My 110 litre tank has been overrun with snails. They're not pretty either. Milky coloured cone shaped things. Eurrgghh.

Believe me, i have tried everything, and they keep coming back.

They're getting in the filter, all over the plants, even stuck to my zebra loaches!

I cut down on feeding and it doesnt do anything. When i clean out the filter hundreds of snails come out too.

I was thinking... using a snail killer, then making sure all the corpses are on/in the gravel, then purchasing new gravel?

But this method is a bit too time consuming and fiddly for me. Is there anything else i can do?

The best thing really is to keep plugging away removing them by hand, or maybe add some Assassin snails, though they might not help much if you have such huge quantities.

Be very careful using chemical treatments as most contain copper which is toxic to fish and needs to be used in a controlled manner. If you have any invertebrates in your tank - shrimp etc, don't use a copper-based treatment as it will kill them.

Also watch out for an ammonia spike after treatment and keep on top of that with water changes if needed.

HTH

EDIT: If snails are thriving in your tank that points towards hard water which is also likely to be a higher pH - if so it's not really suitable for Loaches. Have you tested your GH and PH?

I had never though of that.

You see when i bought the loaches two years ago, i just took the 'advice' p@h gave me. How awfully wrong they were. They told me they could be kept in bowls! lucky i put them in my 110l community tank.

Water in my area is medium, not hard.

But if my zebra loaches aren't thriving in such water then i will consider rehoming them.

Thanks for the advice. I think i'll quarantine the fish and dose the water with snail killer, then buy new gravel. Better safe than sorry.

Sounds like a good plan!

I would avoid those snail killer things like the plague, they are full of chemicals and will only treat the symptom rather than the cause. Snails are a fact of life in aquaria, you will never be totally rid of them but the numbers can be controlled very easily. A population explosion is usually a sign of overfeeding- what's your feeding regime like?

there are other ways to cut down the numbers. As mentioned before, an assassin snail might be a good investment! Another way is to stick a lettuce leaf in the tank at night, wait for it to be covered in snails and then bin the lot. You might need to do this a couple of times.

What sort of snails are they, do they burrow in the gravel?

I cut down on feeding drastically since the snails started to multiply but they are relentless. I feed my fish twice a day, small amounts, and before lights out i put an algae wafer in for my pleco, then a variety wafer for my loaches.

The snails burrow in the gravel, and the zebra loaches do occasionally nibble on them. The snails are very ugly, cream-coloured cone-shaped things with horrible feelers sticking out of them. They lurk in and behind the filter and on the plants and in the gravel.

Cutting down on feeding and maybe the addition of a few assassin snails is really the way to go to deal with these pests.

Talking of loach and plecs, they would benefit from some veggies I'm sure. There's a good food article here you might find helpful:

http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_52/fish-diet.htm

You can weight blanched veggies down with a teaspoon or a 'screwcumber' (see ebay). Remove after 12 - 24 hours.

Quote:

I've tried giving my plec veggies and he completely ignores them :(

Do you zap them in the microwave for 10 seconds or so, with a bit of water first? They need to be soft to allow the fish to eat them (apart from cucumber of course)