What to do with too many snails?

[LydiaGreen]

So - Walmart (sorry, it's all I have here) was giving away snails with any fish purchase a few months ago (they got them by accident). I took five and put them in my daughter's 10 long. Soon, we had about twenty so I put five of them in my son's 10 long. The snails in my son's tank are staying at fairly stable levels - not multiplying too quickly but, my daughter's tank has TONS of the little freaks. They just won't stop!

Someone suggested to me in the past that I could put one of my dojo loaches in there for a day or two and that would take care of the problem but #1 - all 3 of my loaches are getting big (the smallest is 7 inches long) and I don't want to take it from a big tank with lots of room and throw it in a little tank. #2 - my loaches are all very healthy and I think tank hopping would be stressful and effect their health. #3 - Rouge (the male betta in my daughter's tank) is a really territorial fish (Sonic - my son's male betta is pretty laid back and calm - I have never seen him display at all so, Rouge seems like a fierce beast in comparison, he displays at me when I clean the tank!) - I think Rouge might try to hurt one of my loaches if I put it in there.

So, aside from what I have been doing (scooping a bunch out every week) - what else can I do? I certainly don't want to throw any in my 44 with the loaches in case a few of them find a place to hide and start to multiply in there

 

[discus4everGrl]

clown loaches love snails, and they are nocternal so maybe the betta will leave it alone. And I know it sounds mean but when you remove them just throw em in the trash. What wallie world gave you is generally considered a pest in the hobby.

 

[revfred]

You might consider introducing one of the loaches into the tanks with the snails until the snail population is under control.

 

[Balloon Fish]

do you feed a lot in the 10 gallons? cause feeding a lot generally means the snails eat a lot and they multiply a lot too (at least i think so) or you could bait them...put some blanched cucumber in there and when they come out take it out and keep doing it for a week and lower on the feeding and keep the tank nice and clean (no poop, dead leaves if you have any, and not too much food on the bottom) and that should kind of lower the snail population oh and clean the filter pad of eggs

 

[LydiaGreen]

I'm thinking it is the feeding - the kids feed their own fish and my daughter's tank is usually a lot more work to clean than my son's so, it makes sense that she is feeding them too much. I'll have to redo the talk about their tummies only being as big as their eyeball!

 

[Balloon Fish]

ya thats what i told my brother and i guess its helping a little on the feeding

 

[Liberty_Girl]

wow, they KNOWINGLY GAVE you snails????

I had the same problem with the snails a few months ago when some plants I got had eggs on them.

Ok, first take out all live plants if you have any. Snails LOVE to lay eggs on the leaves. Take out any decorations as well. Again, they lay eggs on any thing they can. You can put a clown loach or goldfish in the tank they love to eat the snails. Although if you don't have a very good filter I would recomend staying away from the goldfish b/c of the amonia. Also, pick out any snails you can see. You are going to have tot do this daily. You may aslo want to take out the gravel and rinse it off really good. There is stuff you can put in the tank to kill the snails, but I don't recomend using them. I don't know how bad your snail problem is, but mine kept reproducing by the hundreds. A few are good for your tank, but a lot are bad for it b/c they produce amonia themselves. Good luck.

Christina

 

[Balloon Fish]

if you dont have any live plants then the chemical snail killing stuff might work (never tried it) but if you have shrimp or plants or both i woulnd't try it cause it could probably kill them, but as long as you dont over feed then the snail population will keep decreasing. I always see snails in my tanks cause i buy lots of plants then all i do is feed less for the next week and do a better water change (like clean all the gravel and stuff real well) and i dont see another snail but what you want to do if you do buy plants is just to rinse it off a little before putting it into your tank

 

[discus4everGrl]

If there are plastic plants in the tank pull them out and give them a mild bleach and water dip. Rinse them very well and then let them sit in a bowl of water with conditioner to remove any excess chlorine. Snails lay eggs in blobs of jelly on plants and it can be hard to see them. I used to have a major snail problem in my 55, I noticed they would climb up the glass every time I did a water change. Since it's a discus tank I do a wc everyday so I picked em off the glass. I got two SAE/flying foxes - still confused which ones - and all of a sudden the snails disappeared. I hear clown loaches will eat them too.

 

[Balloon Fish]

heres a link that'll help you tell if its a real SAE http://www.thekrib.com/Fish/Algae-Eaters/
Normaly i want snails in my tanks cause they are planted but everytime i find one i leave it there but they always seem to dissapear and not come back. The bleach dip isn't really neccassary, just rinse it off. The bleach dip is for algae that grows on the fake plants and snail eggs usualy come off with a little rinse but if you think you didn't get it all then use the bleach like discus4evergrl recommended. good luck on getting rid of them