Snail Problem

[dAwNdAwN]

Hi,

Just fixed the green water and algae problem, now comes the snail problem.

Is there anyway I can get rid of them? I got alot of them on my plants. Initially they exist everywhere but after I intro 2 hillstream loaches, the ones at the glass of the tank seem to reduce alot. But I also noticed that the snails have shifted their hideout to the plants, particularly swords. I'm sick and tired of crushing so many snails on the leaves and also afraid that I might injured more leaves(which I already did) when doing the crushing. As for introducing puffer, I'm afraid to do so cos I got shrimps and dun wanna take a risk. BTW, the snails are those with transparent type with whitish body.[]


Any recommendations like fishes or medication to get rid of them? It's really a headache.

[hatchet]

Hello there,

If you have a lot of snails, introducing one dwarf puffer will do no harm to your shrimps. From my experience, the puffer only attack the shrimps if they have nothing left to feed.
Moreover I had like 5 puffers in my 3ft initially, I thought they were cute but did not know that they were seafood lovers.

Just my 5cents. See what others recommend. Cheers.

[Simon]

lower your pH[]

[joe]

you can consider adding blue rams too

[CoryDorus]

Anyone thought we can use fighting fish to control the snail population ?
Just a thought. I maybe wrong.

[dAwNdAwN]

hmm....maybe I can try lowering the pH method slowly. If not, I really gotta add a puffer inside later.

[Simon]

use a puffer as the 2nd last resort, the last would be with aid of chemicals

[juggler]

Try ghost shrimps (feeder shrimps for Aro and LH). Not too many otherwise they eat up all the snails. Choose smaller ones so they are less likely to ambush your tetras.

Snails are still useful in eating dead leaves and some spot algae.

My problem now is that there are no ramshorn snails in my tanks. Always introduce some and they are consumed by the shrimps.

[bclee]

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On 2/6/2003 10:58:24 AM

use a puffer as the 2nd last resort, the last would be with aid of chemicals
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Chemical that kill snails are very likely to kill the shrimps too. The puffer should be the last resort.

BC

[Allen_1971]

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On 2/6/2003 10:58:24 AM

use a puffer as the 2nd last resort, the last would be with aid of chemicals
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lots of people would disagree with me, but I use puffers as my first choice for tackling snails... small effective and fast! and strangely enough never any problems either with tail nipping.

[vinz]

Personally, I don't mind having some snails in my tank. They don't harm the plants, IMO. And they help process dead organic stuff. Usually, if you see corroded shells or transparent shells, in your case, the tank has low Ca levels.

If you get a lot of them on your glass... it's time to clean it, even if your naked eye can't see any algae. Puffers will obilerate most snail populations. Loaches and rams will keep the numbers down.

[NinjaFly]

Personally I feel that dwarf puffers will only be effective for the first few days. After they have finished up with all the snails, they will start nipping off the tails of the fish.

So if you have lots of snails in the tank, get a $1-$1.50 dwarf puffer and leave in there for 3-5 days and then remove it off.

[chaq]

Are baby snails tiny white snake-like, without any shell? I saw some in my tank besides some others with shells.

[zac08]

[/quote]


lots of people would disagree with me, but I use puffers as my first choice for tackling snails... small effective and fast! and strangely enough never any problems either with tail nipping.


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[/quote]


But Allen,

the problem is mainly not with the fish tail nipping... it's more of when they are done with the snails (or even before they are done) they may have already wiped out all the shrimps inside the tank....

Are there any small loaches that can help combat the snails but not attack the shrimps??

[Blades]

I have a single puffer in my 2.5ft tank and have watched it closely. I have never seen it chasing another fish or biting or chasing after the shrimps. have malayan and yamatos in my tank. maybe i got lucky n got a friendly puffer?