Hi, Ive an Issue with Snails I bought some plants a few months ago ( about 12) from a supposedly well respected LFS and they assured me that all plants will be free from Snails as they treats all plants.

However after a week I had about 10 little ones so I removed them and Ive been doing that for a long time now and still Ive got them for a couple of months I saw nothing all of a sudden Ive got 5 that Ive removed again.

My question is How can i fully get rid of them ?
How quick to these snails take to get to breeding capacity as I keep taking them out when they are tiny but still getting them.
What type of Snails do you think they will be.

What the best way to remove them for good with out adding some horrible chemicals. ( i have baby shrimp in at the moment so chemicals might be a bad Idea )

Thanks in advance for your responses

ive had the same problem.my tank got infested with pond snails and i didnt want to use any chemicals.i found assassin snails have helped keep the numbers down but i dont think ill ever fully get them all out.leaving a slice of cucumber,weighted down over night and picking out the said beasties works a treat too.

The best trick I've found is to cut a grape into quaters, drop it in (it sinks by itself) and leave for 30 minutes. It's covered and almost all the other snails are seem to be making a beeline straight for it. Don't know why but pond snails seem to love grapes, the fish don't seem intrested though.

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Hi

Couple of points to bear in mind. Firstly, the treatment they used will have kiled actual snails, but not the eggs. Any eggs on the plants would subsequently start hatching once the plants were in your aquarium.

Secondly, if you have shrimps in your tank, plants that have been previously treated with snail killing chemicals can be dangerous to your shrimps. Any small traces of copper or certain other chemicals lingering on the plants can very rapidly kill invertebrates in your tank. If you buy more plants from there they will need a very thorough washing and several days soaking to reduce the risk. I soak mine in a bucket with a small filter stuffed with carbon running just to be safe.

As for getting rid of the hatching snails, the safest way is manual removal: either picking them out by hand as you spot them or use lettuce, cucumber (or grapes) to attract them. Put the veg in late at night, and check for snails immediately the lights go on in the morning. If you wait very long after it gets light in the tank they'll be back in hiding.