Snail Problem

If it's about fish in general, or it's a little bit random, then this is the place to post it.
Post Reply
User avatar
chillired
Groupie
Posts: 39
Joined: Sun Jun 22, 2008 1:34 am
Location: West Hoxton, NSW Australia

Snail Problem

Post by chillired »

Hi all,
I got a bit of snail problem in my Zebra tank. I was wondering if I could use a snail rid??? Just want to make sure I don't want anything to happen to my Zebra.
Thank you
Chillired
User avatar
Barbie
Moderator
Posts: 1146
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2004 9:07 pm
Location: Spokane, WA, US
Contact:

Post by Barbie »

Snail rid would be a VERY bad idea. Your only safe option is to find predatory snails to eat them, or to squash them as you see them and siphon them out. Chemical means can crash your tank and usually contain copper, which has been proven to be detrimental to the nervous system in higher doses. I wouldn't recommend it, personally. Fish that can eat snails will also probably cause stress for your little zebra, so I'd rule that one out. Sorry. Snails shouldn't overpopulate and cause a real problem unless you over feed, IME.

Barbie
[url=http://www.plecos.com][img]http://plecos.com/plecosbanner.gif[/img][/url]
User avatar
chillired
Groupie
Posts: 39
Joined: Sun Jun 22, 2008 1:34 am
Location: West Hoxton, NSW Australia

Thank you

Post by chillired »

Barbie,
Thank you
User avatar
Doug White
Forum Follower
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:04 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Snall problem

Post by Doug White »

My L046 eat the snalls, I'm finding empty shells every week while vacumming the sand. I would aviod snall be gone at any cost.
civicr
Obsessed!!
Posts: 292
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 3:39 pm
Location: scotland

d

Post by civicr »

in my juvi zeb tank i use assasin snails to eat the other sanils the only reasson i dont use the assassins in my breeding tank is just incase they eat the eggs


very good tho
2x wild zebs
4x mature zebs
6x juvi zebs
3x zeb fry 2days old 11/09/08
smithrc
Moderator
Posts: 862
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2005 3:57 pm
Location: Milton Keynes - UK
Contact:

Re: Snall problem

Post by smithrc »

Doug White wrote:My L046 eat the snalls, I'm finding empty shells every week while vacumming the sand. I would aviod snall be gone at any cost.
Ours eat them too :)

again - I'd avoid anything that will result in a lot of dead and therefore decaying matter in the tank...

I have sand substrate and run a large mesh net through it during the day (when the MTS's are hiding in it) voila - clown loach snack in a net :)
Click For Our Plecs
[url=http://www.smithrc.f2s.com/gallery/plecs][img]http://www.smithrc.f2s.com/assorted/PlecSig_sm.jpg[/img][/url]
User avatar
McEve
Hypan-guru!
Posts: 2871
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2004 7:33 am
Location: Norway
Contact:

Post by McEve »

I'm not sure I see the problem :) The snails will eat any leftovers, they can be used to artificially hatch eggs, they contribute to the ecological balance of the tank and - the Zebras do eat them!

They're not pretty though, I admit, still :cheers: for the little black snails!

Do not put loaches in the tank to get rid of them! Loaches have tiny spikes next to their gill that they use against "competitors". Many a Zebra has died as a result of this.

If you don't want them remove them, and the eggs, manually.

Just my opinion...
User avatar
mistern2005
Obsessed!!
Posts: 147
Joined: Sun Sep 24, 2006 4:44 am
Location: Tucson, Arizona

Post by mistern2005 »

Wow - I worte up this whole reply then lost it! Here goes again...

I was OVERRUN with babay MTS - not too many adults, just babies everywhere. About the same time I got tired of seeing the little white dots over everything, I also wanted to change substrate to Xingu river sand. So when I changed the substrate I tried to remove as many snails as possible in the process - but there were still many left. I also added 6 adult assassin snails.

Since then it's been about 3 months. I hardly every see any baby MTS (even at night), but do see many more assassin snails - they seem to do really well in the warm water.

The trumpet snails work hard, but get overpopulated fast in a zebra tank since the pH is generally not very low (as to impede shell growth) and there tends to be excessive amounts of food. The assassin snails are a good alternative - they also stir up the substrate, keep the "bad" snails at bay, and don't reproduce so prolifically.

I'd suggest trying the assassin snails - give them some time, they will work. If you can removed many of the MTS like I did to give the assassins a head start, that really helps too.

I have never heard of assassin snails eating fish eggs - I think that is a myth.
L046 Breeders - 2M/3F / Lots of other L046 subadults and juveniles.
Lots of L144 - LF/SF, M/F, you name it...
Post Reply