Snail outbreak question

[infrared]

Over the last few months, I have been taking a lot of snails out of my 18g tank to try and keep their numbers down. It doesn't seem to be helping much - the little stinkers always seem to be multiplying. My question is - does someone make a snail trap or something that attracts them? I'd sure like to eradicate the snails, but most of the product I've seen that does that would probably harm my little cherry red shrimp. I thought of setting up a new tank.

There's some stuff I've used in the past to clean up plants before placing them in my tank called Aquatronics Lime it. You dip your plants in a bucket bath of this stuff for a few minutes, then rinse the plants thoroughly. But I just found out that they went out of business. So aside from breaking this tank down, throwing out the gravel and setting up a new tank I'm not sure what else I can do at this point.

-Peter

[bpmox]

A tear down is the only way I know of that you'll be able to get rid of them without hurting your shrimp. I have pest snails in some of my tanks, but by not over-feeding the populations stay small.

I've tried physically removing them as I spotted them, but I can't tell that it ever did any good so now I just leave them alone and their population has leveled out and is tolerable.

[baz]

Place a slice or two of cucumber in the tank overnight. In the morning it should be covered with snails. Just remove the slices and repeat as needed.

[Allex]

does someone make a snail trap or something that attracts them?

Yes, they make, but I don't know how effective they really are.

Sera Snail Collect


JBL LimCollect

[Adam]

Hello fellow shrimp keepers,

This is my maiden post, I thought I would chip in as this used to be an obsession of mine.

Allex, I have used the second snail trap pictured in your post to reduce my snail population with good effect. Unfortunately young shrimp were also able to find their way into the trap, I used to empty the contents into a small tupperware box whilst still in the tank and then release the shrimp back into the tank. This was before I discovered that overfeeding was the main contributing factor to an ever increasing snail population. You will find that cutting back on the amount you feed will be the most effective way to control a snail population. Personally I think that a small population of snails in a shrimp tank is not a bad thing, I am no longer obsessed with eradicating all snails in my shrimp tanks.

When I was actively waging war on snails I pretty much looked into the different options available. I favoured the more natural approaches such as traps and baits as opposed to the chemical route, although I got to a stage where I really wanted to just "nuke" them. I may have lost the battle with snails but I like to think that I won the overall war. Joking aside snails can be effectively controlled through nothing more than just adjusting the amount that is fed.

I also looked into natural predators, most of which were almost immediately ruled out as they would also happily snack on young shrimp. An interesting thing I found in my research was a carnivorous snail that predates on other snails, if I remember correctly some German hobbyists were using them to control snails. I can't remember the name of the snail and I must admit that I didn't look in to it too much, I resigned myself to the fact that to source such a snail would be very difficult.

Just some of my personal experiences with snails.

Regards.

Adam

[badflash]

My experience is similar. Overfeeding is what powers pest snails and other things like planaria. I keep red ramshorn snails and apple snails with my shrimp. These out compete the pest snails and are lots bigger and easier to control.

[Neonshrimp]

Thanks to everyone who shared their technique/problem story with snails. I have also had problem with overpopulation due to over feeding. I have learned to feed less and to think of snails as part of the population and not pest (in moderate amounts that is ).

[garfieldnfish]

I used to keep a 2.5 gal tank for pond snails for my puffers. To catch the snails, I used an empty, cleaned out pill container. I drilled several holes into the container and one in the lid. I put a small amount of fish food in the container, attached a fishing line to the hole in the lid. Closed the lid and a dropped the container into the tank. The following day several snails were always inside the container. I pulled it out using the fishing line, opened the lid and tossed the container in my puffer tank and dinner was served. The same concept would work well for catching the smallest of your snails. The larger ones I would just pick out by hand, but eventually the numbers will be manageable. I since got rid of the pond snail tank and only allow a small population in my shrimp tank, but once they reach a certain size they become puffer food so they serve a dual purpose. I would not want to totally eliminate my pond snails.

[badflash]

If you put a small clay pot in the tank many snails will hide in it when the lights get bright. No bait is needed.

[Neonshrimp]

Interesting, I will have to try the clay pot trick

[Jackie]

Removing them by hand isn't a bad idea, but keep in mind it will only help control the snail population, not eliminate them. Cucumbers/carrots/zucchini and other veggies (some fruit also, apples for example) are good baits.
Check out if you have egg-laying snails in your tank (most of them breed this way) and try to remove the eggs before the critters hatch and make your life miserable.

I don't have anything good to say of snail traps, they seem to trap everything except snails One of them was good at capturing small species of fish, not to mention shrimp. IMO they're a waste of money, but some may have had different results. Maybe my snails were just too darn smart

Adam, my Macrobrachium assamense were fierce snail eaters, they wiped out the entire population of Melanoides tuberculata (and other snail species also, except the large ones) in a matter of weeks.

[Mordaki]

i have small snails in my tank i am leaving them in just because its something else to look at i wish my apple snails and "zigzag" snails that i have in my other tank would breed like them tho they wont breed. the main reason i am leaving them in is because it gives me something else to watch adds more veriety to my tank

[badflash]

I added red ramshorn snails to my tanks a while back. They have pretty much out-competed the pond snails and they seem to eat the pest snails' eggs as well. They are very nice to look at too.

[Jackie]

I agree, pretty creatures

[Neonshrimp]

It's time to transfer my ramshorns to other tanks. I hope it works as well for me as it does for you.