Snail problem freshwater 🙄

[Edgee50]

Hi guys I have Ramshorn snail infestation
In all 3 of my sumps !
Tank 1 , 1000ltrs
Tank 2 , 180ltrs
Tank 3 (hospital tank ) 40ltrs
Mixed cichlid tanks
For how long I don’t know , iam more concerned about being Concerned
So these tanks are 6months old , all media was removed from older canister tanks that I owned myself and upgraded all tanks to brand new sump baes tanks ,
I don’t know if I had the issue and didn’t notice it ! , I only noticed the Tiny snails in the small tank when a small pleco was in there by himself , and noticed tiny snails on the glass !
(Incudes fotos ) none are viable in the main big tanks, I assume the fish are eating them pumped to display tank , but looking at the media in both larger tanks I can tiny snails in amongst the media , so researching seems they are ok to Leave there , as they are eating waste , the thought of them is annoying me , I might be able to eradicate them in smaller tanks, but the 1000lt might be impossible !
I don’t over feed , but they are feeding media in sump
How common is this here , ?

 

[skjl47]

Hello; A point of view problem. I like having these snails in my tanks. I can list my perceived benefits but will not unless you ask.

Hello; I saw the heavily stocked tank (or tanks). Nice tanks by the way. My 1st guess is you have some messy eaters. My 2nd guess is you have lots of powered filtration. My combination guess is the fish do not swallow the food whole all the time. Some small bits wind up in the water column and get quickly pulled into the filter media.
I follow with one benefit of the snails. That being it is better to have the food bits pass thru the gut of snails that for the excess food to rot inside the filters. I kept a large pleco for a time. Happened I got that fish around the time I was low on ramshorn snails. I fed the pleco veggie wafers and other such foods. The pleco decorated the tank with long strings of poop. A thing about a vegetarian digestive system is the poor efficiency. The strings of poo contained a good amount of undigested food. Introduced some snails in the tank and within a month or two no more stings of pleco poo. Decent amounts of small snail poo.

I do have two suggestions about feeding. Turn off the power filters for a time when feeding. Maybe keep bubblers going if you use them. Allow the fish to get at more of the food. Second is to skip feeding one or two days a week or do not feed when away for a weekend.

Good luck

 

[Edgee50]

Hi
Thnks for u reply
Ye I have feed buttons for the tanks!
Pumps and wave pumps shutdown for
Feed time , feed time is once a day ,
Varied food …

Are your snails in the sump or in display tank ?
Thnks

 

[skjl47]

Hi
Thnks for u reply
Ye I have feed buttons for the tanks!
Pumps and wave pumps shutdown for
Feed time , feed time is once a day ,
Varied food …

Are your snails in the sump or in display tank ?
Thnks

Hello; do not use sumps. I have moved to very lightly fish stocked tanks. Mostly grow plants anymore. The snails, ramshorn & MTS are everywhere. In the tanks and in the filters. Just last week had to break down an HOB to clean out lots of tiny MTS snails.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Your thread may get some attention now. Pretty sure one of the mods monitors my posts. Folks ought to see your tanks.

 

[Conchonius]

I add these to my tanks deliberately, and agree with skjl47 in that they are almost always beneficial. You can try trumpet or pond snails if you don't like the looks of the ramshorns, one population will eventually outcompete the others and if you're lucky it'll be the snail you prefer. But I recommend not getting assassin snails or other means of snail control, as they make very good cleaners.

If you want to reduce their numbers, you can leave a piece of cucumber or zucchini in the tank for a few hours to draw them in.

 

[Jexnell]

I agree with C Conchonius snails are helpful by removing waste from your tank. But if you just can't stand them then like he said get some cucumber or zucchini, stab a fork into it so you can grab it later with ease. Once said vegetable is covered in snails remove and discard. Repeat as necessary to remove all the snails.

 

[Edgee50]

Thnks for advice
From googling people with this issue
It seems they are beneficial for sure , just getting my head around rambling snails in my sump’s … as stated before they are not making it up to the display tanks , and I think the ones that maybe are are chewed / eating by the fish
I’ll try the cucumber and I have read some raw fish also attracts them , I will never be able to remove all of them from 1000lt tank , it’s is a Red Sea reefer S1000 that has a sump in 4 sections and about 70kg of media
Good to hear info from seasoned fish keepers ,
Iam keeping fish 10 years , some of the fish in above tanks are with me that long

 

[skjl47]

I have read some raw fish also attracts them

Hello; Snails are not picky eaters. They will eat dead fish as well.

 

[phreeflow]

I agree that the snails are helping to keep your sump clean. However, I hate snails in my tanks.

You are lucky you have a ramshorn infestation…they are much easier to get rid of than Malaysian Trumpet snails (MTS). I’ve gotten rid of large ramshorn infestations very quickly with puffers. You can try putting one puffer in each sump and let them take care of the problem.

I have MTS snails and I have tried puffers, loaches, crabs, crayfish, assassin snails and nothing eats those. I even used bleach and hydrogen peroxide and they always come back.