Infestation of Snails

[Kibaboa1203]

I had a snail in my tank about a few months ago, but i removed it. today, i noticed that there are probably 15 or more smaller snails in my tank. ive tried removing them so far, but i keep seeing more and more of them. I've put in a table spoon of aquarium salt to try and fix the problem, but i dont want to take any chances. any idea what i can do to remove the snails? any fish that do eat snails, or any other ways to remove the fish?

EDIT:i forgot to mention i have a 10 gallon freshwater tank.

 

[Whiskers]

one thing you can try is, put a cup in tank with a alage waffer in it. the snails will go for it and when you see them in cup, just remove cup and dispose of snails. keep doing that till no more snails show up. if you add fish to eat the snails and when the snails are gone you are stuck with fish. unless you have room for another fish and want another one, i would try cup method.

 

[ishar]

for a 10 gallon there aren't really any fish that I know of that would eat snails and fit in your tank. Sorry mate. I feel your pain- I have had snails for half a year or more now, crushing 8-15 a day and they never stopped. My kribs seem to eat them pretty quick, but I am unsure of how one would be in a 10 gallon.

My advice is to just get used to them . No matter how much of an eyesore, they are actually beneficial to you tank, eating the wasted food the fish leave behind. If you have a planted tank they are even more beneficial as they will eat the detritus that falls off the plants and dies.

 

[unwritten law]

what else is in the tank?

 

[MissFishy]

What kind of snails are they? There are typically three kinds that "infest" a tank, the most common pond snails, trumpet snails, or ramshorn snails. They are generally actually good for a tank as they eat up extra food. If there is no extra food in your tank, they will die off. Try feeding only enough food so that none of it ever hits your gravel, they should be gone in a month or at least their population will be minimized.

 

[Kibaboa1203]

I really dont mind the look of the snails, its just that ive been told that i should remove them at once. But if they eat the algae, or even uneaten food in my tank, ill keep them around. I really cannot tell what type of snails they are, they're really small and pale, if that helps at all.
if i notice too many of them, ive probably removed about ten of them since my first post, ill try that cup method, until then, ill keep em around! *celebrate

thanks for the help guys!

 

[ishar]

you likely have pond snails then would be my guess.

What I do to keep the population low but not irradicate them is to just crush them against the glass whenever they are on the front pane. You aren't really supposed to because if a piece of shell goes into your skin I have heard you can get nasty infections. But I do it all the time, no injuries yet.

 

[midmichman80]

I've had a tank infested with pond snails for almost a year now. Every other week I pull out 30+ and will feed some to my convicts as they love them, and the rest get tossed in the yard or left to dry out in my "dead cup". I do like to feed my fish well and utilize the snails to help with cleanup because of that. I make sure each tank has some sort of snails in it, and my 90g has all three listed above, and I only sought after the MTS. I would caution killing too many snails in your tank at once, although they are small they still must decay and could create water problems, IMO.

 

[ValRasbora]

Try selling some snails off on kijiji (Kijiji USA Free Classifieds - Post & Search Free Classified Ads) or ebay (eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices) I know it's not very nice, because the suckers who buy the snails will likely get an infested tank too. Tough luck for them! Don't sell em' for too much or too little. You could do, say 5 snails for $1.