Little pink things

[Duchess44]

Ok, at first I thought my 2 mystery snails were cute. Now I find out they can reproduce and have been doing so.

Today I find all these little pink dots on the glass of my aquarium. I know what they are because someone here already told me to be on the lookout for them. I am not sure how many of these things there can be, but I have removed about ten of them, and within about 2 minutes I am finding more.

How do I prevent this? I mean, I don't want to have to get rid of one of my snails, but if that's the only way to stop this I will. I am disabled and I cannot stay bent over my tank for hours searching for little pink dots and trying to grab them out of the tank. I guess I should have found this out beforehand but I know now and I don't want it.

Someone tell me how to stop them from doing this. I think I know how, but I really don't want to do it.

Ok update: I just saw another thread on this and decided to check directly under the hood. Viola! There was about a 3 inch by 1 inch thick line of pink crusty goop. I scraped it off and tossed it in the garbage. There are still a few "floaters" in the tank and on the sides, but hopefully I can get them as I see them. It looks like she may have laid another clutch before because I see the residue right next to where this one was. But I don't see any other snails in the tank so I don't know what happened there. Maybe it's just the white residue left by the tank splash or something. I hope I got them all and I still need to know how to stop this from happening again.

Thanks

[dragoonwoman]

1) Blanch a piece of cabbage, lettuce, cucumber or zucchini and place it in your tank at night. Next morning it probably will be covered in snails, so you can pick up the veggie and drop it (and the "passengers") into the trash. Repeat as necessary to control the snail population.

2) Get some assassin snails. They will actively hunt down and eat the others. I got 7 for my 46g and they've done a marvelous job of reducing the ramshorn snail numbers. I'm finding empty shells all over the substrate.

Both methods are tried-and-true, and neither involves putting chemicals into your tank to kill the snails.

[Duchess44]

Ok re: assasin snails. I have a 10 gallon tank and I didn't want to overload it. It would be ok to get the assasin snails for my tank? And would they hurt my mystery snails?

[dragoonwoman]

The purpose of the assassin snail is to KILL AND EAT other snails.

Caveat: They won't attack snails over a certain size, according to what I've read. Any snail more than twice the size of an assassin is usually safe.

I think the stocking level is 1 snail per 5 gallons, so you'd have room for a couple in your 10g. With a tank that size though, the veggie trick is probably much easier. Assassins aren't cheap, and you usually have to buy several at a time, because the shipping on one or two would be ridiculous.

[frefal13]

Are the little pink things baby snails or eggs? Mystery snails should lay their eggs above the water line, where they should be pretty easy to scrape off.

[Duchess44]

Yea I found the eggs on the underside of the hood right by the light fixture. HUGE thing. Anyway, the little pink things are in the water on the glass inside the tank. I think they look like the same thing to me so either some eggs dropped off the pile or I don't know. I still see some that I will have to get off the side of the tank.

[JuliaC]

I second the assassin snails suggestion. I got 3 for my 10 Gal that was getting taken over by ramshorn snails. In about 2 months, only several mature huge ramshorn snails were left. They still are there, and they reproduce like crazy, but the assassin snails quickly eat the progeny while it's still young. Assassin snails themselves don't seem to reproduce at all.

[Duchess44]

Would a LFS carry these? Or do I have to get them online? I went to Petsmart and they don't carry them. Do you think a smaller store would have them?

[JuliaC]

I've never seen them in a store. I got mine on Aquabid.

[ekfishlover2011]

In Centerville, PA there is a giant well-known store called That Fish Place. If you live near there, there are Assassin snails in the Plant/Snail/Betta Room. An associate will tell you exactly where they are. They are very helpful people. ... Sometimes.

[Trillianne]

Assassin snails are opportunistic and hearty feeders and will eat the smaller snails first, but I would not 100% guarantee they won't eventually try to take on your larger snails.

They DO reproduce in aquariums, though usually not super rapidly as they lay a single egg at a time and not a clutch of eggs. (I have had them reproduce in my tank) However, they are a single sex snail, and for a 10 gallon tank you could always go with just one to avoid that problem.

Most of the chain stores will not carry them (Petsmart/petco) but they are not uncommon in smaller independent type stores or on aquabid.