If you cant beat'm.. give up. my 120 Mn. Native tank rebuild.

The_Nuge

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 31, 2011
208
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St. Paul Mn.
Well if any of you have seen any of my posts over the last 6+ months you know i have been battling snails. they are NOT native but they are probably more likely to survive Armageddon than the cockroach. I tried everything! and now my tank is a baron wasteland with a not so happy shy walleye. i gave up and am now going to stock it up and get it back to a realistic native habitat.

ill post a pic of it as it sits now. in a few weeks i hope to have it stocked with sun fish and some new drift wood from my taxidermy friend. she gets large 18 to 24" pieces for 12 bucks a piece. I have 4. ill soak them for a few weeks or so and drop them in. when its all done ill post finished pics.

one thing im confused about. i had long beautiful lush live plants that grew up and across the surface.. after the first couple rounds of snail attacks they died off but even after many water changes and with clean parameters they wont grow more than a few inches tall, still alive but stunted..? any thoughts?

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The_Nuge

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 31, 2011
208
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0
St. Paul Mn.
wow that first pic really shows my crappy minwax stain job.. i spent a week building the stand so it was perfect n sturdy and them my impatience showed up..lol ill have to re-do that some day.. embarrassed !:irked:
 

Smok3o3

Gambusia
MFK Member
Feb 11, 2010
580
1
16
Colorado
thats a walleye in there? does he stay in that corner all the time? You can try snail eaters like loaches
 

The_Nuge

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 31, 2011
208
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0
St. Paul Mn.
yeah he does cause walleyes are not big fans of bright light. he will feel better and move around when the light shuts off.

dont get me started on flipp'n loaches! I bought a huge one for 40 bucks at a lfs and they told me i would get roughly half that back if i returned it later( i said i just wanted it for snail removal) it knocked the numbers down but they are NOT a cure for snails i dont care who says what! sorry i blew up. and the lfs never gave me a nickle when i returned the loach. the owner avoided me like the plague. between the loach and other crap that LFS ill never go back to got me for a couple hundo on fruitless snail fixes. trust me if there is a way i tried it. im just gona count on my sunfish to keep them in check. and a nice white sucker to eat eggs to keep numbers down.
 

Rays of Sunshine

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 20, 2010
814
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Georgia
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First time I have seen a walleye, very nice and love the markings!!

I found some freshwater clams that came in with the sandy mix I got from the lake. The sunfish kept uncovering them but when I added the brown bullhead, all the clams were emptied the next day. I read bullheads supposedly eat snails in their regular diet.

You did a great job on the wax, canopy and stand!

I guess the only way you can eliminate the snails, strip down the tank, glass lids, filters, airstones, powerheads and soak them in hot water and bleach. You also have to do the same with the gravel and turn it over while it's soaking to make sure all of it is soaking. Or you you can throw it out and get new gravel. Also make sure you clean under the rim of the tank with the water and bleach. Eggs will probably be under the rim too. You will have to start your tank cycle all over. If you have another tank running, put the walleye in there for awhile.
 

The_Nuge

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 31, 2011
208
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St. Paul Mn.
thanks on the stand.. you should see the walleyes markings when his fins are up.. its really incredible. ill try to get a picture of it.

I know i can empty and sanitize the tank but i didnt want to if I didnt have to. now i have a 2 week old lill girl, my first kid so im just going to let the snails be for now. hot water and bleach works though? i heard you had to boil everything.

i have about 6 small bull heads im trying to grow larger. I put 2 in the 120 a while back and the walleye ate them.. maybe after i have drift wood and rock in the tank the bullys will work out..lol
 

Rays of Sunshine

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 20, 2010
814
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Georgia
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Okay, after you said the walleye ate the small snail bullheads, I looked at the adult size of walleye and they are huge. I don't think the snail bullheads you have would survive being eaten even with the hiding spots. I think you need a 12-14 inch catfish to be safe.

Hot water and bleach would work. However I would use warm water and bleach on the tank. Needs to soak for an 1 hour. Since you don't want to strip the tank. You could put a piece of green leaf lettuce inside a jar and put inside the tank. The snails should be attracted to it because you don't have any plants. Throw the lettuce an snails out. Keep doing this as often as needed. This will at least help with the numbers.
 

Owain4

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 9, 2011
1,171
4
0
amongst the trees
Walleye are nasty buggers but they arent crazy like pike are, they wont target fish as large as them, i'd think a catfish would do fine, i think you should get a white sucker bro, if you dont mind the size of the fish they get large but they eat everything i've caught them jigging two feet off the bottum with perch bait lol, they even eat plants even try carp if you dont mind them either. i had snail problems but im going to tear down my tank and wash everything as i put it back in and remove every single snail.

on a second note, i absolutely love the look of walleyes, they look amazing when their back fin is up, thats why i fell in love with yellow perch, they dont grow too huge and their colours look amazing.
 

Younglin

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 17, 2010
1,936
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34-24-36
Put the fish in a QT tank and run the tank as it is without the lights and wrap the tank in something to keep it completely dark. The snails will all die in a week or two, maybe a little longer depending on how much food is currently in the tank. Or just strip the whole thing down and restart. OR just live with them lol. have them in my 2.5 gallon and it's no big deal. They aren't a problem unless you want live plants.
 

The_Nuge

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 31, 2011
208
0
0
St. Paul Mn.
i can see nobody is reading all the previous posts..lol im not sure what you mean by bullhead snails.. I have had and posted i used white suckers but my walleye eats them. i didnt run my lights for months and that dont work on snails.. and the lettuce in a jar is no better than a worm farm. if anybody has tried and had success with anything let me know. i tried every wifes tail trick thats regurgitated on line. not to be a dick... just say'n.

picked up new drift wood tonight. ill post pics later
 
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