Snails Gone Bad

I have a 20 gallon fresh with a Lyre Tail Dalmatian Molly and a few cleaner fish. Some how we ended up with a snail. Next thing I know we have HUNDREDS! We noticed they stick to the plants so we took them out and cleaned them off but we still have snails. EVERYWHERE. Is there something other than removing them we can do? And we noticed a jelly on the leaves is that eggs?

 

Put in a few assassin snails. They will take care of the population. Good luck, keep us posted!

 

I will be looking into this thank you. I'm rather annoyed at this point. Soon as we think we got every last one out and gone...nope hundreds more all over the tank. Tiny annoying little snails everywhere.

 

Assassin Snails may be your best bet at this point. You can also help lower the reproduction rate by feeding less and even fasting the tank a few days. Don't worry, the fish will be alright.
Also, you can put cucumber at the bottom, many snails will gather on it to eat it and then you just take the cucumber and all the snails on it out.

Not the whole cucumber, a slice. You can also do zucchinI maybe even other veggies.

 

Ok I can do that. I know the fish are good. Only one of my albino cleaner fish seems to be bothered by them. Its more just appearance on my part. Its my daughters tank and she took a lot of time and allowance to make her tank what it is. And nothing more frustrating than a pre teen screaming at a tank because she is tired of snails! LOL So we will try the veggies thing til the assassin snail I just bought arrives! These little buggers are gonna go one way or another!

 

"And we noticed a jelly on the leaves is that eggs?" Yes, remove all clear dots that you find! Help stop the next generation.

 

Ok I can do that. I know the fish are good. Only one of my albino cleaner fish seems to be bothered by them. Its more just appearance on my part. Its my daughters tank and she took a lot of time and allowance to make her tank what it is. And nothing more frustrating than a pre teen screaming at a tank because she is tired of snails! LOL So we will try the veggies thing til the assassin snail I just bought arrives! These little buggers are gonna go one way or another!

I think he meant it would be okay to fast the tank and the fish would still be okay. But assassin snails can reproduce just like these snails can so be careful

 

Sympathise with you. I counted 3000 that I removed from my tank last year.
I found them annoying and believe that the amount of them dying caused problems for my water hardness.

I finally had to break the aquarium down, bake the gravel and rocks in the oven, wash the tank down and dry. I actually bought new plants and setup the whole tank from scratch - cycle and all. I was soooo frustrated
But I am ok now and if I see a single pest snail, in my tank, I will get a couple of assassin snails immediately.

 

You could do a diy snail trap using a empty bottle of water. Put food in. Snails go in.

 

even if you take everything and dry it once the snail eggs get wet again they will hatch. Assasin snails are good, depending on what else is in there, there are some copper based snail killers. It can make your water crash using those though. I agree with scarface about the snail traps!

 

I wouldn't use a chemical snail killer, because a mass die-off of snails inside the tank would cause an ammonia spike.

Have you considered a puffer fish? They eat snails. I know there are 1 or 2 species of freshwater puffers that get around 4-6 inches and would work in a community tank. Or you can do like I do, and get some pea puffers in their own tank, and just feed them snails from the main tank once or twice a week.

 

I wouldn't use a chemical snail killer, because a mass die-off of snails inside the tank would cause an ammonia spike.

Have you considered a puffer fish? They eat snails. I know there are 1 or 2 species of freshwater puffers that get around 4-6 inches and would work in a community tank. Or you can do like I do, and get some pea puffers in their own tank, and just feed them snails from the main tank once or twice a week.

Wait, what? I thought puffers could only work in their own tanks & would kill any other tank mates

 

Until you get your assassins put an iceberg lettuce leaf in the tank right after lights out. In the morning that lettuce leaf should be covered in snails and you can just lift them out. You may want to put it in a net before pulling it out to catch the snails that will let go before you can get it out.

I actually feed my pest snails iceberg lettuce. I have assassin snails and now that they have completely wiped out the pest snail population in my main tank I still want to occasionally feed them their favorite food so set up a snail breeding tank just for my pest (ramshorn) snails. When I put a leaf of lettuce in there it is covered in snails withing a few minutes.

Some folks have reported that they had an explosion of assassin snails once introduced in their tank to get rid of the pests. That hasn't been my experience with them. They do breed but no where near as much as the pests. I started with about a dozen assassins. When I pulled them out after about a year I found about 4 dozen of them. I am sure I missed a few but 1 dozen to 4 dozen in a year isn't an explosion to me.

I plan on listing some of mine for sale in the buy and sale section of this forum during the fall. I don't want to ship them during this heat wave so will wait until cooler weather. You could do the same once they have done their job for you.

 

Wait, what? I thought puffers could only work in their own tanks & would kill any other tank mates

There are one or two species of puffer that work in some community tanks.

 

There are one or two species of puffer that work in some community tanks.

Wow, I'm amazed

 

I imagine that the snails might be too small for the puffers you’re suggesting.

 

And to prevent more snails hitchhiking in your plants you can do bleach dips as follow:

• Make a 19/1 water/bleach mix in a bucket
• Dip your plants for about a minute (I usually gently shake them in the water left to right)
• Remove from bucket
• Put under running water. I use the mist or rain setting of my hose nozzle
• Put in another bucket with water and add water conditioner/dechlorinator
• Wait a minute or two
• Put in tank

No snails after that.

 

This is the video. I apologize that it's like an hour long. It's Cory doing a presentation for what looks like a fish club. He discusses several different species of freshwater puffer, including, like I said, 1 or 2 species that can live in a community tank, like the Amazon Puffer.

 

So if you look closely at the attached pic, there are 4 nerites. One on the shell of the zebra in the foreground. He/she has been on the other's back every time I've seen them over the past couple of days; the zebra is moving around and eating like normal. In the background there are two more snails that stuck themselves together this afternoon. Also, this morning, I swore a saw a baby snail - tiny tiny, cone shaped shell, kind of a tan color. It moved before I could take a pic, but I left it in the tank because although I have a 20 gallon, planted tank, I haven't added anything new in 9-10 months. So my question is, is it truly impossible for nerites to breed in freshwater?

 

They will breed and lay eggs but that's as far as it goes,the eggs need to be moved to brackish water for the process to be complete

 

They will breed and lay eggs but that's as far as it goes,the eggs need to be moved to brackish water for the process to be complete

Thanks for your reply. Any idea where the baby snail could have come from??

 

I wonder that every time I see s snail in a tank that I didn't put there, is it only one tank you have?

 

I wonder that every time I see s snail in a tank that I didn't put there, is it only one tank you have?

No, I have on old 3 gallon I could put it in if I can find it again. I just wasn't too worried because I hadn't added any new plants or decorations in so long.

If I do put him/her in another tank, what should tanks conditions be? I know Prime, but substrate or none? Also filter or none?

 

I wasn't thinking that if there's a snail there he's no problem, what I was thinking is when you last added something there was an egg/ eggs added and when hatched went into the substrait where they have been living and breeding, or perhaps your net as come in contact or used in another tank
I can't see it being a nerite but obviously you've seen a baby, when did you add the nerite snails

 

I wasn't thinking that if there's a snail there he's no problem, what I was thinking is when you last added something there was an egg/ eggs added and when hatched went into the substrait where they have been living and breeding, or perhaps your net as come in contact or used in another tank
I can't see it being a nerite but obviously you've seen a baby, when did you add the nerite snails

I was thinking the same, but do you know if something can be dormant for 9-10 months? I don't use a net because I only have one betta and the nerites, so I just use a vacuum for water changes, but they stay in the tank when I do that. And yeah, no other active tanks, so no way it could've been transferred. I added the nerites about 8-9 months ago after I was sure the plants were adjusted. Thanks for brainstorming this with me!

 

I found it again. It does look like it's trying to burrow. In the pick it's the shell that looks like the plant stem is touching it. What is it?!?! Lol

 

Looking at the cone I'd say it's a great pond snail, so unlucky on making history with nerites breeding. But hoe did it get there???????
Edit looking at that photo he'd find it difficult to burrow under that larva rock

 

Looking at the cone I'd say it's a great pond snail, so unlucky on making history with nerites breeding. But hoe did it get there???????
Edit looking at that photo he'd find it difficult to burrow under that larva rock

I have no idea!! There's not a pond within miles of me, so I definitely haven't been grabbing anything from one to put in my tank. It took him a little bit to burrow, but by the time I finished taking and posting the pic, he was gone! If it is a pond snail, any concern that they'll overtake my tank or hurt my nerites, betta or plants?? Hoping I can just let him live, but not at the expense of everything else.

 

They are harmless but if left it's as Yemaya said they will infest the tank so best to evict him, looking at his size if there's two in there the chances are they have mated if its alone then your ok cos I think these need two to mate

 

They are harmless but if left it's as Yemaya said they will infest the tank so best to evict him, looking at his size if there's two in there the chances are they have mated if its alone then your ok cos I think these need two to mate

Aww OK, I'll get him out next time I see him. If they burrow under the substrate and stay that long, there's no telling if there are more! Thanks, again!

 

Just been doing some research and if it's a pond snail as thought they are air breathers as well so it could have come in from anywhere on anything and made it's way to your tank

 

That's cool but also creepy at the same time lol now you've made me want to learn more about them. Going to do some research myself.

 

I don't know their full capabilities but no doubt would have to have been brought in on something then looked for water

 

I don't know their full capabilities but no doubt would have to have been brought in on something then looked for water

And if that is the case and this species needs two to tango then it is possible that this one will be the only one in the tank. I wonder if an egg could have made its way through all the water pipes and maybe got there during a water change.