Problem snails in fish tank..

[justine]

Ok so i am a believer in live plants in my fish tank, which brings with it certain pests, SNAILS> I have checked up on many sites about the removal of snails and at the moment every morning i have been netting the ones thst i see crawling over the front of my tank. I have tried the cucmber method to no avail, and i dont want to do this chemically as it can harm the fish, i dont have anything in my tank that will eat them, so has anyone got any methods that they have tried and been successful as the little bleeders are slowly making themselves known..

[teenybash]

I think you can control snails with fish that will eat them. My daughter keeps a cat fish to help gobble the snails.I think there is also a loach that will do the same.....................I don't think they do any harm and can do some good eating uneaten food etc...................:Razz

[justine]

I think you can control snails with fish that will eat them. My daughter keeps a cat fish to help gobble the snails.I think there is also a loach that will do the same.....................I don't think they do any harm and can do some good eating uneaten food etc...................:Razz

I have a bristlenosed catfish, but he has no interest in them. My clown loach unfortunatley died, and as it would have grown to big for my tank i cant replace..I know they are good for the tank but they are gonna get out of control soon if i dont stop them. I have cleaned all plants, ornaments of eggs that i have found, but they are getting more and more each day and i dont want an infestation. Thanks for you help though..

[lynne duncan]

justine, when we were buying our fish tank we noticed the snails in the plant section of pets at home, another little lad came up to us and jack pointed out the snails, the lad said that his mummy squashed the snails and the fish then ate them.
after we got our tank we suffered the same problem with snails reproducing quickly and tried the same methods as you but the best way is as the lad says splat them

[justine]

Thats where i got the plants from. checked them for snails never found any but there must have been eggs in them..
I have not got the stomach for squishing them in the tank, but i am scooping them out every day, the plants and ornaments have just had a good cleaning so hopefully the numbers should reduse..will just have to keep up the hand catching. YUCK:confused

[jockyplunck]

hi i have had the same problem in the past. at first i thought they were ok, but then they got out of hand. the cure is clown loachesa couple of days and the snails are cone.

[rhino]

hi,

for any new plants that you buy, boil the kettle,let it cool for a short while then submerge the plants in the hot water for 20 seconds and put into tank, this will kill all the dormant eggs. As for the actual snails you can get treatments to rid them or squash them and your fish will feast on them.

[telfordstar]

We had snails in our tank tried everything to get rid of the but with no luch. So we totally stripped our tank down replaced stones and ornaments (dont think you are supposed to do this) and we havnt had a snail since.

[justine]

We did that the other day, not the water change , but removed all the ornaments plants in the tank.
We got hundreds of snails eggs and boiled them, scraped them off the leaves and got rid of all the ones i could see, Hoovered the bottom, we still have snails, but they are no-where near as many, and we are fishing them out by hand every day,

Might take me a year to be clear but i will get rid of them.Thanks for all your help, i did not realise so many had tanks, we should discuss tank problems more often and see if we can help eachother out.

[telfordstar]

They are a pest i was squashing loads every morning on side of my tank ( which i will admit i loved doing) Im not sure what size a tank you all have but mines is a 60ltr one i think if id had bigger with snails it would drive me mad.

[justine]

mines a 180l tank, and its in great shape but for the damn snails.
So come on what fish do we all keep, i have.

1 siamese fighter male
2 female fighters.
2 Dwarf Gouramis
3 honey dwarf Gouramis
1 bristlenosed catfish
1 angel fish
2 colombian tetra
5 black neon tetra
7 neon tetra
1 silver sailfin
3 platties..

none of my fish except the angel will get any bigger than 7cm so i should not end up with over crowding. I intend to get some khulie loaches next week to help with my snail population, hopefully they will grow fat on escargo...[lol]

[justine]

hi i have had the same problem in the past. at first i thought they were ok, but then they got out of hand. the cure is clown loachesa couple of days and the snails are cone.

The problem with clown loaches as i had 2, unfortunately 1 died and one got poached accidently whilst cleaning out ornanments by oh, are they get too big, They recommend that for 1 loach you need minimum of 400l tank as they grow up to 25 cm in legnth, and nearly 4 in in diameter, so beware if getting when young as the grow very large.

[telfordstar]

Mines is a 60l tank

In it at the mo is

7 neons
3 dwarf gouriamis(think thats spely wrong)
1 male chinese fighter
1 frog
1 bristlenose catfish
hoping to maybe add one or 2 more but everytime i go to pets at home all fish are under treatment

[justine]

Mines is a 60l tank

In it at the mo is

7 neons
3 dwarf gouriamis(think thats spely wrong)
1 male chinese fighter
1 frog
1 bristlenose catfish
hoping to maybe add one or 2 more but everytime i go to pets at home all fish are under treatment



If you go up now you should find most are now back up for sale. They have some female fighters in,.
If you dont mind me asking how big is your bristlenosed and do you know what age it is. Mine is about 6cm long, has very small bristles and i thoguht it may have been a female , but they apparently only have one row of bristles if none at all. I think mine is a male but to guess his age i would not have a clue. Can you get a pick on here at all..

[telfordstar]

Ive not had him long maybe 6 months at the most hes maybe 5cm big. Id love to put a pic on but you never know hes in the tank he hides in a cave thing i have the only time i ever see him is when im cleaning the tank out he always hid under the filter but once he foung the cave the frog got chucked out and he claimed it. Thats good about pets at home must go up a look

[justine]

Well will have to wait until it grows bigger to find out wether he is male or not. I look at pics of them full grown and he looks nothing like an adult but he is still young,,I have to say though my bristlenosed spends alot of time out especially in the morning and evening time.
heres a link for online fish, they deliver up here and have a fantastic recomendation..worth trying out if you are looking for something different than what pets at home sell.
http://www.trimar.co.uk/

[telfordstar]

Cheers for the recomendation for the fish online i will have a wee nose at it. I will have a look in pets at home see what they have to offer:D

[justine]

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o32/grandma2007/DSC00077.jpg


Here is my tank. Now its fully planted, wood and rockery..Just waiting for a couple of Kuhli Loaches ..

[the charlatans]

Nice tank Justine. Are all the plants real or are some of them plastic? Mine looks bare now I see yours.

We have the snail problem after being gifted some plants in June. I was aware that they may become a problem but..... my tank has never looked so clean so I'm going to leave them for a while yet. Glad I read this about the clown loaches getting big though as thats what I was going to use to solve the problem. To snail or not to snail, that is a question.

I've only got 5 neon tetras, 5 black tetras and 5 harlequin tetras and lots and lots and lots of snails. I miss my angel fish a bit but I like the shoals. Any advice on frogs? the very helpful Petsathome lady said my water has to be spot on for them, ahem, its not really, does anyone know differently or will i stick to the plastic one?

[justine]

Nice tank Justine. Are all the plants real or are some of them plastic? Mine looks bare now I see yours.

We have the snail problem after being gifted some plants in June. I was aware that they may become a problem but..... my tank has never looked so clean so I'm going to leave them for a while yet. Glad I read this about the clown loaches getting big though as thats what I was going to use to solve the problem. To snail or not to snail, that is a question.

I've only got 5 neon tetras, 5 black tetras and 5 harlequin tetras and lots and lots and lots of snails. I miss my angel fish a bit but I like the shoals. Any advice on frogs? the very helpful Petsathome lady said my water has to be spot on for them, ahem, its not really, does anyone know differently or will i stick to the plastic one?


Thanks ,i spent many days planting and re-planting the plants. They are all real, i believe it makes for a healthier tank.They reduce the nitrate, nitrite(fish waste) and makes good old co2..Plus the fish love to hide and play in them.

As for your snails, i would recommend that you take out the plants and scrape the leaves so they are free from eggs. You dont want to end up with too many as they will destory your great water and kill alot of the plants. Slow down on the food you give them as that helps feed the snails.I learnt alot trying to rid my tank of them,I still have a few but i dont mind..If you want a good tip get a couple of Kuhli Loaches. I have some ordered, they love snails,eggs so they should realy help. If you do, try re-placing 1/4 of your gravel with soft playpit sand as they do like a soft substrate..

As for the frogs, not a nada.Dont like them and i have a thing about one in the tank with ma fish..I could find a link or too about them in tropical set ups, but i imagine you ahve already done tha. Sorry cant help with that, but any other problems give me a shout. I love fish keeping...:D

What size is your tank?