Cats+Snails=?

[Thalan]

I had a snail outbreak in my mini cat tank recently, and while most people would instantly freak out and demand gastropod genocide I didn't mind. They can help out a lot since I've been using a really messy food lately.
That was until I saw my Banjo cat with 4 tiny snails on his head. Can they mess up his skin/slimecoat? I'm very wary of things like that thanks to my bichirs. Any input would be appreciated and of course if they are a problem whats a good way to get rid of them without harming the cats?
(edit) The other cats in the tank are a Tadpole Madtom, a Rubberlip Pleco, and a Microglanis Iheringi (Bumblebee) just for extra info

 

[Turbotad]

oooooooooooooo man yea bad news!!!! i have never in a tank seen it but i fish alot and i am always pillin in cats with dime to quarter size red spots where their skin is damaged from the snails i pulled one off and it started to pump out some blood so dont pull them off but you should do something and i would say fast sorry about not have n the info to get rid of them but bad they are lol

 

[teacup1231]

Ya that isnt good for the slime coat, I would recomend either netting them or posibly adding a golden dojo loach into the tank temporarly that might take some time depending on the amount of snails but I would do something about it ASAP,
Good Luck!

 

[Thalan]

That sucks. I kinda like having them other than that. I'll have to look around for ways to kill em off

 

[Thalan]

Ok I got two Dojo Loaches hopefully they can make a mess of these little bastards. Heres some shots. You can see some white patches on the Banjo which I assume are damage from the snails as well as several of the offenders, and a shot of their coming doom.

 

[smpage]

I've not heard of Dojo loaches eating snails before. You'd be better off with some YoYo loaches. Or just try baiting the snails and removing manually.

 

[Thalan]

I've not heard of Dojo loaches eating snails before. You'd be better off with some YoYo loaches. Or just try baiting the snails and removing manually.

I was afraid of something like that. Oh well I've always kinda wanted some Dojos anyway.
Manual removal is a problem. As you can see in the pics these snails are TINY and there are a ton of them.

 

[Twofish]

Manual removal is a problem. As you can see in the pics these snails are TINY and there are a ton of them.

Here is how to manually remove them. Get a glass jar with a small neck if possible. Put some algae pellets in the bottom of the jar and submerge in your tank, just before "lights out." the next morning, hopefully the snails will have gathered inside the jar for the food, and you can just pull the jar out

 

[Thalan]

I might try that but Algae pellets wont work, My madtom goes nuts for the wafers so they wouldn't be around long enough to collect many snails. I'll try some squash or potato.

 

[wayne the pain]

Botia sp will eat snails, so will some of the Dorad sp