Tropical Fish Forum

Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => General Fishkeeping advice => Topic started by: Lellynelly on September 23, 2017, 12:18:12 PM

Title: snails
Post by: Lellynelly on September 23, 2017, 12:18:12 PM
I noticed this morning that 3 of my aquaria seem to have suddenly developed lots of tiny snails. They weren't there 3 weeks ago last time I did maintenance. The only thing I have done since then is stocked up with plants. I often do spot the occasional one, but when I say lots I mean my two 60 litre tanks had around 20 in and the 120 litre had about a dozen.
Will they harm the water quality or anything? or are they harmless
Title: Re: snails
Post by: Sue on September 23, 2017, 12:36:42 PM
Pest snails come on plants. They are usually one of two types, either tiny flat spirals (a species of ramshorn) or those called bladder, tadpole, trapdoor or pond snails https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physidae I have both of these in my tanks. They are harmless and are actually an important part of a tank's ecosystem. They only become a problem when they overrun a tank, because they look unsightly.

Having a few of them is a good thing but they will multiply rapidly if they have plenty food. This means not overfeeding the fish and removing bits of dead plant. There are ways to reduce their numbers.
Squash them on the glass walls of the tank - the fish will enjoy eating them.
Using a snail trap. This is a jar with a screw top lid. Punch holes in the lid into the jar so that the metal spikes from the holes go inwards. The holes need to be big enough for the snails to get through but small enough that the fish can't. Bait the jar with a piece of lettuce and place it on its side on the bottom of the tank last thing at night. In theory, the snails will crawl into the jar but won't be able to get back out because of the spikey bits around the holes. In the morning, remove the jar and dispose of the snails. You can just put the lettuce on the bottom of the tank (weighted or it will float) but in my experience by the time you get up all the snails will have crawled into the foliage  >:(

But don't use a snail killing chemical as they are not good for the fish.



Title: Re: snails
Post by: Littlefish on September 23, 2017, 01:44:22 PM
I purchased a snail catcher a while back and have found it really handy and easy to use.
http://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/snail-catcher-2381-p.asp
I used to keep a small tank for breeding snails as my dwarf puffers enjoy them, but as part of my attempt to reduce tank numbers I decided to do away with that tank and now I just collect them from other tanks (mainly my betta & otocinclus tank) and transfer them to the puffer tank every few weeks.
Title: Re: snails
Post by: Sue on September 23, 2017, 01:54:36 PM
That's a nifty bit of equipment  :) I just suck mine up during a water change.
Title: Re: snails
Post by: Littlefish on September 23, 2017, 02:59:31 PM
It's great for harvesting snails off the glass - just roll it up the glass and it flicks them into the little plastic bit underneath, then wander over to the puffer tank & flick the plastic bit open to empty it in.
I used to pick snails out by hand, either out of a tank or out of the bucket after syphoning, but this is much quicker for collecting large enough numbers for all the puffers to have at least 1 snail each.  :)
Title: Re: snails
Post by: glitch74 on November 03, 2018, 05:21:11 PM
I know this is an old post but I thought I'd comment anyway, when I had a pest snail problem I found the easiest way to get rid of them was by adding more Nerite snails, the nerites out competed the pest snails for food and the pest snails died off