RiffDawg15

I just noticed today in my 55 gallon tank that I am starting to get really small snails. The last couple days I saw one or two and each time I would remove them. Today I was watching my piranha eat when I noticed more of these small snails, probably 3 or 4 this time. Where are they coming from?? How do I get rid of them??

I do feed live feeder goldfish Im wondering if the snails are coming from them. Maybe the snail eggs are on the goldfish and then transfer to my tank when I feed them to my piranha??

Amnagrla

hmmm have you put any new plants in recently? I had that problem (still do...) because of a new plant that had snail eggs.

Here are some ideas:

1) I used a chemical that said it was safe for fish... I think it was called Snail-Rid or something. I had 5 fish die.
2) Everytime I see one, I pick it out.
3) If you take a plate, turn it upside down, put it in the water upside down on top of some food... only snails can get under the plate. If you leave it there for a while, you will get a lot of snails on the plate and you can just throw them away. Keep doing that until you stop getting snails on the plate.

Good luck!!

sirdarksol

Some good suggestions there. A few further ones:
Don't overfeed the tank. The snails will thrive on the extra food.
Do extra water changes. This will make it harder for algae to live in the tank, and algae is these snails' primary food.

I just live with my snails. If their population explodes, then I know that I've been overfeeding the tank or neglecting my water changes.

COBettaCouple

Loaches love eating snails, but I don't think they'd be good to put in that tank so I'd follow the advice already given with the little pond snails.

I don't think they'd be a problem to piranha, but they can put out waste and if they get onto fish, they might suck at the slime coating.

RiffDawg15

Has anyone tried using Had-A-Snail?? I really dont like adding chemicals to my water, as I really dont trust these kind of products that much, especially after reading about the first post losing 5 fish after using a snail removing product.

Anyone that has used had-a-snail can you give me some input on what you think about the product??

sirdarksol

All of the snail killers that I know of are based on copper, which is toxic to every living organism. The makers of those products gamble on inverts being more susceptible to copper poisoning than fish. However, a mistake in dosage or a mistake in the production of the stuff can spell doom for a tank, so I wouldn't mess with it.

RiffDawg15

Thank you for the information, I think I will just use the food under the plate trick and keep taking the snails out when I can. That should keep limit them at least.

Thanks everyone for your help and input.

tkfury

The msot common way to get rid of them that I've read is putting some veggies in the tank overnight and just removing any snails on it in the morning. I have to say, I haven't heard of putting it under a plate before. When I can start getting some plants for my main tank, I want to have some snails to add a little more character to the tank - if I ever have any problems I'm going to have to try the palte trick.

Amnagrla

lol I also heard of using a salt shaker.. as long as the opening is small enough that the fish can't get into it.


That's what I always thought before I experienced this infestation.. lol. "A couple of snails would be cute!" A couple hijacked my plant.. and then turned into hundreds!!

lolly877

hi i'm pretty new to all of this and i also have a problem with snails so i was jut wondering what sort of veggies would be good to put in the tank overnight as suggested above would love to hear some suggestions thanks! p.s sorry for using this thread but haven't worked out how to do my own yet

Amnagrla

lol it's fine. Cucumbers would work.