I have snails! What should I do?

[Whitney]

Hi all,

I have a 30 gallon aquarium that currently houses

2 German Blue Rams
6 Espei Rasboras
3 Diamond Tetras
1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco
1 Bamboo Shrimp
and a bunch of cherry shrimp

Last night I had to check something in my tank after the light had been out for a little while, and discovered a couple of little brown snails on my plants. I removed them....

Tonight, I looked in and noticed at least another four. To get an idea of the extent of the population, I set a film cannister trap some green pepper and algae wafers inside.....I'll check in the morning to see how many I collect.

In the meantime, I am researching loaches for long term population control. My dilemma is that I'd get a zebra loach (botia striata), but the things I've read indicate that they need to be kept in groups or 4 or more- and at 4 inches each- I think that's too much for my little 30 gallon tank.

I also really like Chain Loaches (Sidthimunki), and they're small enough that I can definitely get a shoal of 5 or 6- but I'm concerned that they are too small to effectively control the snail population.

What does everyone think? Is there another fish I'm overlooking? Can I keep just one zebra loach? Will the Sids do the job?

Thanks!

 

[Fuzz16]

do kuhlii loaches...or even the mystery snails have been known to eat the pest snails.

IMO the ones your have are harmless and not bad for a tank if kept at a small population

 

[rollntider]

I used to take a spoon and crush them in the tank, the fish would clean up the mess. Now I encourage them to keep the algae in check.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Kuhli loaches will NOT eat snails. Not even tiny babies. Not even eggs.

If chain loaches actually eat snails (are they the same shape as zebra loaches? If they're in the same genus they probably do), then they would at least eat the baby snails and stop them from reproducing.

The little snails aren't really a problem, and unless you are overfeeding they won't become populous enough to overrun the tank. If you really don't like them, you can try putting a slice of cucumber in overnight (or a little hunk of lettuce), and you should remove it in the morning with a bunch of snails munching on it.

 

[Fuzz16]

kuhlii loaches will too...hence why i havnt one snail in my 55g even though i have thrown some in hoping theyll breed...

and i also encourage snails, but not like...tons. maybe a few here and there, it helps the tank and theres hardly no bio-load. squishing them might make nitrites/ammonia rise

 

[NJmom2002]

I just bought YoYo loaches and they seem to munch on the little snails. I took out the big snails and there arent that many little ones left. I bought 2 and put them in the 29 gallon.. I havent put them in the 5 gallon that was infested with snails. I tried the lettuce trick and that didnt work at all.

 

[Plee_cO]

you dont need snal eating fish
just check your plants for eggs and scrape em off

 

[straitjacket]

Any loach that was effective at eliminating your snail problem would also effectively eat any baby shrimp at the very least, eat all the adult as well at worst. But saving them would be easy enough by setting them up in a temporary tank.
Snails can be controlled by closely monitoring and reducing the amount of food, dead plant and other edibles there are in the tank for them to feed on. An abundance of leftover food will assuredly result in a snail boom!
If you're looking to eradicate them completely a fish may be effective as well as chemical treatments though many folks, including myself, are hesitant of using them.
Head over to loaches.com for feedback on the species of loaches available to you.