@^@& Snails!!!

[Gemini]

That's it I am at my wits end.
I have been battling these stupid, feral, disgusting, awful, evil, nightmare inducing snails in my community tank now for months :spam:. I don't know what type of snails they are - there's a few types - but I got to the stage of catching all my fish and taking every plant and bleach dipping it, syphoning all the substrate out clean, filling and emptying the tank three times whilst scrubbing it, and then refilling it the tank and putting new sand, the fish back in etc. I cleaned everything fully expecting a major cycle but I HAD to. :14: The amount of snails was phenomenal - billions upon billions.
I thought they were gone - this was three weeks ago. The tank stayed stable - I dont know how but I tested it daily and didn't see amm or ites at all - ates just slowly showed.
And now - this morning - I look in the tank and there they were mocking me. 5 on the long skinny plant, I take it out and rub them off and replant, then the more I look the more there are. I pulled at least 20 stupid teeny tiny ***** snails.
Now if anyone is still reading at this point - what do I do now? I've tried Jess' snail trap before I pulled it all down and it didn't work. They just didn't go near it. So do I take the loaches from the other tank and put them in for a couple of weeks? Or buy snail kill?
The inhabitants are:
Pepper Corys - 4 adults and 5 3 month old bubbies
6 Neons
BN
RTS

I HATE SNAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - and the LFS that gave them to me on plants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry for the long post but I had to vent.

[Crispy]

get a figure 8 puffer.. they live off snails. :)

[fins_n_fur]

Do you have room for a pair of keyholes (Cleithracara maroni)? They eat regular fish food, but love snails! I had a massive overrun of snails in my large tank, and a few weeks after I added four of these guys in my tank, all the snails went (they do tend to leave the MTS alone as those guys hide in the substrate).

[Algenco]

loaches!!!! they love snails

[Lady Hobbs]

I know where you're coming from. A few are fine but hundreds are not.

I recently scooped out all my gravel in a bucket, sit the bucket outside in the snowbank for a couple days to kill the buggers.

[Jellygirl]

I had a similar problem - that's how I ended up with a gift of a clown loach.(blush)

Good luck - looks like you will need it.

Jellygirl

[Wild Turkey]

I agree loaches. Even if you cant fit one permanently, go to a place that does returns, and "rent" it as needed:hmm3grin2orange: Cost you nothing, and you are doing the loach a favor.

[Gemini]

Lady you are so right - a few is fine but billions and billions are evil.
I have 6 CL in my African tank. I thought I could catch two out - won't be easy but doable - or I could buy another one and pop it in the community tank first. I"m pretty sure I'm stocked because the tank is only 29G - I never see ates higher than 5ppm (except for my one week of breeding net issues) so I dont' think keyholes would be possible. Crispy I can't get figure 8's here I don't think. And arent they mean?
Seriously I hate these snails. I can still feel them under my nails and it's been hours since I went picking.

[Crispy]

Crispy I can't get figure 8's here I don't think. And arent they mean?

Mine is in the 20 gallon fry tank and he seems to leave all the little guys alone. I never hear of anyone having great success with them, so I thought I'd give it a try. Had him about a month now.

[OscarFan]

Not sure what a rts is but I think u have room for some sort of dwarf cichlid that would eat them.

[korith]

Snails bleh, I share your sentiments! I've been battling snails in my shrimp tank and a 20g for a long while now. Problem is all the great solutions like adding a snail eating fish, or chems that kill snails, also take out the shrimp! We can have a race one day to see who can break down their tank and make it snail free first:p Since you don't have any shrimp in your tank, maybe you can borrow a loach or something to take care of the snails.

[Gemini]

Oh ok - well I'll have a look see - I don't know if I would like a puffer fish though....
RTS is a red tail shark.

[Gemini]

Snails bleh, I share your sentiments! I've been battling snails in my shrimp tank and a 20g for a long while now. Problem is all the great solutions like adding a snail eating fish, or chems that kill snails, also take out the shrimp! We can have a race one day to see who can break down their tank and make it snail free first:p Since you don't have any shrimp in your tank, maybe you can borrow a loach or something to take care of the snails.
Don't remind me about the snails in my cherry tank!! I just try and pick them out but they are there too!! I've decided to try and ignore them because yeah I can't medicate or loach it! And it's too hard to catch the shrimp. Aren't they just awful sneaky buggers!!
Alright two options now - catch loaches from african tank and put them in for a cpl weeks or buy a new loach and add him there to eat and then put him in african tank.

[PUNISHER VETTE]

I had a ton of snails in my tanks. Got a yo-yo loach and it did them away in a few months.

contacted the LFS to see if they'd take it back now that it had done it's job and they said no problem. Too bad i had my horrible oxygen deficiency not long after and it was one of the ones that passed.

Depending on what kind of plants you have you can try the Had-a-Snail. It's a copper based poison killing the snails. I tried it but was unsuccessful...and i also had Val's which it melted.

[toddnbecka]

Ask for some copper sulfate solution at your lfs, or possibly some type of medicine that contains some. Alternatively, a small piece of copper placed in a filter (for ease or removal and maximum dispersal of ions) will poison the snails (and any other inverts) slowly. It may take as long as a couple weeks to eliminate them all, but it is 100% effective.

[Sharon]

I'd try the clown loach...they have a great reputation for snails! thumbs2: BTW, there is a safe bleach dip for future use when you buy plants...I always dip, as snails freak me out!

[Algenco]

I'd try the clown loach...they have a great reputation for snails! thumbs2: BTW, there is a safe bleach dip for future use when you buy plants...I always dip, as snails freak me out!

1 part bleach (no fragrance) to 19 parts water, dip for 5 minutes, rinse, rinse, rinse, and rinse some more, when your certain there's no more bleach smell soak in clear water with large amounts of dechlor 5-10 usual dose for an hour,
rinse again just for the fun of it.
It will do slight damage to some plants but nearly all will recover

[Gemini]

1 part bleach (no fragrance) to 19 parts water, dip for 5 minutes, rinse, rinse, rinse, and rinse some more, when your certain there's no more bleach smell soak in clear water with large amounts of dechlor 5-10 usual dose for an hour,
rinse again just for the fun of it.
It will do slight damage to some plants but nearly all will recover
That's what I did when I pulled them all out. But I didn't dip for 5 mins - only about 1. I was worried about killing them but the only thing damaged was some sword that wasn't doing too well anyway.
What I find just amusing is that the presence of snails is enough to make a grown woman burst into tears. I spent 6 hours cleaning that tank of snails and I swear they are mocking me now :hmm3grin2orange:
I will win though.
Is copper available at a hardware store?

[Algenco]

That's what I did when I pulled them all out. But I didn't dip for 5 mins - only about 1. I was worried about killing them but the only thing damaged was some sword that wasn't doing too well anyway.
What I find just amusing is that the presence of snails is enough to make a grown woman burst into tears. I spent 6 hours cleaning that tank of snails and I swear they are mocking me now :hmm3grin2orange:
I will win though.
Is copper available at a hardware store?

do you have any copper coins? a couple of pennies works well, just remember you can never move anything from that tank to your shrimp tank

[korith]

Is copper available at a hardware store?

The lfs should have some. There are even commercial products that kill snails, most just contain copper.

[Gemini]

I don't really want to do the copper method because of the shrimp tank.... I know I'll forget and throw something in for them to clean - didn't even think i can't do that - I'm always putting algae rocks into the shrimp tank from there.
So it has to be shrimp safe. So back to the loach. I'm jsut gonna catch two out of the other tank and put them in for a month or so. Has to be done!

[Algenco]

I don't really want to do the copper method because of the shrimp tank.... I know I'll forget and throw something in for them to clean - didn't even think i can't do that - I'm always putting algae rocks into the shrimp tank from there.
So it has to be shrimp safe. So back to the loach. I'm jsut gonna catch two out of the other tank and put them in for a month or so. Has to be done!

natural solution might not be the easiest but it's is always best

[Gemini]

Yeah I just didn't want to be mean to the loaches by separating them for awhile from their clan. But they'll get big belllies and it's not forever.
The parameters are nearly the same too. Now to catch them...