How Do I Get Rid Of Mini Ramshorn Snails?

I recently noticed, after propagating my ludwigia and argentine sword, some unwelcome guests in my tank who I pretty much immediately identified as minI ramshorn snails, due to their tiny size and the fact that their shells lay sideways when they clime up the glass of my tank. I have no experience with pest snails, but I do have some knowledge, so I have taken a few precautions. First, I used a gravel vac to clean most of the waste off of the top of my sand. Then I stirred up any sand that I could without loosening up my sparse carpet of micro sword, and did a 50% water change. Finally, I started crushing any snails I see, so far I have killed about a dozen of the minI rams horns.

I have heard conflicting opinions about whether assassin snails will kill these tiny buggers, due to their small size. I was planning on going to petco sometime this week to pick up 3 zebra danios, maybe like 4 amano shrimp, and 3 nerite snails(my local lfs keeps good care of almost all of their fish, but keeps their zebrafish in overcrowded unhealthy conditions for some reason), but I don't want to get just nerites if assassins snails will kill the pest snails. I am going to get the 3 nerites to keep the glass free of algae, and a few more amano shrimp (I currently have 9) to eat the snail eggs and clean the algae off of the plants and wood. Should I get assassin snails along with the nerites? If so how many?

Finally, how will I be able to permanently eradicate all the snails in the tank? My plan would be to remove all other invertebrates from the tank, and maybe fish if there is a chance it might be harmful, move them all to a temporary 10 gallon setup. Then after that is done, dose the tank with copper for a bit. Will this for sure kill all of the minI ramshorn snails? Will this kill my tank's cycle? I really hate the idea of having pest snails in my tank, and don't think I will ever be able to bring myself to appreciate or like them, so I am willing to go to pretty far lengths to eradicate them. I appreciate any suggestions.

 

One assassin snail in time will take care of every snail in the tank. This may or may not including your nerites. At my local lfs, I have seen many empty nerite shells in tanks that also hold assassin snails. I'm simply assuming that the assassins are eating the nerites. There are mixed reviews about keeping the two together.

Pest snails are only a problem if you overfeed your tank or if you have plant matter and detritus. Pest snails are an indicator of too much food but also are great for keeping your tank clean. Your amanos, IME, won't touch anything that isn't plant matter and neither will the nerites. "Pest" snails keep your tank in a healthy balance, up to a certain point.

 

One assassin snail in time will take care of every snail in the tank. This may or may not including your nerites. At my local lfs, I have seen many empty nerite shells in tanks that also hold assassin snails. I'm simply assuming that the assassins are eating the nerites. There are mixed reviews about keeping the two together.

Pest snails are only a problem if you overfeed your tank or if you have plant matter and detritus. Pest snails are an indicator of too much food but also are great for keeping your tank clean. Your amanos, IME, won't touch anything that isn't plant matter and neither will the nerites. "Pest" snails keep your tank in a healthy balance, up to a certain point.

You are the first person to say that one assassin snail will completely eradicate pest snails, do you have personal experience? Also, will the assassin snails even go after the minI rams horns? They are literally only 1-3 mm large each. I thought amanos would eat snail eggs? I guess it doesn't matter, I'm eventually going to move out the fish for a day or two along with the most sensitive plants, which I will bleach dip, and then treat the tank with copper for those two days. Will copper kill my tank's cycle? Also, would I have to do a 100% water change after the copper treatment, or could I just add prime since that detoxifies heavy metals? Thanks

Your amanos, IME, won't touch anything that isn't plant matter and neither will the nerites.

Lol, legit 30 minutes after reading this I feed bloodworms and get this on camera XD

If you can't tell what the shrimp's eating, it's a blood worm.

 

I don't personally know if it's true, but I've heard that most inverts (especially snails) can't live very well in a tank that has been copper treated. Something about it getting in the seals, and leeching back out.

 

I don't personally know if it's true, but I've heard that most inverts (especially snails) can't live very well in a tank that has been copper treated. Something about it getting in the seals, and leeching back out.

I just did some research, and I'm pretty sure your right... but I just had an idea. What If I were to remove all the fish and plants from the tank and into my 10 gallon, then add 1 gallon of bleach to my 20 gallon tank? Of course I would move my filter media to prevent my cycle from dieing off. Would the bleach evaporate quickly with a few water changes and some extra aeration from an air stone? Also, I know bleach would for sure kill the snails, but would it kill the eggs? Of course I would do a bleach/alum dip for the plants that I removed, and bake my removed drift wood and rocks in the oven. Would this work for killing all of the snails in the tank without loosing the ability to keep inverts?

 

I just did some research, and I'm pretty sure your right... but I just had an idea. What If I were to remove all the fish and plants from the tank and into my 10 gallon, then add 1 gallon of bleach to my 20 gallon tank? Of course I would move my filter media to prevent my cycle from dieing off. Would the bleach evaporate quickly with a few water changes and some extra aeration from an air stone? Also, I know bleach would for sure kill the snails, but would it kill the eggs? Of course I would do a bleach/alum dip for the plants that I removed, and bake my removed drift wood and rocks in the oven. Would this work for killing all of the snails in the tank without loosing the ability to keep inverts?

I would assume so. Just make sure that you scrub the interior down really good with dechlorinator and then lots of extra water rinses I'd say. I'd wait for another opinion though.

 

I would assume so. Just make sure that you scrub the interior down really good with dechlorinator and then lots of extra water rinses I'd say. I'd wait for another opinion though.

Alright, do you think adding bleach directly into the tank would also kill snails in the substrate? Or would I remove the substrate, and rinse it out separately in a 9 parts water, 1 part bleach solution? Or should I just get another bag of substrate all together, it's just cheap black diamond blasting sand.

 

Alright, do you think adding bleach directly into the tank would also kill snails in the substrate? Or would I remove the substrate, and rinse it out separately in a 9 parts water, 1 part bleach solution? Or should I just get another bag of substrate all together, it's just cheap black diamond blasting sand.

I'd probably just get new sand in that case. It's cheap, easy to clean, and saves the headache.

 

Anybody have anything against me bleaching the tank and plants, and baking the decor?

 

Bleaching? This all sounds too drastic to me. Just syphon the ones which are visible at water change time.

If you do this each week they will gradually reach a level where you barely notice them. This is what I do.

I now know that you can have a pest snail problem without apparent overfeeding or dead leaves etc. being present. I don't know why but one of my six aquaria has this problem, snails just love to live there. It receives the least fish food of all my aquaria.

 

You are the first person to say that one assassin snail will completely eradicate pest snails, do you have personal experience? Also, will the assassin snails even go after the minI rams horns? They are literally only 1-3 mm large each. I thought amanos would eat snail eggs? I guess it doesn't matter, I'm eventually going to move out the fish for a day or two along with the most sensitive plants, which I will bleach dip, and then treat the tank with copper for those two days. Will copper kill my tank's cycle? Also, would I have to do a 100% water change after the copper treatment, or could I just add prime since that detoxifies heavy metals? Thanks

Lol, legit 30 minutes after reading this I feed bloodworms and get this on camera XD View attachment 348963
If you can't tell what the shrimp's eating, it's a blood worm.

I put two assassin snails on my 10 gallon and had no pest snails until I purposefully added some back in to clean up some extra detritus from my plants.
You could also get a fish that eats snails like a pea puffer, given it will be compatible with your other fish.

 

Assassin snails eat the ridiculously tiny (1-3mm) Malaysian trumpet snails in one of my tanks, they'll eat any snail they find.

 

Alright, I'm not getting assassin snails (I want nerite snails). I'm obviously not getting puffers as I have a community tanks, and loaches aren't an option. Also, I don't want to reduce their levels, I want to eradicate them. So I doesn't matter to me if bleaching and baking is drastic, I want to know how likely it is to work.

Assassin snails eat the ridiculously tiny (1-3mm) Malaysian trumpet snails in one of my tanks, they'll eat any snail they find.

Alright, but I know assassin snails reproduce readily and I don't want to replace one problem with another. I am going to pick up extra shrimp and corys to get.a handle on their eggs.

 

Alright, but I know assassin snails reproduce readily and I don't want to replace one problem with another. I am going to pick up extra shrimp and corys to get.a handle on their eggs.

Yhe good thing is you can sell or trade the assassin snails. I had 3 of them in my 100 gallon tank in February, I'm up to around 25 now. I originally got them to take care of a Ramshorn snail problem and they did the job wonderfully. when some of them get bigger they will go into my 55 gallon tank and some back to the pet store for credit.

 

Yhe good thing is you can sell or trade the assassin snails. I had 3 of them in my 100 gallon tank in February, I'm up to around 25 now. I originally got them to take care of a Ramshorn snail problem and they did the job wonderfully. when some of them get bigger they will go into my 55 gallon tank and some back to the pet store for credit.

Oh, cool. Even though I'm pretty sure people on this website sell snails without a permit, my family insists that you can't ship common aquatic snails across state borders without a permit, is this true? Or would I just be able to sell them to my lfs for credit? I'm going to pick up some false juliI corys and some assassin snails soon.

 

Have you tried just trapping them? Rachel O'Leary has a video on snail traps. Might be easier to try trapping them than emptying your entire tank.

 

Oh, cool. Even though I'm pretty sure people on this website sell snails without a permit, my family insists that you can't ship common aquatic snails across state borders without a permit, is this true? Or would I just be able to sell them to my lfs for credit? I'm going to pick up some false juliI corys and some assassin snails soon.

I.m not even going to get involved with shipping them, just do the LFS route.

 

Have you tried just trapping them? Rachel O'Leary has a video on snail traps. Might be easier to try trapping them than emptying your entire tank.

Yeah, I've tried cucumber and lettuce and neither attract any snails. I might try to set up a store bought trap after I buy 5 more zebra danios (all 5 of the ones I got from petco died, the 5 I got from my lfs are fine. Coincidence? I think not :/).

 

I have a tank with nothing but minI ramshorns in it. Mine go crazy for kale and spinach - try using one of them for trapping.

 

You can make your own trap from a water bottle and some lettuce/cucumbers. No need to buy a special trap.