How do I get rid of those tiny snails?

[Kens6161]

I bought a plant and now my tank is over-run with these tiny snails. How do I get rid of them with out hurting my fish?

[Gemstone]

You should be able to buy some snail kill at your local pet shop...

[abaigael04]

Just be careful when you buy the snail kill - if it has copper in it (I am not sure if there is anything else that kills snails???) and what kind of fish you have in your tank - catfish/loaches/plecos I know are sensitive to copper. GL!

[Red]

go with a yoyo loach and dont get the chemicals sometimes they hurt the fish...

[abaigael04]

What size is your tank? A little loach might be a good idea - but they do do best in groups! ANd they are SO cute :41: I love loaches! Great personality!

[Fishalicious]

Put a jam jar in at night with a piece of cucumber in it....in the mornings lift the jar out with the snail covered cucumber...keep this up daily until they are all gone. Also if you see any crawling up the glass a firm squash with your finger against the glass will kill it and the fish will eat the now unprotected snail.

[Kens6161]

go with a yoyo loach and dont get the chemicals sometimes they hurt the fish...
It is a 20g tank. I will look into these loaches you speak of :thumb:

[NickFish]

Put a jam jar in at night with a piece of cucumber in it....in the mornings lift the jar out with the snail covered cucumber...keep this up daily until they are all gone. Also if you see any crawling up the glass a firm squash with your finger against the glass will kill it and the fish will eat the now unprotected snail.

That's the best idea.

Clown loaches will not fit in a 20g no way no how, so the jam jar lid technique is your best bet.

Chances are, you will never get all the snails out, but you can keep the population down.

[abaigael04]

I agree if you only have a 20 gallons that is to small for most any loach, especially since they must be kept in groups of five or more. Yoyo's get 6". The dwarf loach only gets 2.5 in but I don't know if they eat snails very effectively or how happy a group of them would REALLY be in a 20 gallon?

[Fishead]

Just squish them as you see them. That usually will keep them under control. Also look for the egg sacks when bringing in plants. It looks like a small jelly deposit with little specks, if you can get rid of these then the snails won't repopulate if you get them all.
Fish wise, i believe you can also get pea puffers, they love to eat snails. They stay really small and I believe they are the only true freshwater puffer. The only thing is watch out for slower moving fish as they can get nibbled on as well. Puffers are notorious fin nippers.

[bluekrissyspikes]

i'd use the jar method. i've heard it works well and i think your tank is too small for loaches. loaches are also known for tearing up live plants if they get the chance so i'm not sure you'd want to go with them.

[Commodore 64]

Once the population explodes, as long as you take care of yoru tank..i.e don't over feed, the population will monitor itself. If they are Malaysian Trumpet Snails, they work very hard, and eat a lot of algae for you. Once their population gets itself under control, you will only see them at night.

They are more beneficial than they are harmful.

Just my opinion, of course.

[bushwhacker]

another effective way to stop em at the source, when you bring home the new plant is to let it sit in a diluted bleach bath for a few min make sure to get it into the water and bleach then rinse it very well

[Alfcea]

Most fish are stronger than snails towards copper salts. In particular, copper sulfate can be used succesfully to kill snails (along with many other invertebrates such as shrimp) and it is relatively safe to use with fish. HOWEVER, the toxicity of copper is very dependant on the hardness of the water. If the water is really soft, it is usually not recommended to use copper because fish will suffer too. The toxicity is also very dependant on the tempearture of the water. In fact, increasing the temperature of the water by just three or four degrees centigrade, the toxicity increases several times!

If the hardness of your water is moderate, you can use either a commercially available snail killer or get some copper sulfate pentahydrate. It is sold as a light blue powder in pharmacies... and it is very cheap too! Add about 50 mg of it per 10 gallons of water and you should see a massive death of snails. At this point it is extremely important that you remove all the dead snails AND do a large water change because the changing chemistry of the water will be more damaging to your fish than the copper itself. Do more water changes daily for about a week and you should be snail free. While the copper is in the tank, try to keep the temperature at about 22 to 23 C.

Some plants are very sensitive to copper too. In particular, vallisnerias are known to basically "melt away" in the presence of high concentrations of copper. If you have these types of plants, it would be safe to take them out of your tank while the concentration of copper is high. Wash them, remove any visible snails and submerge them in a dilute solution of potassium permanganate (KMnO4) for about 1 hr. The solution should be dark pink. That will kill all the possible eggs attached to them. After the bath, rinse the plants with lots of water and keep them in a quarantine tank while your main tank is being treated with copper sufate.

After a week, you can put your plants back in the tank and you'll be snail free!