# Snail problem



## DanMac (23 Jun 2013)

What is the best way of getting rid of snails? I have got loads of baby snails and im guessing they came with the hairgrass I bought from ebay.

Should I let them get a bit bigger before trying to remove them?


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## Aron_Dip (23 Jun 2013)

I'm in the same boat, I thought the same and now I'm forever removing.. Would adding 1 assassin snail work? And then just remove that?


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## Andy Thurston (23 Jun 2013)

My mate put 4 assasins in a 90 l and they wiped out problem snails then they died. Ive also heard assasins snails are male or female and can be sexed.


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## markj (23 Jun 2013)

zebra loach

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## Aron_Dip (23 Jun 2013)

Big clown said:


> My mate put 4 assasins in a 90 l and they wiped out problem snails then they died. Ive also heard assasins snails are male or female and can be sexed.


That's what I thought about the sex thing .. But won't they just bread like rabbits too and take over from the other snails?


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## Andy Thurston (24 Jun 2013)

I dont think ive heard of anybody thats been overrun with assasins. I have nuisance snails in filters on clown tank. i scrape them out and put them back in tank during filter maintenance(free fish food). They came from ebay too. Feeding less and keeping tank clean slows them down . Crush their shells and your fish will eat them. You can feed some fish as little as 1-2 times a week others like clowns 1 per day. Once their in i dont think you will get rid without assasins. I have to live with mine because clowns eat assasins too and they are expensive fish food


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## Andy Thurston (24 Jun 2013)

I think this is where i read it

 Assassin snail ratio?


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## sciencefiction (24 Jun 2013)

You are either overfeeding, or there's other source of food for them in the tank. If you solve that, give it 2 months and you'll barely see snails.  The snails are just an indicator for what's going inside the tank.
For example, shrimp will breed more if there's lots of food, and less if there isn't. Both shrimp and snails are scavengers and most eat algae too. The difference is some people think snails are pests, but shrimp are exotic inverts.


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## Andy Thurston (24 Jun 2013)

My fish lost weight because i reduced feeding to try get on top of a snail problem. But i agree i was overfeeding which added to the problem in the first place. My fish now get a quarter of what they used to get fed. At the time i didnt think it was enough and I was quite surprised at how little food a fish needs to be healthy. 
I bet there are many folk out there that are blissfully unaware they are overfeeding their fish because they havnt introduced snails yet. Problem snails feed on other things aswell, so keeping plants healthy and tank clean has a big part to play too. Real problem snails eat plants and you cant stop these multiplying. I dont see a problem with adding an all male/female group of assasins to get rid of snails like these unless you keep shrimp


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## sciencefiction (24 Jun 2013)

> Real problem snails eat plants and you cant stop these multiplying.


 
What snails have you got?
I have malaysian trumpet snails, pond snails and ramshorn snails and I am yet to see any of them eating my plants. The only time I've had an explosion is when I overfed and that was in fry tanks. If your tank is in bad health and the plants are melting, the snails will eat the dying leaves of course, but that's another indicator of an underlying problem, not a snail issue.


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## Andy Thurston (24 Jun 2013)

My clown tank not really planted it has a large anubias and an unknown plant,
both of which are heavily punished by clowns. Snails are flat pale almost transparent in and never grow larger than 5mm. All snails are contained in filter and never seen if tank because of fish. Tank also suffers a small amount of green dust algae which appeared after adding other plants form ebay. These plants were shredded by clowns and were removed within a week.
80% weekly waterchange via gravel vac
2 canister filters are cleaned at 6 month intervals, staggered so 1 every 3 months new filter floss cut off roll about 1/2"thick(this never clogs up)
Glass cleaned every 5-6weeks and there is never much gda and you have to look very closely to see its green
Tank is 330l with 1500lph and 900lph filters.
Tank is heavily stocked hence big waterchange and filters. I suppose i could use prefilters to stop small bits of plants getting in. 
I havnt tested water in this tank since it was cycled and havnt had poorly fish since whitespot after adding clowns a year and a half ago


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## Michael W (24 Jun 2013)

Snail infestations are caused by overfeeding, from experience snails won't eat healthy plants but rather dying, weak and decaying leaves. Manual removal and reduce feeding is an effective way to combat snails and also try placing some vegetables in the tank and remove once the snails are all over it. Adding something like Assassin snails can help eradicate snails but bare in mind that they will clean them out quickly and you will have to feed them. Assassin snails require male and female to breed and they breed at a very slow rate laying single eggs. The baby snails grow slowly and if you feel you have too much Assassins you can always sell them.

Its best to avoid adding Assassins and loaches and you will need to supplement them with snails/fish food so its best to just manually remove and feed less. Plus I believe snails do more good than harm as its a good indicator to show if you overfeeding or not and their clean up ability is rather amazing and their waste will feed plants. I introduced pond snails, trumpet snails and Ramshorns snails on purpose especially in my shrimp tanks where water quality is quite important.

Michael.


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## justissaayman (24 Jun 2013)

Just added 2 assasins into my 90 liter and 3 into the AR620 and my snail problems have almost dissapeared with no extra shrimp deaths. I love assasins.


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## DanMac (24 Jun 2013)

Cheers guys, I will definitely feed less now and just try to remove them


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