Another way to remove unwanted snail

**sungod666** · 27th Jun 2011, 21:55

i tried assassin snails, puffer, chemical and clown loach. in my opinion the best method not including chemical goes like this. most effective to least effective.

1. clown loach (have 2 in my sump, they finished over few hundred snails of various size, leaving me to net out all the snail shell
2. Assasin snail (slow in eradicating snail but does the job well if your snail population is small (less than a hundred)
3. Puffer (very ineffective)

Clown loach are truly the best solution to snails but there are few shortcomings in employing them. you need space as they grow fast, you need good water system and UV as they are very vulnerable to ICH out break, you are unable to dose most medications for your other fishes because clown loach are likely to die from most medications commonly used.

**avant** · 27th Jun 2011, 23:16

Clown loach might not be suitable in a small tank. There are many other loaches which stay small which are equally effective.

**fernfreak** · 28th Jun 2011, 13:12

i think clown loaches need to be kept in a school and like lots of hiding places-- if you put too few in the main tank, they'll constantly be hiding and you can't see them at all.

**stormhawk** · 29th Jun 2011, 00:40

The problem is their size. The use of other loach species that do not out grow the typical home aquarium is better. I have had excellent success with Assassin Snails, but they do not attack smaller snails like Button Snails.

**felix_fx2** · 29th Jun 2011, 03:50

Clownloach & assassin snail good.
Both are my ninjas of snail killing.
One kills the small ones and the latter does in the big ones.

Alternative method, collect them and post to give. C328 selling 1pack pond snails $2. O.o

**beetroot** · 6th Jul 2011, 18:13

Originally Posted by stormhawk

The problem is their size. The use of other loach species that do not out grow the typical home aquarium is better. I have had excellent success with Assassin Snails, but they do not attack smaller snails like Button Snails.

Sorry Stormhawk, you mean assassins don't kill button snails? I have loads of buttons snails

and now trying with one assassin snail.

Before i put the assassin in the tank (as i wanted to catch out my nerites first), i put the assassin in a bowl of water with a few button snails... and i think it took about 3-4 days to kill just one button snail. So that explains it?

Help.....

Would a small assassin snail kill a nerite snail?

**Kiatster** · 7th Jul 2011, 02:46

Originally Posted by beetroot

Sorry Stormhawk, you mean assassins don't kill button snails? I have loads of buttons snails

and now trying with one assassin snail.

Before i put the assassin in the tank (as i wanted to catch out my nerites first), i put the assassin in a bowl of water with a few button snails... and i think it took about 3-4 days to kill just one button snail. So that explains it?

Help.....

Would a small assassin snail kill a nerite snail?

Yes the nerite will be eaten up. Remove all pet snails before introducing the tank with Assassin snails.

**stormhawk** · 7th Jul 2011, 16:17

They generally leave the Nerites alone, preferring other snails like Ramshorn, MTS and those pouch/pond snails. They will not attack Button Snails for some reason. Probably because those snails are too damn small. However, there is no harm in removing the Nerites temporarily as the Assassin Snails do their job. I had a tank with a few hundred dark-coloured Ramshorn snails. They were destroying my plants so I got upset and placed 5 Assassin Snails in the tank. Within 2 weeks all the Ramshorn were dead. You know the Assassin Snails are being busy when you see the shells of dead snails scattered all over the place.

**felix_fx2** · 8th Jul 2011, 17:08

Stormhawk. Can confirm about nerite not in the diet?

**stormhawk** · 9th Jul 2011, 01:29

My Assassin Snails left the Nerites I had in the same tank alone. They never attempted to hunt the Nerites, though the experiences of others may differ. The Assassin Snails will dig into the substrate to find detritus to feed on. I have seen them feeding on the carcass of a dead fish and frozen bloodworm, but never the Nerites.

**apisto31** · 10th Jul 2011, 22:15

Originally Posted by stormhawk

They generally leave the Nerites alone, preferring other snails like Ramshorn, MTS and those pouch/pond snails. They will not attack Button Snails for some reason. Probably because those snails are too damn small. However, there is no harm in removing the Nerites temporarily as the Assassin Snails do their job. I had a tank with a few hundred dark-coloured Ramshorn snails. They were destroying my plants so I got upset and placed 5 Assassin Snails in the tank. Within 2 weeks all the Ramshorn were dead. You know the Assassin Snails are being busy when you see the shells of dead snails scattered all over the place.

Totally agree with you bro. I had a very good experience with Assassin Snails.
6 of them literally wiped out the MTS infested 422 tank. I have few Nerites which they didn't touch, probably due to their size difference.
Yes assassin snails do breed, but in a very slow pace and they are not as ugly as MTS!