# Snails



## sheridan (May 13, 2014)

I have an infestation problem which I have posted regarding recently. I had fish in the tanks that had this problem and couldnt use the chemicals which would kill the snails.

Well I'm fed up and decided to move the fish so I now have 2 free tanks full of plants and snails. I'm going to restart the tanks but i want to keep the plants (because they're so expensive).

I've read that using a bleach treatment is a good idea but that sounds difficult, and so does anyone have any EASY methods for me to get rid of these stupid things?

Thank you


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## JDAquatics (Jan 16, 2015)

how about a salt water dip? I think it is 1 cup to a gallon. Even aquatic snails can be dehydrated.


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## jjposko (Jan 3, 2013)

You could pull out what snails you can and put in some assassin snails.


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## sheridan (May 13, 2014)

JDAquatics said:


> how about a salt water dip? I think it is 1 cup to a gallon. Even aquatic snails can be dehydrated.


Would the salt affect my plants at all?


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

I love my Assassin Snails. Three cleaned out nearly 200 (I counted the empty pond snail shells) in a month. Haven't seen one since.


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## sheridan (May 13, 2014)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> I love my Assassin Snails. Three cleaned out nearly 200 (I counted the empty pond snail shells) in a month. Haven't seen one since.


Oh really? I haven't heard about them. I'm not sure if they sell them in Aus, but I'll have to go and have a look.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

May not be able to buy them in Australia. I forgot about that. :-(


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## sheridan (May 13, 2014)

Any other ideas to get rid of the snails besides an assassin snail? I know I can just scrape the leaves but two of my plants are mounted (one on wood, one on volcanic rock). How can I make sure the snails are no longer on these???


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## JDAquatics (Jan 16, 2015)

The saltwater dip is much more gentle on plants than bleach, a few minutes should not impact the plants. Might also consider getting loaches. Some like the yo yo loach love to snack on snails, pulling them right out of the shell. Dwarf puffer fish too.


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## jjposko (Jan 3, 2013)

I have dwarf puffers and they love to eat them snails.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

I've not used salt but I _think _salt would hurt the plants more than a quick proper bleach (or hydrogen peroxide) dip. Alternatively if you never plant to keep any shrimp or snails EVER in the tanks you can look into copper treatments while fish are out.
If you want a non chemical (or salt) method you can either transition the plants to an emmersed setup (plants above water in high humidity conditions-ceran wrap on the top of the tank) though a few plants are not marginal and able to tolerate being above water (blyxa being an example). Snails won't survive in such a setup but I'm not sure (depending on species of snail) if the eggs will go dormant or die. Alternatively you can make a snail trap and catch them as they feed on bait (veggie or algae wafer) but that can take a few weeks to catch them all then you have to do it again when any eggs hatch.

I honestly don't mind snails as they eat algae, uneaten food, and dead plant matter. They don't get out of control in a tank unless one or more of these food sources is plentiful. If the excess food source is removed the #s will dwindle to non 'infestation' levels and maintain an acceptable community size.
I have them in all my tanks and only have a lot in my 55g community as I intentionally over feed to ensure otos and cory get food (the barbs, rainbowfish, and angelfish like to hog the food). But I harvest the out by hand from the feeding areas and feed them to my husbands dwarf puffer,sell/roak, or kill them as needed (temps not ideal to ship).


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## sheridan (May 13, 2014)

JDAquatics said:


> Might also consider getting loaches. Some like the yo yo loach love to snack on snails, pulling them right out of the shell. Dwarf puffer fish too.


I did consider that. :lol: Unfortunately... One of the tanks with the problem is only 3 gallon which is much too small for a yoyo loach (my family have used them before with the same problem). 

I know I'll be able to get rid of a majority but just wondering if theres a way to make sure.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

You just have to keep picking. They're sort of like Duckweed...they multiply faster than you can blink. :-(


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## sheridan (May 13, 2014)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> You just have to keep picking. They're sort of like Duckweed...they multiply faster than you can blink. :-(


I know! Soooo frustrating.


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## sheridan (May 13, 2014)

Does anyone know how much time it takes for an aquatic snail to die OUT OF THE WATER?


I've removed my plants and gravel from the tank. Now i just have the tank and the filter, and i can see small snails at the bottom of the filter section, yet i cannot reach them :/ I've taken all water out of the tank... does anyone know when it will be safe to put water back in the tank without risking the snails being alive??


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

sheridan said:


> Does anyone know how much time it takes for an aquatic snail to die OUT OF THE WATER?
> 
> 
> I've removed my plants and gravel from the tank. Now i just have the tank and the filter, and i can see small snails at the bottom of the filter section, yet i cannot reach them :/ I've taken all water out of the tank... does anyone know when it will be safe to put water back in the tank without risking the snails being alive??


Depends on what type of snail. Someone on this forum found thier nerite after a month OUT of water and it was still alive (chugging along once in the tank again). But that's not a pest snail. Ramshorns, pond, and bladder snails will wither and die quickly (within hours) once they are not wet. Mts (Malaysian trumpet snails) may last a little longer as they have a trap door to seal in moisture, but they will dry out and die.


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## sheridan (May 13, 2014)

Okay thank you  the tank has been empty for a solid 12 hrs so I might leave it a little longer. Thanks again!


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## sheridan (May 13, 2014)

Would anyone know if the snails that managed to live through the drying out process of my tank & boiling the gravel will die with NO nutrients in the tank? There are no plants so it's just the primed water. Will they die?


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## sheridan (May 13, 2014)

Soooo... they're back. Multiplying everyday. Nothing is working! It is like these snails are crazy warriors that will just not die.

I've soaked everything in snail killer, and I retreated it to kill the newly hatched snails. Everything looked great and clean. Rinsed everything. Back in tank. BLOODY SNAILS. THEY WONT GO AWAY. I've tried a trap. NOTHING. 

It's 3gal tank w/ no fish currently. Help??


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## ApochSaint (Apr 19, 2015)

as mentioned earlier Assassin snails seem to be your best option


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## sheridan (May 13, 2014)

I unfortunately can't get an assassin snail where I live


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## sheridan (May 13, 2014)

If ANYONE has any experience with the chemical "snail rid" or any other snail removing product with copper sulphate as an active ingredient, could you please help me out on my other thread titled "copper sulphate snail solutions?" in the betta care forum?

thank you


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