What to do now? SNAILS

[IcK]

Hey guys so I had a really bad algae bloom for the past couple of months in my aquarium and I read online that putting live plants in a tank will help to compete with the algae and in most cases will win in the battle for food. So I went to Petsmart and bough some cheap ones. But of course nothing ever goes off without a hitch. My algae bloom has gone completely now but that's because I attached another filter to my aquarium to help with the Bio-load from my Trimac.

So that's the good part of the story, now I was sitting in my room next to the aquarium and what do I see on the glass? A freaking SNAIL. He must have been on the plants when I got them from Petsmart, I soaked them but the snail got through some how!

So what do I do now? I know that snails can be beneficial to the fish tank but I have also heard that their numbers can explode out of control. I have never dealt with them before so one question is will my Trimac eat them? I also have a Raphael Cat and those seem to eat anything so do you think that would eat them?

-Jay

 

[Aquanero]

If your Trimac will allow it, loaches will wipe them out.

 

[Sarah88]

yeah loaches will get them up, also as long as you carefully monitor how much your trimac is being fed then the snail population shouldn't explode, they will only grow to a number that is sustainable by the amount of extra food in the tank

 

[IcK]

Yea Aquanero thats a big IF, He hates plecos but doesn't even seem to notice the Raphael cat that I have. I'll see what I can do in terms of getting clown loaches, what do they eat? should I buy more than one? can someone get me some info on these guys?

-Jay

 

[Sarah88]

clown loaches are a schooling fish so they should be in multiples, so no less than 3 but i would reccomend more like 5 or 6 if you can, also these with these guys it is especially important that they be quarantined since all clown loaches are wild caught its best to observe them in a quarantine tank first and make sure they dont have parasites and are eating. i havent actually kept these guys so not sure on the food but i would imagine it would just be the regular sinking pellets for bottom feeders like shrimp pellets or something but dont quote me on that. GOOD LUCK, i dont think you really have to worry though as long as you keep the tank clean and dont overfeed they wont have a population explosion

 

[Snowflake311]

what kind of fish do you have? my EBJD loves to eat snails so do my other cichlids. as long as you don't over feed your cichlids should eat them. loaches are not the only fish that eat snails. you pleco will eat any eggs.

I add pest snails to my cichlid tank as treats. My Geo loved them too.

If you only saw one snail don't freak out you might never see any again that means your fish took care of them. If you keep large cichlis or pleco I bet thats the only snail you will have.

 

[Jason_S]

the trimac may very well eat them....or as has already been said the snail population will only boom in comparison to the amount of leftover food. a huge snail population boom generally indicates overfeeding.

you are more than welcome to let the population boom and then send the snails to me.

 

[Otherone]

Food in a plastic soda bottle as a bait trap - as for live alternatives: Red Tail Botia (Loach), Vampire Pleco, Puffer fish all eat snails. Also Assassin Snails for algae and invassive snail populations. With live plants comes snail eggs - it is what it is.

 

[Poklei]

buy assasin snails

 

[Adhlc]

yeah loaches will get them up, also as long as you carefully monitor how much your trimac is being fed then the snail population shouldn't explode, they will only grow to a number that is sustainable by the amount of extra food in the tank

+1. I got rid of them by doing back to back water changes, siphoning as many of them out as I could each time. Eventually there was nothing left for the remaining few to feed on and they starved.