# Pest Snail how to get rid of



## FishKeeper55 (3 May 2021)

Few weeks ago I bought some plants and notice over last few days more and more pest snails in my cube tank , it was very hard to make out what they are due to very tiny size, I just kept picking them up with tweezers the ones I could, question is how to get rid of them before the problem gets to big? Need something that will just work like a dynamite stick type of treatment, I just don't like snails in tank.

Many Thanks


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## SRP3006 (3 May 2021)

This will work if you don't have shrimp. eSHa GASTROPEX


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## FishKeeper55 (3 May 2021)

SRP3006 said:


> This will work if you don't have shrimp. eSHa GASTROPEX


No shrimps in this tank, so will order a bottle, bit mixed reviews on amazon regards the product anyone used here maybe?


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## SRP3006 (3 May 2021)

I used gastropex when i set up my tank to eliminate baby Malaysian trumpet snails. Used when the tank was just planted and I haven't seen one as yet. 
If you have a few snails it's best to do a few extra water changes after the treatment course to mitigate any ammonia spikes.


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## FishKeeper55 (3 May 2021)

Thanks will try that and see if it works, why could I get ammonia spike? this is established tank


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## SRP3006 (3 May 2021)

FishKeeper55 said:


> Thanks will try that and see if it works, why could I get ammonia spike? this is established tank


If you have quite a few snails in the tank then when they die and you can't reach all the decaying snails then that could cause a spike.


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## FishKeeper55 (3 May 2021)

Little as they are I could only see about 10 managed to pick some out with tweezers but knowing my luck more hidden somewhere,  I see you point with ammonia now, will keep eye out.

Let’s hope this will work.


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## Paulthewitt (4 May 2021)

why is the gastropex esha bad for shrimps?
It seems to say it is safe for all other aquarium life other than snails on the box?

(genuine question that may explain why my shrimp population has 'gone into hiding'... although sadly the snails remain!!!)


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## Tim Harrison (4 May 2021)

eSHa Gastropex is shrimp safe at the prescribed dose. But that may not be totally effective. Don't forget to remove all absorbent filter media and take the capacity of your filter in to account.


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## Hufsa (4 May 2021)

Ive had very bad experiences with Gastropex and soft water.. Copper toxicity from this medication is no joke. I will never use it again on a tank with livestock of any kind


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## SRP3006 (4 May 2021)

Paulthewitt said:


> why is the gastropex esha bad for shrimps?
> It seems to say it is safe for all other aquarium life other than snails on the box?
> 
> (genuine question that may explain why my shrimp population has 'gone into hiding'... although sadly the snails remain!!!)


I wouldn't say bad but was just putting a word of caution due to some conflicting reports on the Web, and that my tank was empty when I dosed.


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## Paulthewitt (4 May 2021)

Thank you all
I was somewhat upset when my shrimp disappeared...suspected dead, although only one possible body (which could have been a skin shed) has been found.
I had already stopped dosing off the back of this, but I think I will just live with snails from now on!


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## LondonDragon (4 May 2021)

Nothing wrong with a few snails


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## dw1305 (4 May 2021)

Hi all,


LondonDragon said:


> Nothing wrong with a few snails


I'm a snail fan as well, you can always reduce their number via baiting and a snail trap. I'd be very wary of any chemical methods that claims to kill "_all snails"_, because they range in their susceptibility from "_drops dead if anything is slightly wrong_" to "_likely to survive in nearly all circumstances_".

cheers Darrel


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## LondonDragon (4 May 2021)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I'm a snail fan as well, you can always reduce their number via baiting and a snail trap. I'd be very wary of any chemical methods that kill all snails, because they range in their susceptibility from "_drops dead if anything is slightly wrong_" to "_likely to survive in nearly all circumstances_".
> 
> cheers Darrel


I actually introduce them to all my tanks, I love snails of all kinds, I must have about 5-6 species! They only take over if you over feed anyway!


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## dw1305 (4 May 2021)

Hi all, 


LondonDragon said:


> I actually introduce them to all my tanks, I love snails of all kinds, I must have about 5-6 species!


I've been contemplating a tank with <"harder water"> to allow me to keep Sulawesi snails (_Tylomelania spp._), _Theodoxus fluviatilis, Faunus ater etc. _If you have shrimps, I think snails are a no-brainer as tank mates.

cheers Darrel


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## LondonDragon (4 May 2021)

dw1305 said:


> Sulawesi snails (_Tylomelania spp._),


I keep these in two tanks, and they are breeding well too.


dw1305 said:


> _Theodoxus fluviatilis_


I tried these, and they survived for a couple of years and then disappeared! They were gorgeous!


dw1305 said:


> If you have shrimps, I think snails are a no-brainer as tank mates.


Indeed, 3 of my 5 tanks are shrimp and snails only


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## sparkyweasel (4 May 2021)

dw1305 said:


> "_likely to survive in nearly all circumstances_".


I've lost the reference now, but many years ago, I read about a naturalist collecting some Apple Snails from the Amazon basin, preserving them in jars of formalin and sending them back to his museum by sailing ship. Weeks later his colleague took some out of their formalin to examine them and was quite surprised when they crawled away across his desk.


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## MirandaB (4 May 2021)

LondonDragon said:


> I tried these, and they survived for a couple of years and then disappeared! They were gorgeous!


They're not very long lived and as with all snails breeding is triggered by the amount of food available.
I purposely keep some very skanky tanks to move them into which triggers a mass egg laying


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## Tim Harrison (4 May 2021)

I don’t get it. Snails definitely slimed their way out of Pandora’s Box 🐌🤮

Worst ever horror film...


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## Driftless (4 May 2021)

Another snail fan, well not including the Columbian Giant Ramshorn snails.  I would much rather add a few assassin snails to a tank with pest snails over chemicals.


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## ScaperJoe (4 May 2021)

I also love my 3 zebra nerites, all called beef... beef snellington 😁


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## FishKeeper55 (5 May 2021)

Hmm I can understand why some people like to keep snails and been honest I had couple before like nerite type but I got a feeling there are Ramshorn snails, I manage to find one with slightly developed shell and compare to online images, at this stage the tiny and I mean tiny if I see any on glass is like little white spec, I don't have much knowledge regards snails but from reading around population can increase rapidly, also managed to pick some up from Ludwiga leaves., if there was couple in tank I wouldn't worry to much, I don't have this problem in big tank only this one so I know they hatched a ride on plants.

I always try to stay away from chemicals and is one of the reason I don't even use purigen in tanks, learned that once the tanks are mature the water is clear enough for my eyes, I'm running this little tank to learn more about plants then anything else, how to succeed in growing carpet ect., plants deficiency and so on, so I don't want something in tank that might interfere or munch on plants.


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## Wookii (5 May 2021)

FishKeeper55 said:


> Hmm I can understand why some people like to keep snails and been honest I had couple before like nerite type but I got a feeling there are Ramshorn snails, I manage to find one with slightly developed shell and compare to online images, at this stage the tiny and I mean tiny if I see any on glass is like little white spec, I don't have much knowledge regards snails but from reading around population can increase rapidly, also managed to pick some up from Ludwiga leaves., if there was couple in tank I wouldn't worry to much, I don't have this problem in big tank only this one so I know they hatched a ride on plants.
> 
> I always try to stay away from chemicals and is one of the reason I don't even use purigen in tanks, learned that once the tanks are mature the water is clear enough for my eyes, I'm running this little tank to learn more about plants then anything else, how to succeed in growing carpet ect., plants deficiency and so on, so I don't want something in tank that might interfere or munch on plants.



At risk of sounding repetitive in my support of Ramshorn snails, if your snails are indeed Ramshorns, they won't eat your plants, they will help keep them clean and free of algae.

Have a look at this thread: My new Oase 175 Styline


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## Nick potts (5 May 2021)

As already mentioned, while they can be unsightly in large numbers, they are pretty beneficial to the tank as a whole. If you don't overfeed or have lots of algae/detritus the population will stay small.

I used to try and keep snails out of my tanks at all costs but now won't run one without them.


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## FishKeeper55 (5 May 2021)

Snails in question are the Ramshorn snail? photo has been zoomed right in because they very very small so that's the best I could do


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## LondonDragon (5 May 2021)

FishKeeper55 said:


> Snails in question are the Ramshorn snail?


Correct


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## GHNelson (6 May 2021)

Ramshorns will eat Diatomic Algae/Green Spot Algae to name two!


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## SRP3006 (6 May 2021)

I bought a few ramshorn snails to start my colony off, great algae eaters. Tank has plenty of them. They won't overpopulate if there's not an abundance of food.


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## PARAGUAY (6 May 2021)

The tiny little beige coloured snails do appear as if from nowhere .l dont mind them l assume they are helping in tank balance


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## sparkyweasel (6 May 2021)

FishKeeper55 said:


> population can increase rapidly,


They love to eat fishfood that your fish have missed. If you overfeed they will breed like crazy.

Without excess fishfood they mainly eat algae. If you have a lot of algae the snail population wil increase; when there are lots of snails, the algae goes down and so does the snail population. When it all comes into balance you get very few snails and no noticeable algae.

A population explosion is a sign of another problem, usually overfeeding.


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## techfool (9 May 2021)

In my main tank the ramshorns are out of control as I have a pleco and they eat what she eats. In other tanks they remain inconspicuous. I sell them and if I get a lot of orders in a short time the numbers diminish significantly. Consistent manual removal should keep numbers down.


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## FishKeeper55 (9 May 2021)

Well I wasn’t going to put up with snails in this small tank, I get that some people do like to keep them ect. I dose the recommended mount for 3 days, is been 48h since last dose, no ill effect on live stock and I keep couple endler guppy’s in there along with ottos, I didn’t have many snails that I could see and I do keep eye out on amonia spike but looks good so far.


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## RonBFreee (21 Feb 2022)

I got some ramshorn snails (RS) into my tanks from some new plants I purchased.  They quickly overpopulated the tanks.  I have mystery snails (MS) in the tanks and I was concerned the RS would out compete the mystery snails for food.  So I removed the MS from one tank at a time.  I put some assassin snails (AS) in these tanks to eat the RS.  In addition I would pick out any RS I would see on a daily basis.  Once the RS were under control in that tank I put MS back in and moved the AS to another tank.  Note the RS I removed I fed to fish in my tanks by just crushing them up and letting them float down in the water column.  My angel fish especially loved them


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## frothhelmet (26 Feb 2022)

Theodoxus are the best. Never had to clean my glass and they scour anubias clean.


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## greenbliss (26 Feb 2022)

I do sometimes wish that I didn't have fish that eat snails. Any type of snail I have tried to introduce simply got eaten by my Laetacara. I loved having them in previous tanks.


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