Snails in filter! help withe removal

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Tokay

Candiru
MFK Member
Apr 22, 2006
167
3
48
I just noticed there are snails in my triple stack filter.
The very small ones that only get as big as a popcorn seed or smaller.

I work out of town and just noticed today so they might have been there for a week to two. Strange thing is its only in the 2nd filter tank, not in the 1st or any of the other 3 tanks. And im hoping they dont spread.

What is the best way to remove them?
I work out of town for the summer and only home a day and a half of the week so i might have to have friend help.

I know there are chemicals, ive heard of useing the lettuce, or having fish eat them.

They are between the media, i have mostly filter pads and some bio balls.
I need to start killing more of them then they can bread.
 
Since they're only in the filter, it would probably be easier to pick them out than to try to lure them to bait and then pull them out. I feel for ya -- those snails are terrible. Chemicals would kill them, but if you didn't pick them out afterward they would just rot and foul your water. As for fish, some clown loaches would be your best friends right about now, but again, they're in the filter, so you'd have to lure them out. Just pick 'em out of the filter media... there will still be eggs, so you'll probably have to do this once every few weeks or so to keep up with them.
 
I have the same problem. Found those little tiny snails in my sump. I totally washed it out (not the bioballs) and hope they don't come back. Does anyone know how they get in there? There are absolutely no snails in the main tank. . .just the sump. I saw something at Petsmart saying it kills snail. . .anyone use it?
 
Tokay;3291415; said:
I just noticed there are snails in my triple stack filter.
The very small ones that only get as big as a popcorn seed or smaller.

I work out of town and just noticed today so they might have been there for a week to two. Strange thing is its only in the 2nd filter tank, not in the 1st or any of the other 3 tanks. And im hoping they dont spread.

What is the best way to remove them?
I work out of town for the summer and only home a day and a half of the week so i might have to have friend help.

I know there are chemicals, ive heard of useing the lettuce, or having fish eat them.

They are between the media, i have mostly filter pads and some bio balls.
I need to start killing more of them then they can bread.
Sigh...I would not freak out too much about the snails. Give them a chance. These are not harmful to your fish. Just squish the adult ones with a stone (not your fingernails) and feed them to your fish. You get extra protein without spending too much otherwise these snails can clean food leftovers and undigested food from the fish poo quickly which is why they are beneficial for tank setups more than some people realize. Only overfeeding can cause the snails to explode in numbers. If you control your feeding ratio, they'll simply sustain their number. I cannot get my MTS to even breed much as they are quickly outcompeted by the mystery snails (Pomacea diffusa).
 
I regularly find tiny snails living in the canister filters on my planted tanks . . . generally speaking, my reaction is "so what" . . . I just wash 'em away when I do my filter cleanings, but otherwise don't worry about it . . .
 
Snails breed so many and so fast that there was a ton in my filter. The PH and nitrates were up. I work out of town 6 days a week so i lost 2 tigs. Got to clean out all of my media and add loaches and puffers to take care of the rest.
 
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