# snail denial...



## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

I didn't have any, until i had a few - they were actually kind of pretty...
what was i thinking!
I now have a million (++) snails in my main tank.
I have been removing at least a couple of hundred a day, but I swear, the situation is only getting worse. I have some puffers. They don't look at snails...They seem to look at their reflections all day long.
And to make matters worse, as I was just peeling off snails/snail eggs, I just found a couple of gross (live) little red worms in my tank. (can anyone tell me what they are? why the fish aren't eating them? do they need to be gone? how do i get rid of them??!!!!)
I am going to go buy some assassin snails (for a 35g tank, how many should i get? will they bother the nerite snails?), and maybe move my dwarf puffers and get something a little bigger (green, red eye, ???, more hungry) but can anyone suggest a good course of action? I have tons of tiny baby cherry shrimp, so I don't really want to move everyone and blitz the thing.
Please help me! 
Thank you!


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

im surprised the puffers are not touching the the snails......though your shrimps will be gone with puffers in there....

put a few assassins in, and they should be able to control the snails. Loaches also eat snails, though I would be hesitant to put loaches in that tank.


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## bluekrissyspikes (Apr 16, 2009)

i would not go for loaches either. just build a trap for them and bait it everyday, then dump them. that's the best way. the red worms are probably detritus worms. they are trying to tell you it's time to do a good gravel vac. you are probably overfeeding the tank by quite a lot, because you are putting in enough for your fish, for ALL those snails and there's still some left over for the worms. you might want to try cutting way down on the fish food. your puffer might take more interest in the snails too, if it's not full all the time


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## Evans11 (Aug 7, 2009)

You can weigh down a piece of cucumber to the bottom of your tank each night. By the morning it should be full of hungry snails and you can pull it out of the tank to discard many of the snails in one shot. As previously mentioned, cut down on any excess feeding for awhile and your puffers should begin actively ridding your tank of the pesky snails.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Teemee, there are a bunch of us with breeding assassins now - if you can't find any pm me. 

As for the red worms, they're probably harmless, but if you want to do an anti-thelmintic treatment, try prazipro, and if you can find it levamisole. As long as they're not sticking out your fishes' anus, you're probably in the clear. If they are, get some levamisole, and don't spread anything from your tank around.


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## bluekrissyspikes (Apr 16, 2009)

i use a plastic baggie, put an algea wafer and a rock in it. then i ziplock it half way closed and put a bit of sand(well gravel if that's what you have in your tank) in the opening to keep the hole open.. snails go in and fill the bag up. you can also build a trap using an empty pop bottle. just cut some holes in it for the snails to go through they will go in and make a giant pile up in there. then just pick the bottle up. the cucumber works too but most of the snails let go and disappear into the gravel before you catch them.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Removal works, but it's a pain in the arse. I prefer a hands off method (assassin snails).

Loaches are a bad idea as said before. The puffers will consume all your shrimp too. 

Are you feeding a lot too? If the puffers are overfed on easy food, they're not going to go after the harder to eat snails. Also, you probably have a bit of left over foods too that is probably compounding your snail issue.


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## Tearran (Oct 4, 2009)

ameekplec. said:


> Removal works, but it's a pain in the arse. I prefer a hands off method (assassin snails).
> 
> Loaches are a bad idea as said before. The puffers will consume all your shrimp too.
> 
> Are you feeding a lot too? If the puffers are overfed on easy food, they're not going to go after the harder to eat snails. Also, you probably have a bit of left over foods too that is probably compounding your snail issue.


I agree, though depending on the type of puffer, (dwarf puffers may have trouble taking on large common snails) snails should not be a problem, and are infact a good thing to have in present thier tank. Puffers need to munch on "hard" food to keep their beaks from growing to an unwieldy size. (i.e it can impair there eating eventually)

My guess, is the same as above, your puffers are not working on your snail population because you might be feeding them too much, try cutting it down to 2-4 days a week, in smaller amounts and see if your puffers start searching for other menu items.

If you keep shrimp in your tank that might also be the problem, your puffers may prefer the taste of shrimp to that of snails.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Funny, I never have to feed my dwarf puffer. They just work on the snails and shrimps.
For assasin snails, start will 8 and they'll eventually eat the population down. Typically, 2 per 20G should work well to keep the population under control. But you may need more, if you have an out of control situation.

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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

*snails...*

wow! 
thanks for all of the great suggestions...
i only know about the oakville big al's having assassin snails... can anyone suggest somewhere a bit closer? ameekplec, if and when, would be great to buy some off you, as you're super close.
puffers are pea puffers - they are very small. so, maybe they are just too small to deal effectively with the snails...
do/did not want to go for loaches, mainly because of the shrimp... there are so many (shrimp), am not too worried about the puffers. i've been told that as a rule, they should go for the snails first... i think the main problem is that there are just so many snails, and they are breeding... who can keep up

Would like to take the plants out and somehow get all of the eggs off them
I don't think i've been over-feeding (i stick to the 2 minute rule)... but, i suspect someone else at home has likely been feeding occasionally, too...
either way, the worms were not (thank goodness) coming out of the fish, just squirming on the driftwood in my tank... Would really not like to have to go the med. route... so, have done a super thorough cleaning (i usually 'vacuum' once a week, and do a 10-20% water change, anyway)... moved most fish to a tank that had been cycling for a couple of weeks, as they were starting to seem a bit shell-shocked from my hands being in there every day... 
am going to get some cucumber today, and please, if anyone can tell me where to get some assassin snails in TO, and whether or not I should go for a bigger puffer, if so which one and where i could find one...

Tall order... Thanks for all of your help, everyone!

ps - could snails be affecting oxygen/nitrogen levels in my tank...? they do breathe/die, too... Thanks!


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## Tearran (Oct 4, 2009)

Someone on the pricenetwork is selling Assasin snails for 3$ each, not sure of the location.

I was incorrect before when I said you puffers may be too small to handle the larger snails, as they don't crack the shells like other puffers, but exctact the snail from the shell opening. So infact they should be able to help you out in your problem, even if they are small. (i was generalizing a species! which is a no no!  )

If you have a small tank, I would stick with the dwarf puffers.


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

Ameekplec gets the dibs if its all the same, but I have about 4 assassins available, Queen East / Broadview area. $3 ea. I assassin snail per 10G is a good rule of thumb.

They won't bother your nerites, I have several nerite and sulawesi species in my tank that don't get bothered. Assassins are actually nerites themselves.


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 21, 2007)

teemee said:


> SNIP
> 
> I don't think i've been over-feeding (i stick to the 2 minute rule)... but, i suspect someone else at home has likely been feeding occasionally, too...
> 
> SNIP


It's good that you're sticking to the 2 minute rule, but for many fish, feeding every day can very likely be over feeding. Like already mentioned, try feeding less often, maybe every other day. Chances are on the days you don't feed the puffers will start to look for other food, like the snails.

Harry


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

teemee said:


> w
> ps - could snails be affecting oxygen/nitrogen levels in my tank...? they do breathe/die, too... Thanks!


A die-off of a large quantity of snails would foul the water immensely. That is one reason why using chemicals to kill snails is not a good idea. 
Most aquarium snails breathe air except for nerite snails. So oxygen competition from snails is low to nonexistent.
http://www.weichtiere.at/english/gastropoda/freshwater2.html

As far as Dwarf/Pea puffers are concerned they should eat snails voraciously and almost exclusively. They need an aquarium temperature of 74 -82,5 F. I keep mine around 77-78F. The Dwarf puffers should focus on the snails as long as you don't feed live/frozen food to them. You should see empty snail shells littering the substrate. How many Dwarf puffers do you have?


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