SNAILS! I HATE EM

[FishLuvr]

Ive tried lettuce and a pickle, both only netted me about 5 or 6 snails. Yesterday i got fed up, and i stood at my 20 gallon tank for about an hour, just catching the snails off of the glass in a net and tossing them in a container and flushing them. I swear it had to be at least a hundred of them (no exageration), within a 24 hour period that i got rid of, and i still see some that i cant get to right now because there behind bogwood or stuck on plants but im determined to get them. Any other ideas, i dont want to use chemicals, i have a strict rule against that

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

are they hurting anything? i think they make nice additions as long as they arent taking over. the method i reccommend is either baiting or pulling them off, but those dont seem to be working.

 

[FishLuvr]

No there not hurting anything, i just dont like them, i didnt buy them i didnt ask for them, they are tresspassing, they hitchhiked in, and it would be okay if its one or two but they multiply so damn fast, If you like them thats fine, this is my tank, and i dont like them its my fault really, i had a bad experience (atually a couple) at one LFS and i said i would never go to him again, problem is, he is a 5 minute drive from my house, and my favorite LFS is 30 minutes (without traffic) so i wanted some plants, and well you can figure out the rest. Should have listened to myself when i said i would never go to him again the first time.

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

i was just stating my opinion... and i did tell you the methods ive heard of... also, you could try putting out a different bait, or putting a bait in there, and then checking in the middle of the night. some might have gotten away by morning.

 

[GIS Guy]

I would temporarily add a clown loach to your 20g.
I have been asking for snails on purpose to feed my loach.
That sure would take care of the problem!

 

[wilsonriverfish]

I heard if you have snails then your tank is in a perfect balance..LoL Anyways I wish I had some snails in my tank

 

[Grymatta]

Not sure if this will help...but the pH in my tank is pretty acidic. Its like 6.2 or lower. Snails never last more than 2-3 monthes in my tank. When I buy a new snail and put it in...I can start to see its shell literally dissolving within a few days. After that, they just die. So I guess low PH will kill snails...

 

[GIS Guy]

Grymatta,
The snail shells will dissolve w/ low calcium in the water.
I used to dose liquid calcium to help my snail out.

 

[MOsborne05]

Is this in the 20 gallon? If so, I agree with GIS, move your clown loaches over there for a few days, they should get rid of them in no time!

 

[litlpnoi]

u could make some dough by SELLING the snails ...

 

[FishLuvr]

thanks guys, i thought about moving my clowns over there but i didnt want to stress them out. guess ill give it a try

 

[TheFighterFish]

I've learned not to hate them.

 

[Grymatta]

GIS Guy...yeah I figured the low/lack of calcium in my low PH water was dissolving the snail shells. But if you add calcium suppliments to your tank..arent you messing around with the pH of your water? Have you had any problems with that? thanks

 

[MOsborne05]

There's no money in selling snails because lots of people want to get rid of them. I sold a bunch of mine and just charged for shipping because I was happy to get rid of them!

 

[MissFishy]

I've heard snails love algae tablets. Put one of those in there in a cup and pull it out in the morning, you'll pull out loads that way.

 

[GIS Guy]

I did not see any affects on the fish.
I also did not test PH, only hardness for the calcium level.

 

[VirgoWolf]

I am having a similar proble, well I have been since I had the puffers, these snails never go away! LOL

Now it's worse though, because they are taking over my shrimp tank, so I can't do anything that would kill the snails because of the shrimp! AND to top it off, it's heavily planted, so I can't really catch many either. Stupid snails! LOL

 

[MOsborne05]

Yeah sorry about that Krystal Pick up a couple of zebra loaches, the ones I have right now are only about an inch so they will take care of the small snails, and I think they would leave the shrimp alone. You might be better off taking the shrimp out and cleaning the tank, and soaking the plants. It would be much easier to take the shrimp out now before you get lots of babies, than to take the snails out. I think part of the reason the shrimp breeding slowed down was because of the snails

 

[VirgoWolf]

Haha, don't worry about it, snails are little pests and there really was no way to avoid them. I was thinking about redoing the tank when we move, I might just set up a new one, move the shrimp and (presoaked/rinsed) plants to there, should get rid of the little buggers and hopefully the planarias too, which, by the way, I have been seeing less and less of lately, I think they don't like my water, but the shrimp must, there are already little babies all over!

 

[FishLuvr]

well what really sucks is the fact that im getting close to getting my 125 gallon tank. and i wanted to use the substrate along with more of ocurse for this new tank. but i dont see that happening as im not gonna sit there and sift through 40lbs of flourite for snails. so ill have to get all new substrate and ditch the old stuff.