fleshgear Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 (edited) it is a 20 gallon planted tank that has been taken over by snails and some other tiny little thing. dont ask what i dont know, they are a little smaller than baby brine shrimp. they seem to swim around but mostly stay on a piece of wood. not really concerned about these. i figure they will be food for fish once i put some fish in. i want to know what i can do to get rid of these snails as fast as possible without killing the plants or the cycle. i have used coppersafe before in the past but it takes a month or more. i have been adding some ich guard not sure of the dose i just dump some in every once and a while. is there anything else that i could use that would get rid of the snails faster? there is no fish in this tank at this time. Edited January 19, 2009 by fleshgear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devocole Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Let me know if you find a solution. Its a hard thing to do, almost impossible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 You're over feeding - snail populations only grow to teh amount of food they have. One of the easiest way to keep the pop'n in check is to add a piece of lettuce, and pull it out when it's covered in snails. Then, only feed as much as the fish will eat in a minute or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleshgear Posted January 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 You're over feeding - snail populations only grow to teh amount of food they have. One of the easiest way to keep the pop'n in check is to add a piece of lettuce, and pull it out when it's covered in snails. Then, only feed as much as the fish will eat in a minute or two. it was the tank that i was keeping fry in, then shrimp. i think the shrimp did not do well in this tank because there was virtually no algae. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werner Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Are you sure the "other tiny things" aren't baby shrimp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleshgear Posted January 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Are you sure the "other tiny things" aren't baby shrimp? i wish. that is what i originally thought but they never got any bigger. they dont move like shrimp and they are smaller than shrimp eggs. i am not 100% sure but i dont think that they are. even with a magnifying glass i can not see any distinguishing features they just look like a dot. but move around. they are not snails either they move faster than the snails Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleshgear Posted January 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 here is a pic of the little things. they are almost smaller than baby brine shrimp eggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catshanon Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 If I am not mistaken, those white dots are snail eggs. I have those on my driftwood too. Best natural way to rid snails is what Jason said."keep a piece of lettuce or zucchini, and overnight, they will be covered with snails".. I was gone for a month, so no water changes were done and when I came back, there were snails everywhere. I pull them out whenever I can see one close to the surface, otherwise, I drop in a piece of zucchini at night, and in the morning, it gets covered with snails, so I just pull it out and throw the snails away.... Natural way is the best, and staying away from chemicals is always preferable.(IMO) :thumbs: Raj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleshgear Posted January 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 If I am not mistaken, those white dots are snail eggs. I have those on my driftwood too. Best natural way to rid snails is what Jason said."keep a piece of lettuce or zucchini, and overnight, they will be covered with snails".. I was gone for a month, so no water changes were done and when I came back, there were snails everywhere. I pull them out whenever I can see one close to the surface, otherwise, I drop in a piece of zucchini at night, and in the morning, it gets covered with snails, so I just pull it out and throw the snails away.... Natural way is the best, and staying away from chemicals is always preferable.(IMO) :thumbs: Raj they are not snail eggs, they swim and move around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Too many snails means you are over feeding or there is dead plant matter in the tank. Snails only over populate if there is a food source. Reduce the feedings and clean out any dead plant matter. I do what Jvision suggests. Put a piece of lettuce(or I use zuchini) on the gravel(night time works best). Then remove it when its covered in snails. Rinse and repeat untill the snails are reduced. The squish method works too. Every time you see a snail squish it. I had a snail problem in my cherry shrimp tank as I feed that tank quite heavily. By using the zuchini and squishing them I was able to get rid of almost all of them and now they aren't a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleshgear Posted January 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Too many snails means you are over feeding or there is dead plant matter in the tank. Snails only over populate if there is a food source. Reduce the feedings and clean out any dead plant matter. I do what Jvision suggests. Put a piece of lettuce(or I use zuchini) on the gravel(night time works best). Then remove it when its covered in snails. Rinse and repeat untill the snails are reduced. The squish method works too. Every time you see a snail squish it. I had a snail problem in my cherry shrimp tank as I feed that tank quite heavily. By using the zuchini and squishing them I was able to get rid of almost all of them and now they aren't a problem. have not feed anything for two weeks, there is nothing in the tank except snails and plants. there is no dead plant material. it is one of the cleanest tanks i have. and needs the fewest water changes. probably cause of the snails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 have you tried loaches? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleshgear Posted January 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 have you tried loaches? i have 2 clown loaches in my 46 gallon tank. but i would like to get this tank back to a fry tank. i will probably get a couple more clown loaches to put in other bigger tanks, but i don't think i want loaches in this tank. i bought some 3 dojo loaches but they died within a week for some reason. they did not go into the tank with the ich guard. i know they are sensitive to ich and ich guard. they may have been stressed from the store. the person trying to catch them did not know what they were doing. i felt like saying give me that net. i should have not taken them after i seen how they were trying to catch them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 I remember when I had my tank going I got some clown loaches and they did crap. find some wild caught loaches I found some lemon tails and I think your snail problem would go bye bye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishkabod Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 you could always transfer the loaches into the tank on a temporary basis and then when you have fry to add then move the loaches back to the original tank. If there is enough time between moving back and forth there should be minimal stress on the loaches and they also get a nice snailey treat. Personally i'd try the lettuce method too. If you really want to get rid of them well then you are looking at a complete tear down and restart with new filter media. Lettuce and squish Lettuce and SQUISH (fun) Good luck L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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