Removing Pest Snails

Hey everyone. So I've had some issues with tadpole and ramshorn snails appearing in my tank (most likely from plants). At first I didn't mind them and their population seemed to be under control. I found three ramshorns in my main aquarium and moved them to my smaller tank where I'm raising my baby mystery snails in a breeder net.

Unfortunately the ramshorns have overrun my nursery tank and my main tank has had a spike in the tadpole snail population. I've found several transparent clusters of eggs on the glass and have since removed them.

I keep mystery snails in both aquariums, so any pest control would need to be safe for them. I know that overfeeding and negligent maintenance habits can cause an infestation. I feed once a day, vaccum the gravel a few times a week, and perform 30% water changes once a week. If possible, I would also like to keep some of the pest snails, because I think they're good for the tank in small numbers. Thoughts?

 

Put some cucumber in the tank and leave it overnight or for a few hours, then come back and remove the pest snails you find on it and repeat. You should be able to remove quite a few snails from the tank in this manner.

 

how big is your tank? you can go with some spotted puffers to eat the snails up.

 

I only have a 16 gallon. I doubt that would be large enough for a spotted puffer. For future reference, would a puffer harm mystery snails?

Thanks for this! Is there a certain way I should be disposing of the snails after removing them?

Put some cucumber in the tank and leave it overnight or for a few hours, then come back and remove the pest snails you find on it and repeat. You should be able to remove quite a few snails from the tank in this manner.

 

If the snail is smaller than its head most likely, if not, it might nibble.

 

yeah I think you are right it is a bit small... and no mystery snails are too big for them to attack. but you can use apple snails to get rid of them get 3-4 of them to get rid of the population.

 

Thanks everyone. This has been very helpful. I'm going to try the cucumber method.

 

good for you hope it works

 

Thanks for this! Is there a certain way I should be disposing of the snails after removing them?

I guess you could dispose of them however you see fit. I've heard some people make "Snello" with excess snails and use it as a fish food I guess. Best of luck with the snails!

 

So the cucumber method took care of a good portion of the snails. For the rest, I decided to stop by Petsmart and try my luck with a Betta. He's been cruising around the tank nipping at the pest snails, and is generally uninterested in the mysteries.

 

gl!!

 

I use the cucumber method to remove them form my shrimp tank because it was getting overrun.

Yeah, some Bettas do kill Ramhorns but the snails will adapt & hide when sensing danger. My baby betta has a kill count of 2 that I know of. I have several Ramshorns with Bettas and a few in my featherfin catfish tank for past few months, no kills seen so far.

I'm currently overrun with them. I am feeding the babies to my silver dollar tank as I had to push back buying a dwarf puffer for about 2 months. The silvers love them and since they're very small, goes down in 1 bite. Good calcium source.

 

So the cucumber method took care of a good portion of the snails. For the rest, I decided to stop by Petsmart and try my luck with a Betta. He's been cruising around the tank nipping at the pest snails, and is generally uninterested in the mysteries.

yes, they ignore them pretty much, but some betta will try to eat antenna & eyes thinking they are worms.

 

yes, they ignore them pretty much, but some betta will try to eat antenna & eyes thinking they are worms.

I was worried about that, hoping it won't be the case with this particular betta. The mysteries are pretty active right now and he doesn't seem to care about their feelers or eyestalks.

Nice idea using them as a food source. I've started crushing some of the baby ramshorns that I find in my nursery tank and feeding them to the betta. The main tank has mostly bladder snails. I considered getting a pea puffer, but after reading that they would still try and eat mystery snails, I decided to try the betta.

Is the cucumber method working well for you in the shrimp tank?

 

yes, I leave the cucumber in for a while & it'd be full of baby snails. I have a 10 gallon tank just for snails.

I also remove them if I see them climbing on the glass of the shrimp tank or if they are adult size (if they were hidden from view).

I've been doing this for about 3 months and the shrimp tank is 90%+ just shrimp now.

I was removing snails so shrimp would not have food competition & breed better. I have approx 16 adults, 5 juveniles and my 2 shrimp females just hatched their new babies in the 6 gallon Aqueon Ascent tank.

 

Nice! Thanks for the input and congratulations on the babies!

 

yes, I leave the cucumber in for a while & it'd be full of baby snails. I have a 10 gallon tank just for snails.

I also remove them if I see them climbing on the glass of the shrimp tank or if they are adult size (if they were hidden from view).

I've been doing this for about 3 months and the shrimp tank is 90%+ just shrimp now.

I was removing snails so shrimp would not have food competition & breed better. I have approx 16 adults, 5 juveniles and my 2 shrimp females just hatched their new babies in the 6 gallon Aqueon Ascent tank.

Have you tried crushing a snail and dropping it in the shrimp tank? Shrimp just LOOOOVE fresh snail meat.