Driftless
Member
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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Pest Snail how to get rid of
- Thread starter FishKeeper55
- Start date
ScaperJoe
Member
I also love my 3 zebra nerites, all called beef... beef snellington 😁
FishKeeper55
Member
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.
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
Nick potts
Member
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.
I used to try and keep snails out of my tanks at all costs but now won't run one without them.
FishKeeper55
Member
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
LondonDragon
Member
Correct
Ramshorns will eat Diatomic Algae/Green Spot Algae to name two!
PARAGUAY
Member
The tiny little beige coloured snails do appear as if from nowhere .l dont mind them l assume they are helping in tank balance
sparkyweasel
Member
- Joined
- 30 Jun 2011
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- 3,003
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.
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.
FishKeeper55
Member
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.
RonBFreee
New Member
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
frothhelmet
Member
Theodoxus are the best. Never had to clean my glass and they scour anubias clean.
greenbliss
Member
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.
Best way to control snail populations is to avoid over feeding the fish. When there is an abundance of left over food, then snail populations will increase. Ramshorns won’t eat healthy plants, only ones that are already perishing. So, best thing is to address plant and snail problem separately, rather than add poisons into the water.
After you fix the plants, to get rid of snails reliably; Put a slice of cucumber in the tank, take it out the next day, clear the snails, then put it back in. Repeat for few weeks.
Snails love to be fed well. 😉A slice of cucumber will do the trick. Or feed less. The plants are only eaten when they are already in poor condition. And then the snails do their work.
