nomoreink

Here's my situation: Last week I started cycling a brand new 20 gallon and I threw in some plants. Yesterday a few snails started showing up, and throughout the day I pulled 16-18 or so out of the tank. This morning I looked at the tank and couldn't see any.

Since I am still cycling the tank I haven't added any fish yet. I'm considering using that snail medicine that kills the snails just to make sure I have them eradicated, it would be nice to have a planted snail-less tank IMO. However I have heard that you should only use that medicine as a last resort because it is harmful to the fish. Is there any other reason why I shouldn't use it? Will my plants survive? And more importantly, if I leave it in long enough will all of the snails in there die?

Thanks for any help or suggestions anybody can give.

joy613

I don't have an over population of snails in my tanks. If I over feed then I do. I know some snail killing treatments will harm your plants. You can always use lettuce or zucchini as a bait to catch them. It is possible the snails will die during the cycle.

Butterfly

What are you using for an ammonia source to cycle your tank?
Carol

nomoreink

I'm putting in drops of pure ammonia every night

susitna-flower

You need to feed the bacteria every 12 hours, and I am really glad to hear you are going fishless!

As for the snails......IF you have tons of patience, just squish all as they show up.....it really is possible to use this method. Now that the main batch has hatched, if you will look every morning when you turn on the lights, and again in the evening before lights out, you should see 2 or 3 every day.....then after a week or two there won't be any more. The trick here is NOT to let the babies breed and lay more eggs.......

Good luck, and try to stay away from the chemicals...

nomoreink

Wow great, thanks for the advice!

nomoreink

I have another question. Sometimes I don't catch a snail until it has grown to 3-4 mm, could they be reproducing already at this size? Would I be able to find out at what size it starts laying eggs again if I id it? I'm just afraid that they might reproduce faster than I can remove them from the tank.

sirdarksol

It is possible that they are reproducing at that size, but I'm not positive. With diligence, Susitna's idea will work. You can supplement it by putting a leaf of lettuce in the tank, let it collect some snails, pull it out, clean it off, and then put it back.

I just let my pond snails be in the one tank that they were able to survive in (He Who Eats Snails is named thus for a reason, and I discovered in another tank that kuhli loaches and gold barbs are willing to eat small pond snails and/or pond snail eggs). The snails actually do a decent job of keeping the walls of the tank clean, and as long as I keep up on the water quality and don't overfeed the tank, their population doesn't explode.

You can also introduce Malaysian Trumpet Snails into your tank. They're the little cone-shaped snails. They tend to be pretty useful little guys, and I've found that they will compete with the pond snails for food and usually win.

eric_m

I just found a malaysian snail in my tank (im keeping mine.. hehehe).. just got an onion plant.. anyways.. I just read that the trumpet snail reproduce as quickly.. you havnt added fish yet so thats good.. I personally think that the snail med would work especially if you dont have fishes.. then do a complete water change once they are gone.. and continue with your cycle.. thats my opinion (i could be wrong.. like the blind leading the blind here im fairly new to this).. my reasoning here is that your open to anything since you do not have fishes and easier to restart.. providing your plants wont die..

Plan B would be what the others said.. you havnt mentioned what type of fish you are planning.. some actually eat snails...

Butterfly

Eric Malaysian trumpet snails are live bearers and most other snails are egg layers. Glad your keeping the MTS as they are very beneficial to your tank. The populations of both types of snails can be controlled with close monitoring of feedings and water changes and substrate vacuums.
Even if there are no fish in a tank snail killing meds will leave behind dead snails and a spike in ammonia. A multitude of dead snails would mean the tank would have to be taken apart and the cycle started again. Better to trap and to control
Since this is an old thread I never did hear how things went.
Carol