# snail control



## itsmesiva

Is there a way to control snails in fresh water planted aquarium. I know it could be beneficial to have them in the tank but i would like to have them under control. Currently its just picking them out and throwing them is my way of control and i am getting tired of that!


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## GAT

you can reduce the excess food in the fish tank. Also add cherry shrimps or amano shrimp to compete with snails. Excess shrimps look better than excess snails.


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## itsmesiva

do the shrimps require any special needs?


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## LTPGuy

Assassin Snail does a really good job. Snails are good, but they can and will get out of hand; even MTS. Assassin Snails does it for me. There were other solution such as clown loaches or botia loach. Not sure which, but I didn't want more fish to take care of. Snails kind of take care of themselves. I think BA Mis'ga is currently have them on sale.


Forgot to add that Assassin snails don't multiple like other snails. They lay 1 egg at a time, so you're not getting out of the frying pan and into the fire!

Good luck.


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## pyrrolin

I had lots of snails in one of my tanks, and I was tossing them into a tank with 4 yoyo's, but the festivum was always there first to grab them and loved to eat the snails I gave him.

good choices for snail control are yoyo botia, clown loaches and assasin snails, but don't use assassin snails with fish that eat snails.

Once you get snails I don't think you ever totally get rid of them. I have never seen a snail in my 90 gallon but the last time I cleaned the filter, I saw lots inside the canister filter, they don't stand a chance in the tank though with all the fish that would love to eat them.


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## DaFishMan

Exactly what GAT said. I do overfeed a bit. I recently added a couple assassin. Snails to one tank, and shrimp to the other.


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## irminia

I once had a pond snail outbreak that was completely cleared up after introducing yoyo loaches. Yoyo loaches are ravenous snail eaters, and not to mention, a great looking fish. However, they also liked to thread and burrow through the thickets of plants, which wasn't too great for my HC cuba carpet =(


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## Blitzcraze

itsmesiva said:


> Is there a way to control snails in fresh water planted aquarium. I know it could be beneficial to have them in the tank but i would like to have them under control. Currently its just picking them out and throwing them is my way of control and i am getting tired of that!


I have had several infestations of pond/ramshorn snails I would suggest a team to take them. Out

1) loaches (yo yo are the best for this I heard) 
2) some assassin snails 
3) ghost shrimp they eat them 
4)traps 
5) or the best way of all those puffers they will eradicate them rather quickly

Of course you will always see tons of them if u look but these will help keep the numbers down

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2


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## pyrrolin

has anyone actually been able to totally get rid of snails for a long period without a total breakdown of the tank?

I have been able to control the population and they are not a problem for me. But I know if I removed certain fish I would be quickly infested again.


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## colio

Blitzcraze said:


> 3) ghost shrimp they eat them


I didn't know ghost shrimp would eat snails. That's fantastic! I recently heavily planted my new 35 gallon, and got a number of carry-ons from plant trades (snails, from my 10 gallon tank, and other tanks), algae, duckweed (I think). I threw a couple of big sized ghosties in there. Now I am gonna add 20 more! Die pond snails, die!

Will the ghost shrimp eat MTS?


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## matti2uude

The only way I've completely gotten rid of snails was yoyo loaches. Red claw macro shrimp also love eating snails.


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## pyrrolin

I have a tank with 4 yoyo's and still have some snails. But I only ever see them inside my canister filter, never in the tank though


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## Blitzcraze

colio said:


> I didn't know ghost shrimp would eat snails. That's fantastic! I recently heavily planted my new 35 gallon, and got a number of carry-ons from plant trades (snails, from my 10 gallon tank, and other tanks), algae, duckweed (I think). I threw a couple of big sized ghosties in there. Now I am gonna add 20 more! Die pond snails, die!
> 
> Will the ghost shrimp eat MTS?


Yes I've had ghost shrimp kill fish too so be carefull

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2


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## zfarsh

I have several tanks, so i can always transfer some, and never had this problem, but, i am wandering how effective is the feeding less method?

for example, in my 75g tank, i have some cories that will eat all food in tank, so there wont be much food at the bottom, thus i cant expect an outbreack, however, in my 10g i have some aspidoras that are similar to a dwarf cory, but they dont seem to eat everything and i can see my Apixi snails becoming a bit more, and the MTS more too than i have ever seen. However, as i dont want assasin snails (they can kill shrimps too by the way), i would preffer something that only keep the populations in check, and nothing more, as snails are very usefull. Will less feeding be enough to control the tank, or is there other methods. Loaches seem like they would devastate the snail pop, which is definetnely not good for me.


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## itsmesiva

*Snails gone*

Just got a Clown loach and I don't see anymore snails in my tank. Amazing !
My tank loos a Lot bette !
Thanks for the suggestion


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## Jackson

One clown loach? If so that's just not right at all. 
They actually need company of their own kind groups of 5+ at least.


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## pyrrolin

clown loaches grow very slow but can get quite big, think about 8 inches in captivity, 12 inches in the wild. And they like to be in a small school. I did have 3, one young one disappeared, need to pick up another when able.


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## Jackson

I've personally seen ones over 12"+ raised in aquariums from a small size. 

They only grow slow after they hit the 6" mark. 
If they're kept in a proper sized tank, fed right, kept in pristine conditions and in a good sized group they can hit 6" pretty fast IME 

I had a massive group but had a power failure and I lost all 52 of them it was heart breaking. It almost caused me to stop keeping fish all together.


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## pyrrolin

wow on seeing 12 inch ones, nice to hear

and wow, ouch for losing 52 of them at once


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## GAT

is there any snail that would eat pond snail. I can't use assasin snail because I have MTS in my tank. I just hate pond snails and i need get them out.

Also, can i kill snail and their eggs by dipping the plants in untreated water for few mins?


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## xriddler

i think you need to do a salt water dip but i dont know the concentration, you can also dip it with meds but that will only help if your plants are going into a tank without shrimp as the meds will kill off shrimps too. only safe way is assassins just keep a few mts in a bucket with air bubbles until you find no more ponds in your tank take out the assassins and drop your mts back in. just pick off the baby assassins as they grow bigger or you see them. If you are going for a fish only tank then you dont have to worry as much and just dip rinse and plant.


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## itsmesiva

yes i have seen some huge ones. They r not pretty as when they are young...lol
Well, as i said i just got one in my tank and not changed anything with my routine other than adding him/her. And i dont see any snails in my tank. Its a big relief for me to see tank clean like that. I dont want to add lot of loaches in the tank. I will run it as it is and see how things would work. I am very pleased with the way the tank is. Again, thank you for the tip and appreciate every comment.


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## solarz

GAT said:


> is there any snail that would eat pond snail. I can't use assasin snail because I have MTS in my tank. I just hate pond snails and i need get them out.
> 
> Also, can i kill snail and their eggs by dipping the plants in untreated water for few mins?


Interestingly enough, ever since I got some MTS in my tank, the pond snail population has all but vanished.

I think you'll also need bleach or H2O2 to kill snails and snail eggs.


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## GAT

They are that strong to survive gta tap water? Damn thats going to suck for my shrimp tank. I have MTS in my main tank so hoepfully they will take care of the pond snails. I see ton in my filter.

I usually collect them and throw then in the garbage but is it safe to dump them in toilet or dump them sink?


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## xriddler

garbage them. i dont think you should drop them in our water systems


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## michaelw81

In some of my tanks, I have disgusting infestations of what seem to be Dwarf Pond Snails (Galba truncatula / Lymnaea truncatula). I constantly remove them by hand, but they are breeding way faster than I can remove them. The small ones even eat their ways into the Fluval Edge pre-filter sponges that I use on my AquaClear intakes. Every time I clean the sponges, I have to squeeze them out one by one. That is totally unpleasant and time consuming. I actually have MTS in one of these tanks. The Dwarf Pond Snails apparently outcompete the MTS to the extent that I haven't seen any newborn MTS for quite a while. I really hate those Dwarf Pond Snails. Loaches are not an alternative for me as I have fish fry in all of these tanks. I wonder whether anyone has experience with chemicals like SeaPora's Snail Zap.


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## papik

I would gladly take everyone's snails! Just pm me and arrange a pick up!!


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## zfarsh

just curious, but what are you going to do with those snails anyways?


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## papik

HUNGRY HUNGRY PUFFER!


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## solarz

michaelw81 said:


> In some of my tanks, I have disgusting infestations of what seem to be Dwarf Pond Snails (Galba truncatula / Lymnaea truncatula). I constantly remove them by hand, but they are breeding way faster than I can remove them. The small ones even eat their ways into the Fluval Edge pre-filter sponges that I use on my AquaClear intakes. Every time I clean the sponges, I have to squeeze them out one by one. That is totally unpleasant and time consuming. I actually have MTS in one of these tanks. The Dwarf Pond Snails apparently outcompete the MTS to the extent that I haven't seen any newborn MTS for quite a while. I really hate those Dwarf Pond Snails. Loaches are not an alternative for me as I have fish fry in all of these tanks. I wonder whether anyone has experience with chemicals like SeaPora's Snail Zap.


Have you tried adding cherry shrimps to the tank? Also, what is the depth of your substrate in that tank?


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## papik

solarz said:


> Have you tried adding cherry shrimps to the tank? Also, what is the depth of your substrate in that tank?


Cherry shrimp can help control a snail population??


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## solarz

papik said:


> Cherry shrimp can help control a snail population??


Yes, by competing with the snails for leftover food.


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## papik

solarz said:


> Yes, by competing with the snails for leftover food.


Sounds real effective


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## zfarsh

in my main 75 gallon tank, my snail are not growing too well, as my 12 big corydoras are eating everything, plus my cherry shrimps too, so not much left for my snails, other than alga ... but in my case, its Apixi and MTS snails, so i actually dont mind them growing in numbers a bit. But i think the idea is sound, cherry shrimps are an excellent addition to any tank, may at least lower the food available for them.


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## Jackson

zfarsh said:


> in my main 75 gallon tank, my snail are not growing too well, as my 12 big corydoras are eating everything, plus my cherry shrimps too, so not much left for my snails, other than alga ... but in my case, its Apixi and MTS snails, so i actually dont mind them growing in numbers a bit. But i think the idea is sound, cherry shrimps are an excellent addition to any tank, may at least lower the food available for them.


Your temp might be too low

Spixi will thrive off feces alone


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## zfarsh

Hey Jackob,

What is a feces? Anyways, my snails doing great in my 10g tank though


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## papik

zfarsh said:


> Hey Jackob,
> 
> What is a feces? Anyways, my snails doing great in my 10g tank though


Lol. Feces is poOp.


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## michaelw81

solarz said:


> Have you tried adding cherry shrimps to the tank? Also, what is the depth of your substrate in that tank?


About a year ago (before the Dwarf Pond Snails became so widespread), that tank with MTS did have a small group of Cherry Shrimps and I was constantly seeing baby MTS. The shrimps have since died off and the MTS population has been on the decline. I think in my case the Dwarf Pond Snails have outcompeted the shrimps and MTS. That tank has about 3 inches of Seachem Flourite Black Sand on the left, gently sloping to about 2 inches on the right.

SeaPora claims that it Snail Zap will "not harm fish, plants, or biological filter". Can anyone confirm this? Please share your experience.


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## papik

@Michael give me your snails!!!


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