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Snail Problem
Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:58 am
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
Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 2:54 am
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
Thank you
Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:36 am
by chillired
Barbie,
Thank you
Snall problem
Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 4:01 pm
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.
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:39 pm
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
Re: Snall problem
Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:45 pm
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
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 8:14 pm
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
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...
Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:43 pm
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.