suggested. Snails will only reproduce according to the food supply.

Sorry such a delayed reply, but by the pictures you posted I definatley have the MTS snails and not pond snails. And you are right I dont see any during the day. But in my ten gallon tank I got them too and they are always on the side, and im wondering if they are looking for food because I cut way back on the feedings in both tanks. I will just pick out the BIG ones by hand and hope my zebra loach eats all the babies and eggs. I just want them gone!! AHH they are SUCH a pain! and an eye soar in a tank =[

~!!I lOve LiFe!!~

Pick out all that you can, regardless of size. MTS is a live bearing snail, meaning they spout out miniature mini-me's. You don't/won't notice the babies until they get big enough to see without squinting. MTS don't lay eggs at all.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

I LOVE mts snails.. I think they are cute lil buggers...but thats me

I suggest putting a large slice of cucumber or zuchini in the tank, right before lites out... wait awhile, then pull it out, lots of snails at once... keep repeating until you don't get any more snails...

Also if doing a deep gravel vacc, you should be able to get quite a few.

I dont think they are cute at all, sorry lol =]. And yes I always get out a lot of babies when I vacuum the gravel. Thank you all for the replies, all this information helps me out a lot!!!!! I will keep you updated how it goes =]

~!!I lOve LiFe!!~

I'm with hca I love MTS!

They're like earthworms for the tank, they help keep the substrate from compacting too much, or from anerobic pockets from forming. If you've got plants they're good because compacted substrate can crush and kill plant roots.

MTS will overpopulate an overfed tank. Cut back on the feedings, do more water changes. They eat any extra food so the more you feed the more MTS you'll have.


^_^

I love the MTS too! I don't have a problem with the pond snails so much since my yo-yo's love to eat them. When I first noticed I had them, I got all freaked out. But as soon as I got the yo-yo's, their numbers started to dwindle. (The yo-yo's were a planned purchase from before I started to stock the tank. They took almost 2 months to come to the LFS.) Now I don't have any pond snail in the tank and have to put them in. I now have a separate 10 gal. dedicated to snails and shrimp. Once my numbers go up with pond snails, I'll start feeding my yo-yo's again. It'll save me a little bit on their snack food.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}