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June 28th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| Hitchikers
Reading the other posts and looking at photos, I've determined that my new plants had pond snail hitchikers. Someone said that some fish will eat the little boogers, I was wondering if molly's or platy's will eat 'em or maybe cory's? | 
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June 28th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| Clown loaches and puffers are big snail eaters.
Corys, mollies, and platies will not eat snails from what I know.
Everytime you see one just squish it. That will slowly but surely get rid of most of them.
In order to prevent more snail hitchhikers. Get a bowl of ice cold water and dip your plants in it for about 5 seconds before adding to the tank. Kills any snail eggs and most snails. | |
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June 28th, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Coryd55  Clown loaches and puffers are big snail eaters.
Corys, mollies, and platies will not eat snails from what I know.
Everytime you see one just squish it. That will slowly but surely get rid of most of them.
In order to prevent more snail hitchhikers. Get a bowl of ice cold water and dip your plants in it for about 5 seconds before adding to the tank. Kills any snail eggs and most snails. | wow! nice information to have! ty cory!!! | |
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June 28th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| Welcome.
Shawnie I have a feeling you are tracking my posts! Haha | |
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June 28th, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| LOL it does seem that way doesnt it...but you seem to be the only one talking hahahaha I swear im not a "fishlore stalker"  | |
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June 28th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thanks for the info, i'll definately keep it in mind. The ice trick sounds like a really good idea, squishing them sounds pretty barbaric. Simple solutions are always my favorite. | |
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July 2nd, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| Well there is a upside to the "barbaric" solution, the fish will love the squished snail delight. I know its kind of  sick. But it benefits to the fishes diet, snails are high in protein.  | |
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July 3rd, 2008
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| | Fish Addict
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Coryd55 In order to prevent more snail hitchhikers. Get a bowl of ice cold water and dip your plants in it for about 5 seconds before adding to the tank. Kills any snail eggs and most snails. | Seriously, thats kind cool  | |
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July 11th, 2008
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| | Fish Bum
| Ok, I haven't added anything to my tank in months and I started noticing a bunch of snails on the big rocks in the morning when I turn on the lights. Like I said, I haven't added anything to the tank in months, no fish, no plants, no nothing.
Where could these things have come from? | |
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July 11th, 2008
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| | Fish Helper
| They probably came in on what ever you added last if it was eggs it could take weeks or a month before they are big enough to notice and when I had an outbreak I noticed they would go down in the gravel and I may not see one for awhile but they were there. Next time you vac really dig it into the gravel and see if you dont turn up a few more. They will reproduce like crazy too look for snail egg clusters on the glass they are tiny but you can see them. SNAILS | |
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July 11th, 2008
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| | Fish Bum
| It's weird because I have fake plants and I never add the water from the fish store to my tank.
I'll keep them for a little while. I need them to eat the algea in the tank. Next week I'll end up cleaning and re-arranging the tank again, so I will take care of them then. | |
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July 11th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| I took Rainmans advice and started squishing them every morning. The fishies look forward to the extra breakfast | |
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July 14th, 2008
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| | Fish Bum
| I decided to clean the tank early. Sunday I took the everything out of the tank and cleaned it in some super hot water. I also vacuumed the gravel and sucked a bunch of the snails up. This morning when I turned on the light I didn't see any snails on the big rocks. Hopefully they won't be back. I'm going to have to do the same thing to my 10g guppy tank next week. | |
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July 14th, 2008
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| | Moderator
| Johawk- be careful taking everything out of the tank and giving it a thorough cleaning. Most of the beneficial bacteria is colonized on the gravel and on the decor and thorough cleaning can cause you to have an ammonia spike.
Usually a snail population explosion is indicative of over feeding, incomplete gravel vacuums . If theres extra food anywhere they will find it and when food is plentiful they will breed.
Carol | 
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July 14th, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| just found some hitch hikers in my bettq 10 gallon divided tank!!!! i added new plants but thought I cleaned them well...guess not LOL
I had one yesterday..or one that was visible to the eye..and today I have about 20 LOL guess ill be doing a nice vaccuum | |
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July 14th, 2008
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| | Fish Bum
| So thats where all my snails went 
Just Kidding.... I dont even have my tank set up yet.... | |
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July 15th, 2008
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| | Fish Bum
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Butterfly Johawk- be careful taking everything out of the tank and giving it a thorough cleaning. Most of the beneficial bacteria is colonized on the gravel and on the decor and thorough cleaning can cause you to have an ammonia spike.
Usually a snail population explosion is indicative of over feeding, incomplete gravel vacuums . If theres extra food anywhere they will find it and when food is plentiful they will breed.
Carol | I'm sure it is due to uneaten food. I usually only vacuum ever couple months or so. And at that time, I end up re-arranging everything in the tank as well. I am going to buy some shrimp next week to act as my cleaning crew.
I didn't take the gravel out, I just vacuumed it. The rest of the stuff I took out and rinsed it. For a week after doing stuff like this, I end up doing 25 - 30 percent water change every couple days. This is partially due to my impatience and not wanting to wait to have everything settle again.
Last edited by Johawk; July 15th, 2008 at 02:39 PM.
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July 15th, 2008
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| | Moderator
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Johawk I'm sure it is due to uneaten food. I usually only vacuum ever couple months or so. And at that time, I end up re-arranging everything in the tank as well. I am going to buy some shrimp next week to act as my cleaning crew.
I didn't take the gravel out, I just vacuumed it. The rest of the stuff I took out and rinsed it. For a week after doing stuff like this, I end up doing 25 - 30 percent water change every couple days. This is partially due to my impatience and not wanting to wait to have everything settle again. | Cool! Even with shrimp you will need to vacuum more often. Good Luck! Let us know how the tank goes.
David C how is your tank doing?
Carol | |
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July 16th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| I'm being overrun by snails, killing nearly 30 a day right now  I think I'm starting to notice the eggs they're laying at the water line (little white dots) and I'm cleaning them out before they can hatch. If things dont start improving, I'm going to have to change my stocking plan and find something that eats snails aggressively, but I'd rather not do that. I hope patience and vigilant snail hunting will finally pay off. | |
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July 16th, 2008
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| | Moderator
| Quote:
Originally Posted by David C I'm being overrun by snails, killing nearly 30 a day right now I think I'm starting to notice the eggs they're laying at the water line (little white dots) and I'm cleaning them out before they can hatch. If things dont start improving, I'm going to have to change my stocking plan and find something that eats snails aggressively, but I'd rather not do that. I hope patience and vigilant snail hunting will finally pay off. | Try cutting down on feedings(a fishes stomach is the size of one eye), do a thorough vacuuming, a large water change and see if that helps.
Putting a piece of lettuce or other veggie in and removing it snail covered the next morning is also an option. | |
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July 16th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| I'm feeding the bare minimum, I stand and watch to make sure all food is consumed and remove any that isn't (i use a feeding station to make this easier) and I vaccuum thoroughly with my daily water change. I think i'm starting to have an effect, I just let it go too long before I started. I went from 2 visible snails to this problem seemingly overnight.
Lesson Learned: Snails aren't cute, kill them in the beginning  | |
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July 16th, 2008
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| | Moderator
| Quote:
Originally Posted by David C I'm feeding the bare minimum, I stand and watch to make sure all food is consumed and remove any that isn't (i use a feeding station to make this easier) and I vaccuum thoroughly with my daily water change. I think i'm starting to have an effect, I just let it go too long before I started. I went from 2 visible snails to this problem seemingly overnight.
Lesson Learned: Snails aren't cute, kill them in the beginning | keep up the good job, it may take a bit but they will disappear. It's just that once they've established themselves it's hard to get rid of them.
Glad your monitorint the fishes food also. Most people foret to do that or forget what a small amount they need. The more they eat the more waste there is.
Carol | |
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July 16th, 2008
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| | Fish Bum
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Butterfly Cool! Even with shrimp you will need to vacuum more often. Good Luck! Let us know how the tank goes.
David C how is your tank doing?
Carol | I wish I could. Between work and not being home most weekends, I do what I can. Hopefully the shrimp will help with the odd cleaning between the times I can vacuum. | |
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August 15th, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| uh oh, found some tiny snails on my sand substrate, i guess ill have to squish them, they must have come in on the anacharis i bought.
what type of snail could they be? | |
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August 15th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| They're usually just the mystery pond snail. Take care of them quickly or they become a serious problem, good luck with them.  | |
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August 15th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| Yes, they are a plague | |
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