CallMeAlan CallMeAlan
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  • Posted on: 17/12/2015 17:00
Goshdarn these pond snails! #1
A bit long this, sorry. I started with a tiny tank, 25 litres, did all my research, and cycled it very carefully, and then added a couple of albino corys (love them!) and 5 shrimps. Lovely. Very happy all round. Then when everything was well settled a few weeks later, I bought three little plants from a well-known pet superstore. Big mistake. Within a couple of days I began to see the loathsome shelled vermins.

Then, snails apart, deciding I liked this hobby, I went larger and got myself a Fluval 125 litre. I took several weeks to fishless cycle it, and all was just hunky dory, and I transferred the guys over - NOT the plants, just the guys. Looked good, added a few zebra danios and tetras. Then I noticed the vermins appearing.

To cut a long story shorter, I'm overrun with the b***ers. No plants in the new one, nothing transferred except the guys. So I'm guessing that somehow snail eggs got transferred over on the guys. I try to catch as many of them as possible during water changes, and that's sometimes 50+. But when I look into the tank, they're everywhere, all over the gravel, on the ornaments, even crawling on my gorgeous rabbit snails. Hundreds.

At one time I'd squash them with my finger where they congregate at the top of the bubble stream, until someone said, don't do that, you may kill the snails, but you'll also release any eggs they may be carrying.

Tried all the ideas, including lettuce etc, but to no avail. So two questions:

How to get rid of them once and for all?
Squash or catch?

I would be most grateful for any ideas and suggestions please. Please?

Alan.
Fishlady Fishlady
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  • Posted on: 17/12/2015 18:01
Re: Goshdarn these pond snails! #2
I'd go for a multi-pronged attack:

1) Catch and remove as many as possible whenever you see them
2) Remove any eggs as soon as you spot them
3) Make sure you aren't overfeeding - excess food encourages snail breeding and snail population explosions can be a good indicator that you're feeding too much
4) Make sure you give the gravel a good vacuuming at each water change
5) Check inside the filter and remove any snails in there
6) If none of that is enough to get things under control over the next few weeks, get 2-3 Assassin snails. These prey on any other nails in the tank and whilst they do breed, it's at a much slower rate than the pests, plus you can sell the offspring to others with a stubborn pest snail problem.
MadMat MadMat
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  • Posted on: 17/12/2015 22:19
Re: Goshdarn these pond snails! #3
I've found in the past that assassin snails are by far the most effective way to control snails. They are also quite interesting to watch at work!

Mat
LukeC LukeC
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  • Posted on: 18/12/2015 12:45
Re: Goshdarn these pond snails! #4
You will also end up ironically having to find snails to feed to the assassins! I now have a little snail breeder tank in the garage just to feed the assassins! But as MM, said they are actually really fascinating to watch and they do a great job. Will take a few weeks to establish but before you know, it all the pest snails are gone.
CallMeAlan CallMeAlan
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  • Posted on: 21/12/2015 17:13
Re: Goshdarn these pond snails! #5
Thanks to those who responded.

Fishlady - I catch where possible. I can't say I've seen the eggs, not sure how to detect them. Pretty sure I don't overfeed. When I gave the filter a good clean out and change of elements recently (a Fluval 206) there were only one or two snails inside it.

MadMat and LukeC - I had three assassins for a while but wasn't impressed. I hardly ever saw them, and certainly never saw them eating a snail! Right now there's one empty assassin shell where I can't get to it and the other two? Who knows where they are. The 'expert' in the shop told me that 3 was the right number for 125 litres. Maybe I'll go for 6 of them. It would be a luxury right now if the assassins went hungry for lack of vermins!

But is squashing them good policy? The danios love to gobble up descending bits of their meat! How many assassins would be right for 125 litres do you think?

A