Pond snails over-running my Shrimp tank !!

I dumped a pond snail (I think) into my 5 gallon tank before I got my red cherry shrimp.

Maybe more came in on the plants.

But now there are SOOO many snails that I can't count them all. Most are itty bitty, and seem to be multiplying like tribbles !

HOW do I get rid of them ?

It's a planted tank - would a piece of cucumber really attract them when there are several other plants to choose from already ?

Is there anything else I can do to keep the numbers down without harming the shrimp ?

 

This is what I would do

Dont feed for a week
Put in a piece if lettuce every night and take it out in the morning, then chunk it outside
Take 10-15 minutes a day, and take out the snails
Don't use any type of snail killer as snail killers have copper, using copper in your shrimp tank with kill them
Squish any snails you see
Cut down on feeding, usually when there are lots of snails it means that you are overfeeding

 

Cut down on feeding, usually when there are lots of snails it means that you are overfeeding

Not sure this is true for pond snails, it is true for trumpet snails though. Pond snails will breed anyway.

 

How often are you feeding your shrimp and how much? Shrimp can be easily overfed and the excess food are then consumed by the snails. You control the population with how much you feed. I would first cut down on your feeding.

Do deep gravel vacs to remove excess food.

Then I would pretty much do everything Fishyfriend suggested. Using any meds will most likely have harmful affects on your shrimp as well.

 

The snail explosion is a definite sign that there is much uneaten food in your shrimp tank. I would stop feeding and work on lifting the debris out of the substrate. Depending on your plants, then snails may start eating on them.

It is going to take some time to remove all the snails. Hand picking, the lettuce leaf, cucumber, etc will help but will not work overnight either.

Good luck.

 

Not sure this is true for pond snails, it is true for trumpet snails though. Pond snails will breed anyway.

its true for all types of asexual snails mate, its true for ramshorns, MTS, bladder snails. etc.


oh yeah, and get a biological population controller such as assasin snails once you have very few pond snails left

 

Won't the assassin snail eat the shrimp too ?

 

No. Only if the shrimp is dead . Wich is the beauty of it all because they help eat the decaying flesh before it poisons the tank via amonia. There really is no way for them to catch the shrimp, the shrimp just move away.

 

I've heard of them eating shrimp. I have a feeling it depends on shrimp density and the number of snails.

 

Read through that article. About Half if not more of that forum said that that was either a special case or the shrimp had died. If the snails are very hungry they will go after whatever the can, however putting them in a smaller container with some ponds for a few days should get them eating the pond snails. 2-3 assasins can take out a decent shrimp pop anyways.

 

In my snail tank, I notice that when I put in an algae wafer nearly the whole snail population will cover the wafer. I think if I wanted to, I could cut the amount of snails from about 250 to less than 10 by just pulling out the wafer

 

Until their eggs hatch . Wiping the lower sides of the tank will help remove eggs, although any eggs on the plants and decor are normally out of reach unless you feel like wiping every leaf. A large piece of spinache or lettuce or cellery can be used as a bait, putting it in a glass jar is twice as effective.

 

Well since pond snails are beneficial anyways you might as well keep them.

Seeing too many of them is an obvious sign of overfeeding, which acts as a good early alert for you to feed less and watch the water parameters.

 

Assassin snails should not bother the shrimp. But once they have taken care of all the pest snails, what are you going to with them? It is best to try and bait the pond snails, and remove them. Take them out with lettuce and other veggies as suggested. Don't overfeed, and in a couple months, the snails should be under control, if not completely gone.

 

I don't think they will ever be completley gone tbh but manageble. Also, assasins eat more then snails, they are just as easy to feed as say apple snails.

 

I physically picked out the largest snails, squished the tiniest ones that were on the glass, and put in a piece of lettuce.

Not a single one on the lettuce this morning though.
preferred variety ? Iceburg doesn't seem to be it if they do.

 

Good morning,

I feed my Pleco zucchinI every day. I find a good many pond snails on it from time to time and I just trash the slice, snails along with it.

Ken

 

Romaine lettuce. Iceberg has no nutrition and won't attract most snails. Also try cucumber, zucchini, green beans or pea pods.

Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk

 

Spinach seems to be a widley popular thing for them too.

 

Ok I have read the thread so having one or 2 baby snails in a brand new 5 day old tank should be no problem

 

Ok I have read the thread so having one or 2 baby snails in a brand new 5 day old tank should be no problem

That depends on the kind of snail, and what you consider to be "no problem" >.>

 

XD ohhh yes. If its ramshorns or ponds then 1-2 will become 100-200 easy, aswell as trumpets and I think rabbits.

 

Rabbits only produce one young per few weeks to a month, and otherwise are slow growers. They definitely do not increase their populations quickly, however, are far larger than the smaller snails and can be comparable to mystery snails in size.

 

So which other one am I thinking of? Was it just trumpets? Theres another I had at one point with a cones shell...? anyways, I do have some rabbits, I suppose I should have relized that.