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Hobby Forum Index » Aquaria » snails
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| toddaroo |
 Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2004 2:55 pm |
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I have a 10 gallon set up with a huge snail problem. I have read that
clown loaches will eat the critters, but that they also like to live
in groups, and I already have two gouramis and a barb. I'm a little
bit leery of using chemicals and I was wondering if there are any
other solutions (types of fish) that I could use. Thanks in advance
for any advice. |
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| Jennifer |
| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2004 5:05 pm |
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Guest
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mapache11@yahoo.com (toddaroo) wrote in message news:<2800482e.0406211255.e80808f@posting.google.com>...
Quote: I have a 10 gallon set up with a huge snail problem. I have read that
clown loaches will eat the critters, but that they also like to live
in groups, and I already have two gouramis and a barb. I'm a little
bit leery of using chemicals and I was wondering if there are any
other solutions (types of fish) that I could use. Thanks in advance
for any advice.
Loaches are the only fish I know of that do a good job controlling
snail populations -- yo-yos, clowns, and kuhlii loaches all do a good
job, but unfortunately they're all social fish.
Other techniques I've heard of but not tried:
1. Invasive/stressful
Move the fish to a temporary holding tank (or big clean bowl and work
fast  .
Remove all gravel, disassemble your filter and use boiling water and
bleach to clean the tank, filter, non-living decorations, and gravel.
Be sure to leave the boiling water and bleach in contact with the
surfaces you need cleaned for several minutes in order to make sure
you kill off any snail eggs. RINSE WELL. Make sure that all the
bleach has been washed away. Replace all filter materials with new
(snails and eggs can live in filter pads), reassemble, and start with
fresh water.
This will, of course, mess with your bio-cycle, and may not get rid of
all the snails. I would classify it as a desperate measure.
2. Less invasive/stressful
Move any live plants to a temporary holding tank that can keep them
alive for several days. Start leaving a washed lettuce leaf in your
tank at night. Before you turn on the light, or even in the middle of
the night, check the leaf. It's supposed to attract the snails, so
you should be able to scoop out a bunch of them. Once you stop
finding snails on the lettuce, move the plants back in and just remove
or crush any snails you see after that. If the population starts to
get out of control again, re-use the lettuce trick.
If you have no live plants, then the snails are probably living on
uneaten fish food. Try cutting back the amount you feed your fish;
just make sure no food ever hits the bottom of the tank.
Good luck!
--
Jennifer |
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