# How to get rid of snails??



## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

So... 
I went and bought some plants from a pet store i've not shopped at before, but my sister had and I liked their plants so I bought some. After buying some and placing them in my Bettas tank (after washing etc) a few days later the tank has around 6-8 little tiny snails on the glass and the plants!! THEN my sister decides to tell me they have snails. How do you get rid of them? They are so annoying :shock:


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Pond snails, most likely. They are so small on plants. 
If the plants are healthy, regular untreated tap water might kill them (chlorine, if your pipes are treated like ours) To get them out of your tank, drop in some lettuce (it will float) and they will get on it to eat. Lettuce is their favorite! Then remove the lettuce and the snails. Might have to do this a few times to get them all. 
Pond snails are actually beneficial to the tank but I can't say much because I refuse to put them in my tank because they breed so fast. 
Hopefully there are no egg sacs on the leaves of the plants. When I had my driftwood in with my pond snails the egg sacs were literally impervious to everything, I soaked it in hot water then left it outside on my doorstep for a bout a week in the summer then took it back inside and the sacs were re-saturated with water. I couldn't believe it! I boiled the driftwood then for about 20 minutes and scraped them off individually. Those suckers are impossible. The tap water doesn't affect the egg sacs, which is why a lot of people quarentine their new plants outside the tank for a week or so to make sure.
SO, good luck! Hopefully you catch them befire they become a problem but you can keep a population down by starving them. Pond snails prefer to reproduce when they have a lot of food. Pond snails will eat dying plant matter, keeping your tank in good shape though.

*ETA* I should add not to add chlorinated water to your tank. If you feel you must remove the plants and douse them in tap water then do that. The snails have established themselves in the tank though so that might not be beneficial. Just don't add salt to the tank!! It will harm the plants.


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## Pilot00 (Jul 24, 2012)

If you have a betta he might snack on them, but your best bet for natural cleaning are either loaches or assassin snails. I have no experience first hand with assassins but i know they do the job done and people say they dont reproduce too much.

Loaches though will munch them completely. They are a true eradication system. Thing is can you support them or do you want them?


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

My assassin snails do not eat ponds. I'm not the first who has "broken"assassins either. My theory is that if they ever have non-snail food (bloodworms) they will prefer that to hunting bc sometimes ponds are too quick for assassins. 
Loaches get to be pretty big so unless you have the space and snail population to support a loach I would refrain. Actually, loaches are a great idea if you have a great big tank because then you never have to worry about snails again. BUT they will also eat nerites and larger apple snails (I'm pretty sure, or they kill them)


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

I'm trying out an assassin snail myself, I don't want to do anything to my tank chemically. I missed a pond snail nest and there are hundreds of babies  If that doesn't work I might try a dwarf pufferfish next


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## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

They are SO ANNOYING! Cleaned out my sisters tank the other day, they were EVERYWHERE, even in the filter sponge. I've only seen one lately so i'm going to remove the plants. They're in the tank with my Betta. I'm pretty annoyed with the shop too, as the other shop I usually buy off of are a little more expensive but are completely snail free and bigger. The thing is there were no live snails on the plants after I rinsed them so probably was an egg sac. Are they harmful or anything? I've never had the problem before but I really don't like it. What do they feed on? The snails are really tiny btw, like minute. not the like snails you get on paths lol


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## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

And I can't get pufferfishes, my tank isn't big enough for them or loaches  I think I might quarantine my next plants, not take that risk again!!


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## sarahspins (Sep 5, 2012)

Copper is really really bad for snails (and other inverts like shrimp) but generally tolerated by fish at levels that will do in snails.. however then you have dead decaying snails in your tank if they aren't immediately removed (which could be tricky if you can't spot them all) which is another issue and can lead to other problems (ammonia spikes, bacterial blooms, etc).

Unfortunately I think it's usually a lose-lose scenario trying to get rid of snails in a hurrty. Unless your tank is completely overrun with them I'd just pick them out as you see them.. that's what I'm doing in my plant QT tank, and in a smaller tank it's probably the best method of control anyways.


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## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

Yeah, i'm going to try that. I've removed the plant and I put a lettuce leaf in and am going to take it out in a few hours and hopefully the adults are on it.. there isn't much, I've only seen one snail, but I know they are very well blended etc. Such a hassle! I will probably be removing gravel from both my axolotl tanks and my betta one (that has the snails) and replacing it with the silica sand.. so hopefully the problem goes with it too!


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

moonsand0wls said:


> Are they harmful or anything? I've never had the problem before but I really don't like it. What do they feed on?


No they're not harmful at all, they just feed on rotting food and algae. So they're actually pretty helpful as long as their population doesn't get out of control (make sure to not overfeed your fish).


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## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

babystarz said:


> No they're not harmful at all, they just feed on rotting food and algae. So they're actually pretty helpful as long as their population doesn't get out of control (make sure to not overfeed your fish).


Yup nope I only feed him a little nightly  They can be pretty unsightly if they over take the tank!! I sure hope there isn't egg sacs, as I've had the lettuce leaf out for a few hours, and so far I can't see ANY snails on it! o_o fingers crossed there's only one for two :lol:


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## Pilot00 (Jul 24, 2012)

Can i ask the dimensions of the tank and what other fish you have in there?


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## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

Just my Betta. I'm not sure the measurements as I don't have a measure on me, but it's 50L.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

It might take some time. They might wait until it's dark to invade the lettuce trap.


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## Pilot00 (Jul 24, 2012)

Laki said:


> It might take some time. They might wait until it's dark to invade the lettuce trap.


Problem with that is that this wont harm the eggs. And its the eggs that are the big problem.


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## toad (Jul 17, 2012)

What's wrong with them, really?

I got a snail from Petco - a pond snail, called Mr. Snail, that they didn't want to give me, but I insisted. I have to rename her, because she had a million babies :-D I like them, I think they're cute lol.


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## ZergyMonster (Feb 20, 2012)

I am actually in the process of eliminating all my ramshorn snails. I purchased some pond snails because they are much more appealing and do a better job. So I have been looking in my tank everyday and looking for stray ramshorns and with a pinch I kill them. Squishing them is the most human way of getting rid of them, it is a quick and spontaneous death versus being left out to shrivel or being flushed or suffocated.


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## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

toad said:


> What's wrong with them, really?
> 
> I got a snail from Petco - a pond snail, called Mr. Snail, that they didn't want to give me, but I insisted. I have to rename her, because she had a million babies :-D I like them, I think they're cute lol.


They're unsightly for my tank, they would be okay if there was just one or two, bvut if the eggs hatch I don't want my tank over run  They'd be okay if they were wanted.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Oh my god. My dormant assassin snails hunted down and killed a pond snail in less than 10 minutes. Since I have such a problem with algae, I decided to put the duckweed in the assassins floating cup and add a pond snail to clean them (this way saving my tank from snails which I have but have never kept them in my tank because my assassins never ate them)

So, I'll add another pond today and if that one too is killed then I'll add my pond snails to the tank and release the assassins and they can do what they like. I'll just keep my nerites safe on one side of the divider.


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## Freyja (Jun 22, 2012)

I agree as to their usefulness. I have two trumpet snails that came as hitchhikers in plants and like them. They are fun to watch burrowing in my gravel. Im looking out for my LFS to bring in their shipment of tiger nerite which are drool-worthy.


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## jess12 (Sep 28, 2012)

I got 3 Pakistani loaches for my 160l and they have eaten pretty much every snail


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

lol Freyja.. My nerites are so slow and dumb. I love them though. They're neat to watch.. Well, look at and then see where they are in an hour lol


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## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

They would be great if they were wanted lol


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