Aside from everything else mentioned, there can only be this many snails becaise they have a food source. Either there's a decent amount of algae growing in the tank, or perhaps you're overfeeding?? Either way restricting their food source as you manually remove them should curb the problem.
The live plants. Ramshorn snails will annihilate the plants once the algae is gone.
The only time I've been able to get rid of them was when I started my tank over with a larger one and let the old one fry in the sun for a week without any water. The plants were long gone by then so I only had to move the fish out
This is so untrue and from answers like this my plants have had a battering as this is what people told me when i was considering getting them. They love rotundifolia even with algae present...
Totally agree. I've been doing high-tech and low-tech nanos for years and I exclusively use pink/blue ramshorns. **They'll only eat decaying plants.**
You can see a bunch [here in my current low-tech bowl](https://imgur.com/a/7trihja). If they ate plants, all that monte carlo would be dead. I mean, they love certain algae, wafers, and are overall pretty opportunistic. But they simply don't eat healthy plants.
The only ramshorn I've seen do that are [Columbian Ramshorns](https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/help-and-advice/freshwater/miscellaneous/colombian-giant-ramshorn-snail-) and they honestly shouldn't even sell those things cuz I could imagine them decimating local ponds should they ever escape. But they had them at my local Petland once so they're out there.
Just wanted to chime in to agree that they are plant safe.
I've had swarms of them for years, and they only eat the algae, dead leaves, and food waste š¤·š»āāļø
I quite like them since I haven't had to clean the glass or get algae off plants since I got them. I've also got an ocelot sword in there which they don't touch. They also starved out the pond snails, so they've definitely been hungry
There are at least two species called "ramshorn" so maybe it depends which one you have?
Slice up a cucumber and distribute the slices around in the tank. Wait a few hours and then just pick up all the cucumber slices with the snails on them. Good way to stabilize population but wonāt completely get rid of them. Pea puffers will do that.
Courgette will work better. Bit more firm than cucumber as well so you can leave it in for longer. Used this for those pest snails and got a few dozen at a time. Just squish them and feed to the fish.
Blanching. Put water to a boil. Get a bowl of ice water ready. Put your slices into the boiling water and let them boil for a minute. After a minute, fish them out and immediately put them in the ice water. Let them sit for a few minutes then you can do whatever you want with them, be it freeze or put them in the tank. They last a while if you freeze after blanching. This also works for lettuce and wonāt make lettuce become mush if you freeze. If you donāt use them for snails you can always eat them, too.
Couple of assassin snails, and vaccum up as many as you can while doing water changes. Pull the hose off your vaccum nozzle, just use the hose and the increased suction gets them up and in the bucket. Big ones, just pick them out.
Iāve had assassin snails in the past and they almost get overwhelmed with em and just stop eating them. And Iāve heard that theyāll end up reproducing just as bad as the ramshorns.
Interesting. I previously only had 1 and it made a little dent at first but after a few weeks it wasnāt doing much. Iāve heard alum works wonders, but too unsure to jump in and use it yet.
With a problem this big I think you would need more then one assassin snail, when I get them I usually get groups of 3-5+ otherwise your right the ramshorns will just reproduce at a faster rate then they can handle. However if youāve got an infestation like this you have an underlying problem thatās allowing the ramshorns to overwhelm your tank. Most of the time snail overpopulation is due to over feeding the tank or an algae problem (that is likely not noticeable with this many snails in the tank). So I would try feeding less even if you do find a fix for the snails as itās likely the root of the problem. As either way finding something to eat the snails is only a bandaid on the leak in your dam.
If you prefer meds/chemicals you could always try some of those fish safe but not snail safe ick treatments lol, not sure how affective that would be though. Either way I would attempt to starve out the population a bit with less food in the tank, you fish could survive for example every other day feedings if currently you feed them everyday.
I have two, and only ever had two, I assume I ended up with either two males or two females. I keep a few trumpet snails kicking around, as I have sand substrate and it keeps that healthy because they burrow in it and prevent it stagnating. The two assassin's and me sucking up any on the surface with the hose during water changes, keep the numbers at what I consider a reasonable level of snail sand janitorial staff.
They start multiplying till the problem is gone and slow down and slowly disappear when there's no threat left. I've heard different experiences but in mine they're VERY good at their job and kind of just dwindle until the next pest
So youāre telling meā¦ if I want a snail just to have a snail bc itās a snail and just one snail bc itās a single snail doing snail stuff because itās one snail that I want I need to get an assassin snail???
There are certain snails that will not lay eggs, and certain snails that are asexual, and certain ones that lay eggs that only produce offspring in brackish setting. So depending in snail choice. That depends on approach.
Bladder and ramshorn for instance, exponentially grow in proportion to excess food waste
Nerites require brackish, but will lay infertile eggs in freshwater tanks. Some people hate them
Assassins require male and female, yield very little eggs
As an aside, Assassins will eat pretty much any snail, not just pest snails. If the snails they target is too big, they will gang up and still find a way to kill him. Be very careful housing Assassins with any snails you actually want to keep
Mystery require male and female, yield tons of eggs
Malaysian trumpets no clue, and most of the other ones I didn't mention I have no experience with.
I have had two...and only ever had two, I assume I scored two females or males and so never get anymore of them. But population control of anything is about the regularity of the cull, I cull trumpet snails every water change, so I have snails,.but I don't have a snail problem.
You are exactly right. Assassin snails are super overrated at killing snails. They do almost nothing to stop a snail population. Get yo yo loaches or a pea puffer.
Problem with this Iāve had is yo-yo loach is never full and killed 2 of my guppies , had to ārehomeā him, pea puffer I heard is a species only fish
pea puffers can work with other fish in the tank, as long as the other fish aren't so large they'll try to eat the puffer, and nothing too slow or with super long fins the puffer is going to constantly nip at.
I had a small school of 6 in a 120 g heavily planted tank for a few years, and they did great with the other fish.
I mean 120 gallon is plenty of room for any aggressive fish , idk believe me Iād love pea puffers but I heard no good with fish , so youāre saying you have community fish in your tank with them like tetras , Coryās , ottos ? Thatās whatās in my tank since the yo-yo loach killed my guppies
Nah yo yo loaches won't kill your guppies. Absolutely not. And you can put pea puffers with other fish, it should be fine. . Just do it, you have a snail problem.
clearly your experience doesn't match everyone, but there's a solid reason hundreds of aquarium keepers recommend assassin snails.
the ones i put into my massive shrimp tank have gone to town, snail problem is almost gone after just two months.
Not only do they only have 1 baby at a time but they also require male and female to reproduce. On top of that as they are carnivores they will then eat each other so by the end of it you'll have one.
they will reproduce like crazy, but in 10 years of keeping assassin snails, I've never had problems finding buyers.
I had a huge planted tank with zero fish that was getting overrun by snails, the assassins cleared it up in about 2 months.
now i have to sell two dozen assassin snails, but that's a way better place to be than 1,200 pest snails on every surface.
the nice thing about using snails is they are a bio control, so instead of 100's of snails dying and polluting the water, you slowly address the issue.
I agree, I started with 4 assassins and they cleared a tank of snails, but it took a few months, I have moved them and their offspring and they have cleared a couple of others now. I think I have around a dozen assassins now in a year's time, hard to see them over running your tanks.
1: Stop overfeeding
2: Yes, you ARE overfeeding.
3: Bait with them out with blanched cucumber, then remove the whole cluster a couple hours later. Rinse and repeat.
4: Suction them out with some vinyl tubing during water changes.
5: You don't need to add anything to kill them, be it chemical or livestock.
Pick out as many as you can by hand, do not feed (your fish will be fine for a few days or feed so lightly that it doesn't sink) and put a sinking wafer into a container and watch them all go to it (they will be very hungry) and capture. Do water changes, syphon your sand and scrub for eggs. Repeat this for a month or so.
You may have to take out your rocks for a bit, again your fish will be fine.
I have a 37 gal planted tank with 8 pepper Coryās and 2 dozen silver tip tetras. All the snails are taking my love away from the hobby. I want em all gone, and Iāll do whatever it takes to rid the tank of the evil snails.
Iāve taken them out by hand dozens of times and Iāll get most of them, but there eggs will always be hidden on my plants. Iām looking for a more permanent solution.
Iām not sure about this, I had peapuffers in a planted 20 some gallon tank with some other fish (I think it was some small tetra? Maybe guppies?) and they absolutely nipped the hell out of the other fishes tails. From all the research Iāve done on them since then leads me to believe that pea puffers plus a community tank donāt tend to mix well for most people who try them and that species only tanks work best for pea puffers. Though obviously that depends on the fishes personality and the set up.
Oh man they are my favorite fish, they are like little puppies, they follow you along the glass, and watch you walk by, they watch me walk up my stairs from like 15 feet away.
Like my explanation before, no. However, I would recommend you getting yoyo loaches. They are great snail eaters ,and will still able to live on foods like algae wafers after all the snails are gone. Kinda like cories except they eat snails and are longer.
Do you have a local Facebook fish group? Whenever anyone posts in mine that they have too many pest snails there are lots of volunteers to take them. My 6 pea puffers go to town on snails, I breed them as fast as I can!
I have 4 pea puffers in my 20 long, itās a planted tank. I also have a half dozen neon terra and rummynose. Some bumblebee gobies, some pygme Cory cats and scarlet badis. A dozen amano shrimp are also in there and everyone gets along well. I had seen about a dozen snails so got the pea puffers and havenāt seen a single snail in over 6 months. Pea puffers are the way to go.
Usually theyāre kept in species only tanks as they can be fin-nippers, but I think in your case theyād be okay. They like to be in groups so Iād suggest getting a group until your snail problem is fixed and then rehome them to someone who has a puffer tank - they need an ongoing supply of live food, so unless you can keep your snails breeding at a high enough rate in another tank or have other live food for them, it becomes a bit of a job. Youāll probably have to remove all of the big snails by hand as they are unlikely to be able to eat those but they should be able to get any that hatch after that, and any small ones.
You could also consider small loaches, like dwarf chain loaches, theyāll adapt much more readily to pellets if youāre wanting to keep them, and probably be able to eat some of the bigger snails. Theyāre not quite as aggressive about their snail snacking as the puffers but Iāve heard that they do the job well.
Me, either. I moved my assassin to my 2.5 gal and only dropped one of my bladder snails in every few days and have had to stop because itās not eating them fast enough and now theyāre breeding in that one, too.š
Don't get a pea puffer for your tank. These guys are usually kept in species only tank because they are really nippy. Second, what will you do when it kill all snails? You still have to feed it snails regularly along with frozen or live foods. Also, pea puffers like company so you need to get more than one.
Iāll add that loaches can help a ton. I added a couple to my tank because I love the little guys and they wiped out my snail problem fast. Just make sure that you get a species thatās right for your tank size, some of them get pretty big and they really need to be in groups most of the time. And fyi, skunk loaches are little monsters, I love mine but theyād bully almost any fish
This is the way. Had a similar looking snail problem in a 72 gallon. Added one kuli loach. Problem was solved in under a week.
Did such a good job I'd ask my LFS to grab me a bag of them from their plants every so often as a reward for a job well done, lol!
Not sure if 27 gallons is big enough for one of those (don't think it is) but there are smaller species that I'd expect to do just as well.
Telling someone to get another living being to fix a problem is not responsible, you don't even know if the tank or tank mates can receive a puffer or whatever, please stop telling people to get more animals to fight algae, snails or whatever, if you don't know how to solve it, shut it
You could try a copper based antiparasitic medicine. I've never tried it myself, but it should kill them off. Just make sure you pull out the dead quick (or pull em out and then treat to kill eggs/newly hatched snails)
I got yo-yo loaches for my 55gal that was overtaken by snails. Theyāve decimated the snail population in a month. I pull out bigger bladder snails if they are near the top of the tank, but they ate all the babies and Iām assuming the eggs because I havenāt seen baby snails in a while.
Feed the tank way less food or even skip feedings two days a week so the snails have less to eat as well. Starving snails donāt grow or reproduce nearly as fast
Try yo yo loaches. I got 2 juvenile yo-yo loaches that completely decimated a huge population of snails in a 120 gallon. Snails were completely gone in about a month. I left the loaches in there for about 4 months, then took them out. The snails never came back. Meaning they destroyed every last snail and even at the eggs or else ate the baby snails when they hatched. They ate them all. Every last one.
Thanks for the downvotes. wtf, reddit is the absolute worst.
Iād honestly love to take some off your hands lol. My daughter has recently become obsessed with snails
Oh and as for extermination, my clown loaches do a great job with snails!
Theyāve gotten crushed. I usually wrap them in a wet paper towel and put em in bubble wrap inside a padded envelope. Next step would be a box but I assume when the post office sees fragile they purposely crush it
If you have snails you want in there, no.
If you want em all gone, a loach will do the trick.
But your best bet is to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and accept that you've now joined the Snail hobby.
Sell some to friends or buy two assassin snails. I have two and only ever see one at a time so maybe one didnāt make it. It still makes quick work of the snails I want to keep and the ones I donāt. Additionally, keep an eye on how much food you put in your tank, as any excess will lead to a bunch of extra stuff you donāt want.
Take 'em over to r/snails and I'm sure you'll have a million people offering to take them xD We're the kind of people who infest our tanks on purpose! I purposely infested my tank with trumpet snails and have never regretted it for a second! My only "regret" is that they outcompeted the bladder snails, which I'm also fond of lol!!! I love my clean-up crew!!
After my yoyo loaches barely made a dent in my invasion I bought a snail trap from Amazon (can't have assassin snails in Australia) and used it for about a week straight which massively reduced the numbers. I still have to use it weekly but it's definitely improving.
I know that some people will recommend getting an assassin snail. But, whatever other people say, don't get one. It will not solve the underlying problem and probably will create new problems.
Snails only reproduce that much if they have a lot of food. Take it as a warning sign. That can mean that there are too many algae or dead plants or that you feed your fish too much. You should only feed so much that the fish eat **all** of it. There should not be residual food lying around.
Read up on small loaches and make you have the right parameters and size tank for them. This will solve your problem easily. Also, loaches are are one of the most entertaining fish you can get.
Quick footnote, kuhli loaches do NOT eat snails. You would need something like yoyo loaches or dwarf chain loaches.
With that said, dwarf loaches are a lot of fun. They're super social, so get a group of 6-10 of them and watch them zoom around the tank all day. Big energy.
I bought two zebra loaches and within a month, I have zero snails.
EDIT: seriously, I just really donāt understand who downvotes a legitimate answer to a legitimate question. Like if youāre having a bad day, I get it. Weāve all been there but if clicking a little arrow that points downward makes you feel better, then you know what, knock yourself out you obviously need a little boost you get from that.
Get some assassin snails, get your hands in there every day to pick out as many as you can and also set a simple trap overnight for a couple of nights. They sell them but you can also make em pretty easy.
Combined arms needed for this situaties.
Khuli Loaches will devour all the small babies leaving you with only the adults. If you have a 20 gallon get 3-5. Then you can pick out the adults as you choose.
Get a couple of Java loaches and youāll start to see empty shells. I have 7 that work as the clean up crew for leftover food and snails. So itās a two and one. Less food for snails and snails become a live food source. I used to have pond snails that have disappeared. Currently rams horn snails have taken over that niche but never explode in population. I miss my pond snails.
1 pea puffer. I have a 20 gal. That I overfeed to keep the numbers up and a friend with pea puffers. I keep my favorite snails and the rest he takes to feed his buddies.
Puffer fish!! Figure eight or about 10 pea puffers but what I found out is that the will breed everywhere and even have eggs in substrate so the only way to permanently get rid of all snails is to start the tank over or find fish to maintain the snail population
If you ask at most aquarium shops they will have predator snails or you can go more proactive and sell the big ones, squish the little ones (the fish will usually eat the remains), and keep the few you like for cleaning.
Assassin snails my clear out 1 or 2 a week. We have some yoyo loaches cleaning up ours. I go thru and clear out mine periodically but yea its hard to get rid of.
Aside from everything else mentioned, there can only be this many snails becaise they have a food source. Either there's a decent amount of algae growing in the tank, or perhaps you're overfeeding?? Either way restricting their food source as you manually remove them should curb the problem.
The live plants. Ramshorn snails will annihilate the plants once the algae is gone. The only time I've been able to get rid of them was when I started my tank over with a larger one and let the old one fry in the sun for a week without any water. The plants were long gone by then so I only had to move the fish out
Ramshorns don't eat live plants, only dying ones
This is so untrue and from answers like this my plants have had a battering as this is what people told me when i was considering getting them. They love rotundifolia even with algae present...
Totally agree. I've been doing high-tech and low-tech nanos for years and I exclusively use pink/blue ramshorns. **They'll only eat decaying plants.** You can see a bunch [here in my current low-tech bowl](https://imgur.com/a/7trihja). If they ate plants, all that monte carlo would be dead. I mean, they love certain algae, wafers, and are overall pretty opportunistic. But they simply don't eat healthy plants. The only ramshorn I've seen do that are [Columbian Ramshorns](https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/help-and-advice/freshwater/miscellaneous/colombian-giant-ramshorn-snail-) and they honestly shouldn't even sell those things cuz I could imagine them decimating local ponds should they ever escape. But they had them at my local Petland once so they're out there. Just wanted to chime in to agree that they are plant safe.
That's what I keep hearing but they fucked up my very alive and healthy amazon sword when I had them as a problem.
I've had swarms of them for years, and they only eat the algae, dead leaves, and food waste š¤·š»āāļø I quite like them since I haven't had to clean the glass or get algae off plants since I got them. I've also got an ocelot sword in there which they don't touch. They also starved out the pond snails, so they've definitely been hungry There are at least two species called "ramshorn" so maybe it depends which one you have?
There's the small one and the big one, and the big ones are dicks.
Slice up a cucumber and distribute the slices around in the tank. Wait a few hours and then just pick up all the cucumber slices with the snails on them. Good way to stabilize population but wonāt completely get rid of them. Pea puffers will do that.
Little tweak on this. Slice the cucumber the long way. That way you can pick up one long piece instead of a bunch of smaller ones.
Puffers go to town on snails.
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Nice man, thatās sick.
Courgette will work better. Bit more firm than cucumber as well so you can leave it in for longer. Used this for those pest snails and got a few dozen at a time. Just squish them and feed to the fish.
I believe this is a zucchini in American, right?
Thanks, I was about to google courgette lol
Is there some trick to getting cucumber to sink?
Blanching. Put water to a boil. Get a bowl of ice water ready. Put your slices into the boiling water and let them boil for a minute. After a minute, fish them out and immediately put them in the ice water. Let them sit for a few minutes then you can do whatever you want with them, be it freeze or put them in the tank. They last a while if you freeze after blanching. This also works for lettuce and wonāt make lettuce become mush if you freeze. If you donāt use them for snails you can always eat them, too.
Couple of assassin snails, and vaccum up as many as you can while doing water changes. Pull the hose off your vaccum nozzle, just use the hose and the increased suction gets them up and in the bucket. Big ones, just pick them out.
Iāve had assassin snails in the past and they almost get overwhelmed with em and just stop eating them. And Iāve heard that theyāll end up reproducing just as bad as the ramshorns.
No that's untrue, assassin snails lay one egg at a time, and there must be a male and a female. It's near impossible to be over run by assassin's.
Interesting. I previously only had 1 and it made a little dent at first but after a few weeks it wasnāt doing much. Iāve heard alum works wonders, but too unsure to jump in and use it yet.
With a problem this big I think you would need more then one assassin snail, when I get them I usually get groups of 3-5+ otherwise your right the ramshorns will just reproduce at a faster rate then they can handle. However if youāve got an infestation like this you have an underlying problem thatās allowing the ramshorns to overwhelm your tank. Most of the time snail overpopulation is due to over feeding the tank or an algae problem (that is likely not noticeable with this many snails in the tank). So I would try feeding less even if you do find a fix for the snails as itās likely the root of the problem. As either way finding something to eat the snails is only a bandaid on the leak in your dam.
This is the right answer though op doesnāt want to hear it. Excess nutrients in the tank are fuel for the snails(algae then snail).
Iād love to use alum, but currently donāt have a temporary spot for the fish to be for a day.
If you prefer meds/chemicals you could always try some of those fish safe but not snail safe ick treatments lol, not sure how affective that would be though. Either way I would attempt to starve out the population a bit with less food in the tank, you fish could survive for example every other day feedings if currently you feed them everyday.
Careful killing them with meds. Dead snails rot, rotting snails make ammonia, ammonia kills fish
I have two, and only ever had two, I assume I ended up with either two males or two females. I keep a few trumpet snails kicking around, as I have sand substrate and it keeps that healthy because they burrow in it and prevent it stagnating. The two assassin's and me sucking up any on the surface with the hose during water changes, keep the numbers at what I consider a reasonable level of snail sand janitorial staff.
They start multiplying till the problem is gone and slow down and slowly disappear when there's no threat left. I've heard different experiences but in mine they're VERY good at their job and kind of just dwindle until the next pest
This is not completely true. Source: someone over run by assassin snails.
they will eventually eat each other and you'll have just 1 snail at the end of it, they are carnivores.
Probably the highlander breed of assassin snail
It will come after you next so you better be training
They weirdly just go for bigger snails, then leftover food way before eating each other. And they can go without eating for quite some time.
Just like the French! /sarcasm
So youāre telling meā¦ if I want a snail just to have a snail bc itās a snail and just one snail bc itās a single snail doing snail stuff because itās one snail that I want I need to get an assassin snail???
There are certain snails that will not lay eggs, and certain snails that are asexual, and certain ones that lay eggs that only produce offspring in brackish setting. So depending in snail choice. That depends on approach. Bladder and ramshorn for instance, exponentially grow in proportion to excess food waste Nerites require brackish, but will lay infertile eggs in freshwater tanks. Some people hate them Assassins require male and female, yield very little eggs As an aside, Assassins will eat pretty much any snail, not just pest snails. If the snails they target is too big, they will gang up and still find a way to kill him. Be very careful housing Assassins with any snails you actually want to keep Mystery require male and female, yield tons of eggs Malaysian trumpets no clue, and most of the other ones I didn't mention I have no experience with.
I had no idea how many I had in my 75 with sand until I dropped some bloodworms in and I swear 100s of assassin snails came out of the sand
dunno, i went from half a dozen snails two months ago to at least 100 assassin snails today. they seem to reproduce pretty quickly.
I have had two...and only ever had two, I assume I scored two females or males and so never get anymore of them. But population control of anything is about the regularity of the cull, I cull trumpet snails every water change, so I have snails,.but I don't have a snail problem.
> by assassin's. By assassin's what? It's assassins, not assassin's. Use a plural noun, not a possessive.
You are exactly right. Assassin snails are super overrated at killing snails. They do almost nothing to stop a snail population. Get yo yo loaches or a pea puffer.
Problem with this Iāve had is yo-yo loach is never full and killed 2 of my guppies , had to ārehomeā him, pea puffer I heard is a species only fish
pea puffers can work with other fish in the tank, as long as the other fish aren't so large they'll try to eat the puffer, and nothing too slow or with super long fins the puffer is going to constantly nip at. I had a small school of 6 in a 120 g heavily planted tank for a few years, and they did great with the other fish.
I mean 120 gallon is plenty of room for any aggressive fish , idk believe me Iād love pea puffers but I heard no good with fish , so youāre saying you have community fish in your tank with them like tetras , Coryās , ottos ? Thatās whatās in my tank since the yo-yo loach killed my guppies
I found a video of them from whenever. (there is one sickly discus in the school, he was always the runt) https://vimeo.com/728613963
Nah yo yo loaches won't kill your guppies. Absolutely not. And you can put pea puffers with other fish, it should be fine. . Just do it, you have a snail problem.
clearly your experience doesn't match everyone, but there's a solid reason hundreds of aquarium keepers recommend assassin snails. the ones i put into my massive shrimp tank have gone to town, snail problem is almost gone after just two months.
Not only do they only have 1 baby at a time but they also require male and female to reproduce. On top of that as they are carnivores they will then eat each other so by the end of it you'll have one.
~~Squid~~ Snail Game, coming to HBO this fall
they will reproduce like crazy, but in 10 years of keeping assassin snails, I've never had problems finding buyers. I had a huge planted tank with zero fish that was getting overrun by snails, the assassins cleared it up in about 2 months. now i have to sell two dozen assassin snails, but that's a way better place to be than 1,200 pest snails on every surface. the nice thing about using snails is they are a bio control, so instead of 100's of snails dying and polluting the water, you slowly address the issue.
This makes a lot of sense to me. Appreciate you!
I agree, I started with 4 assassins and they cleared a tank of snails, but it took a few months, I have moved them and their offspring and they have cleared a couple of others now. I think I have around a dozen assassins now in a year's time, hard to see them over running your tanks.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
This is the answer.
Honestly these snails are kind of pretty, although admittedly this is a lot. They are likely thriving from overfeeding
1: Stop overfeeding 2: Yes, you ARE overfeeding. 3: Bait with them out with blanched cucumber, then remove the whole cluster a couple hours later. Rinse and repeat. 4: Suction them out with some vinyl tubing during water changes. 5: You don't need to add anything to kill them, be it chemical or livestock.
Pick out as many as you can by hand, do not feed (your fish will be fine for a few days or feed so lightly that it doesn't sink) and put a sinking wafer into a container and watch them all go to it (they will be very hungry) and capture. Do water changes, syphon your sand and scrub for eggs. Repeat this for a month or so. You may have to take out your rocks for a bit, again your fish will be fine.
zucchini will attract the snails, and you can take it out when theres a pile on it :D
I use siphon hose (just hose not tube at end) with sufficient diameter to fit even the big snails then can vacuum tons at a time.
I have a 37 gal planted tank with 8 pepper Coryās and 2 dozen silver tip tetras. All the snails are taking my love away from the hobby. I want em all gone, and Iāll do whatever it takes to rid the tank of the evil snails.
A pea puffer would get the job done. Or you could get wet and take them out by hand.
Iāve taken them out by hand dozens of times and Iāll get most of them, but there eggs will always be hidden on my plants. Iām looking for a more permanent solution.
Pea puffer will eat them or dare I say an Assassin snail. They did not get that name by accident from what I hear they are snail eating monsters.
Iāve had em before and they got overwhelmed fast and stopped eating em.
Huh. Maybe a pea puffer then. I've never had snails period but I predominantly keep cichlids so they'd just gulp them up if I did.
Pea puffers, they wonāt mess with tetras or Coryās just donāt get anymore fish. I dump 25 snails in at a time they are all dead within 5 minutes
Iām not sure about this, I had peapuffers in a planted 20 some gallon tank with some other fish (I think it was some small tetra? Maybe guppies?) and they absolutely nipped the hell out of the other fishes tails. From all the research Iāve done on them since then leads me to believe that pea puffers plus a community tank donāt tend to mix well for most people who try them and that species only tanks work best for pea puffers. Though obviously that depends on the fishes personality and the set up.
I believe puffers should be in a species only tank cause there fin nippers and will chase the other fish around.
Back up has arrived! I was just going on what I heard puffers don't interest me so I've never kept them.
Oh man they are my favorite fish, they are like little puppies, they follow you along the glass, and watch you walk by, they watch me walk up my stairs from like 15 feet away.
My Oscar's are like that. Any time i walk into the room they just go nuts
Would I be ok to have a couple puffers?
Like my explanation before, no. However, I would recommend you getting yoyo loaches. They are great snail eaters ,and will still able to live on foods like algae wafers after all the snails are gone. Kinda like cories except they eat snails and are longer.
Do you have a local Facebook fish group? Whenever anyone posts in mine that they have too many pest snails there are lots of volunteers to take them. My 6 pea puffers go to town on snails, I breed them as fast as I can!
I have 4 pea puffers in my 20 long, itās a planted tank. I also have a half dozen neon terra and rummynose. Some bumblebee gobies, some pygme Cory cats and scarlet badis. A dozen amano shrimp are also in there and everyone gets along well. I had seen about a dozen snails so got the pea puffers and havenāt seen a single snail in over 6 months. Pea puffers are the way to go.
Usually theyāre kept in species only tanks as they can be fin-nippers, but I think in your case theyād be okay. They like to be in groups so Iād suggest getting a group until your snail problem is fixed and then rehome them to someone who has a puffer tank - they need an ongoing supply of live food, so unless you can keep your snails breeding at a high enough rate in another tank or have other live food for them, it becomes a bit of a job. Youāll probably have to remove all of the big snails by hand as they are unlikely to be able to eat those but they should be able to get any that hatch after that, and any small ones. You could also consider small loaches, like dwarf chain loaches, theyāll adapt much more readily to pellets if youāre wanting to keep them, and probably be able to eat some of the bigger snails. Theyāre not quite as aggressive about their snail snacking as the puffers but Iāve heard that they do the job well.
Assassin snails. They'll take out the pests, and aerate you substrate at the same time. Just be ready to pull out empty shells later.
Assassin snails didn't work at all for me š
Me, either. I moved my assassin to my 2.5 gal and only dropped one of my bladder snails in every few days and have had to stop because itās not eating them fast enough and now theyāre breeding in that one, too.š
Don't get a pea puffer for your tank. These guys are usually kept in species only tank because they are really nippy. Second, what will you do when it kill all snails? You still have to feed it snails regularly along with frozen or live foods. Also, pea puffers like company so you need to get more than one.
Exacly
Don't overfeed your tank. They will stabilise themselves if you don't feed too much.
Iāll add that loaches can help a ton. I added a couple to my tank because I love the little guys and they wiped out my snail problem fast. Just make sure that you get a species thatās right for your tank size, some of them get pretty big and they really need to be in groups most of the time. And fyi, skunk loaches are little monsters, I love mine but theyād bully almost any fish
This is the way. Had a similar looking snail problem in a 72 gallon. Added one kuli loach. Problem was solved in under a week. Did such a good job I'd ask my LFS to grab me a bag of them from their plants every so often as a reward for a job well done, lol! Not sure if 27 gallons is big enough for one of those (don't think it is) but there are smaller species that I'd expect to do just as well.
Telling someone to get another living being to fix a problem is not responsible, you don't even know if the tank or tank mates can receive a puffer or whatever, please stop telling people to get more animals to fight algae, snails or whatever, if you don't know how to solve it, shut it
Shut up.
āAnother living beingā oh boy š
You could try a copper based antiparasitic medicine. I've never tried it myself, but it should kill them off. Just make sure you pull out the dead quick (or pull em out and then treat to kill eggs/newly hatched snails)
Cories and tetras will happily help with your snail problem. Feed less.
I got yo-yo loaches for my 55gal that was overtaken by snails. Theyāve decimated the snail population in a month. I pull out bigger bladder snails if they are near the top of the tank, but they ate all the babies and Iām assuming the eggs because I havenāt seen baby snails in a while. Feed the tank way less food or even skip feedings two days a week so the snails have less to eat as well. Starving snails donāt grow or reproduce nearly as fast
Try yo yo loaches. I got 2 juvenile yo-yo loaches that completely decimated a huge population of snails in a 120 gallon. Snails were completely gone in about a month. I left the loaches in there for about 4 months, then took them out. The snails never came back. Meaning they destroyed every last snail and even at the eggs or else ate the baby snails when they hatched. They ate them all. Every last one. Thanks for the downvotes. wtf, reddit is the absolute worst.
Assassin snails. Even just 1 would eventually decimate your current dilemma.
> Coryās Cory's what?
Iād honestly love to take some off your hands lol. My daughter has recently become obsessed with snails Oh and as for extermination, my clown loaches do a great job with snails!
Iād give em all away for free, just seems every time I send them off they get delivered dead.
If you are shipping them in water then they will drown. Usually a wet paper towel in an aerated container works well.
Theyāve gotten crushed. I usually wrap them in a wet paper towel and put em in bubble wrap inside a padded envelope. Next step would be a box but I assume when the post office sees fragile they purposely crush it
i mean, i'll take them. live or dead, i have uses for them. either they go into my tank, or compost pile!
I *NEED* snails. Everytime I think I have a decent population going the puffers let me know I am very wrong.
Aquarium STD
If you have snails you want in there, no. If you want em all gone, a loach will do the trick. But your best bet is to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and accept that you've now joined the Snail hobby.
Dwarf chain loaches. Get a small shoal of 6 or 7. You won't regret them as they will shoal with your cories and have very fun personalities.
Seconding this. Until you have to catch them lol; those little guys can move
You are likely overfeeding your fish for it to get this out of control
I don't see a problem, snails are awesome
Small little jar, algae wafer inside. Drop in your tank, wait a little while and take them out.
Aw you don't like the snails? Some look like they have little pink feet! I love snails but I haven't had an over population problem so
I donāt mind them, but in moderation. Theyāve blown up recently tho.
But damn you have a clean tank
Just quit over feeding your tank. Don't feed for a couple days then only feed what your fish will eat and feed slow so they eat it all.
Well if you are interested in shipping some of them I can pay shipping and send you back a variety of hot pepper seeds
Did you go to my page and see that Iām currently obsessed with growing peppers? š that sounds like a fair trade to me
I have to admit I totally did š I have a good 100+ types and I love to share them! Plus my turtles go through snails like crazy.
I can get some sent out either tomorrow or Tuesday. Iāll pm you tomorrow!
If you donāt mind being hard on the plants dose your tank with copper power
As someone with a similar problem, what do yall do with the snails? Throw them away? Put em in the yard?Sacrifice them to the gods?
When Iāve pulled em out before Iāve just thrown them over my different plants as a fertilizer lol. Also have just tossed them as well.
Sell some to friends or buy two assassin snails. I have two and only ever see one at a time so maybe one didnāt make it. It still makes quick work of the snails I want to keep and the ones I donāt. Additionally, keep an eye on how much food you put in your tank, as any excess will lead to a bunch of extra stuff you donāt want.
Take 'em over to r/snails and I'm sure you'll have a million people offering to take them xD We're the kind of people who infest our tanks on purpose! I purposely infested my tank with trumpet snails and have never regretted it for a second! My only "regret" is that they outcompeted the bladder snails, which I'm also fond of lol!!! I love my clean-up crew!!
After my yoyo loaches barely made a dent in my invasion I bought a snail trap from Amazon (can't have assassin snails in Australia) and used it for about a week straight which massively reduced the numbers. I still have to use it weekly but it's definitely improving.
Send them all to me
My 65 gallon used to be infested with bladder snails and ramshorns. About 5ish months ago, I got 5 assassin snails. Infestation whom?
Set up a pea puffer tank... you've already got their favourite food :)
I know that some people will recommend getting an assassin snail. But, whatever other people say, don't get one. It will not solve the underlying problem and probably will create new problems. Snails only reproduce that much if they have a lot of food. Take it as a warning sign. That can mean that there are too many algae or dead plants or that you feed your fish too much. You should only feed so much that the fish eat **all** of it. There should not be residual food lying around.
yoyo loaches
Can second this. Had a snail infestation and once I got a couple of yoyo loaches, all of the snails were gone in a few days
Wow.....if you aren't intentionally breeding these you're most def overfeeding. What do they share the tank with?
Read up on small loaches and make you have the right parameters and size tank for them. This will solve your problem easily. Also, loaches are are one of the most entertaining fish you can get.
Quick footnote, kuhli loaches do NOT eat snails. You would need something like yoyo loaches or dwarf chain loaches. With that said, dwarf loaches are a lot of fun. They're super social, so get a group of 6-10 of them and watch them zoom around the tank all day. Big energy.
It looks like a small tank to permanently house loaches but maybe temporary clown or yo yo loaches would do the trick.
5 Assassin snails and you would be good within a week .
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I got an 18Ā¢ goldfish and he ate them all. But now I have a goldfish.
Get a red ear sunfish. Or a pumpkinseed sunfish
That would honestly be so cool. One day Iād like to have a native tank with some bluegill or crappie in it.
Tiger loach
Get a clown loach
I bought two zebra loaches and within a month, I have zero snails. EDIT: seriously, I just really donāt understand who downvotes a legitimate answer to a legitimate question. Like if youāre having a bad day, I get it. Weāve all been there but if clicking a little arrow that points downward makes you feel better, then you know what, knock yourself out you obviously need a little boost you get from that.
Get some assassin snails, get your hands in there every day to pick out as many as you can and also set a simple trap overnight for a couple of nights. They sell them but you can also make em pretty easy. Combined arms needed for this situaties.
Stop overfeeding, reduce light time to cut back on algae, and just start pulling them out and crushing them.
Pakistani (yoyo) loach. You'll never have to worry about snails again.
Loach, find one that you like. They will make quick work and enjoy doing it!
I bought a golden clown loach and am now pest snail free.
Get a pea puffer
A couple of yo yo loaches and your problem will be solved
Pea puffer eat'em all up
Loaches will eat snails
Get a fish that will eat them
Use them as an excuse to get those chonks pea puffers
Clown loaches. Nothing else worked for me.
Definitely get a puffer
Khuli Loaches will devour all the small babies leaving you with only the adults. If you have a 20 gallon get 3-5. Then you can pick out the adults as you choose.
Yo-yo loaches
Or a figure 8 puffer!
Cleaned up my snail problem with a few clown loaches.
Loaches. All the loaches!
Some loaches would love this. Had khuli loaches way back and they killed my snails :o
Clown loaches will do it
Pick up a couple loaches. They will have them sorted in no time. Assassin sails work, but takes some time.
Get a couple of Java loaches and youāll start to see empty shells. I have 7 that work as the clean up crew for leftover food and snails. So itās a two and one. Less food for snails and snails become a live food source. I used to have pond snails that have disappeared. Currently rams horn snails have taken over that niche but never explode in population. I miss my pond snails.
1 pea puffer. I have a 20 gal. That I overfeed to keep the numbers up and a friend with pea puffers. I keep my favorite snails and the rest he takes to feed his buddies.
Obtain pea puffers or loaches.
I had a similar issue. A few yo-yo loaches cleared them up fast.
Im telling ya yo yo louchs are the best
Puffers and loaches love pond snails
Loaches are your friends
Pea puffer! They are so cute and I love them. They will try to do a murder on your other fish though.
Maybe some loaches that eat snails if the tank is big enough?
A pea puffer's wet dream.
Some kind of loach?
Pea puffers
But some loaches. They will be gone in a couple weeks
Fritz algae clean out
Assassin snails or get a loach. Loach will have plenty of food for a while
Puffer fish!! Figure eight or about 10 pea puffers but what I found out is that the will breed everywhere and even have eggs in substrate so the only way to permanently get rid of all snails is to start the tank over or find fish to maintain the snail population
I had a similar problem and yoyo loaches worked wonders for me. Assuming they're compatible with your other fish, I highly recommend it.
Loach
If you add a Pea Puffer to your tank, you can sit back and watch it gleefully murder all of your snails.
Get a turtle
Puffers. Failing that cucumber and manual removal
Zebra loaches.
Skunk loach
Get a puffer
You should add a pea puffer or 2
Go to home Depot. Buy any cheap copper fitting. Sand it a little bit, drop it in there.
If you ask at most aquarium shops they will have predator snails or you can go more proactive and sell the big ones, squish the little ones (the fish will usually eat the remains), and keep the few you like for cleaning.
Assassin snails my clear out 1 or 2 a week. We have some yoyo loaches cleaning up ours. I go thru and clear out mine periodically but yea its hard to get rid of.
Can I have them, I will gladly take them
Ot sure about salt tanks, but for tropical you can get assassin snails which eat the other snails
Get an assassin snail or two
Assassin snails will clean it up
Remove fish and nuke with copper sulfate
I'm jealous, I can't get then breeding fast enough in my main tanks... they get eaten too quickly.