# How to Rid Snails?



## LS1FDRx7 (Mar 6, 2007)

How to get rid of snails in a planted tank safely? I've noticed a few of them actually got bigger in size, about pea size and I noticed 2 couples already laid eggs on this film of clear liquid on the stem of my anubais. I have a few black skirt tetra, neons, black neons in there as well as 3 Ottos and 1 chinese algae eater. I do not want to harm my fish, what's the best method to take action to get rid of the snails for good or at least kill them slowly. I'm afraid to let it go any longer without trying something to get rid of them, soon they'll take over the tank...


----------



## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

I here gold fish and loaches eat them.


----------



## CloneME (Feb 24, 2006)

I got a clown loach just for that reason. They love to eat snails. He will wipe out most of them in no time if you put one in there. Otherwise I don't know if there are any chems you can buy to get rid of them. Wouldn't want to take the chance of it harming anything. Good luck.
Biz


----------



## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

clown loaches are the only thing that has ever worked for me. chemicals will kill a few, but they can be bad for your fish and they will be back in full force within a couple weeks. the traps or slices of cucumber work ok, but you still won't take care of all of them and it gets to be kind of a pain in the ass having to fish them out every day. depending on how large the tank is, 2 or 3 clown loaches should take out enough snails that you hardly even notice them after a few days and they'll keep them in check in the future.


----------



## LS1FDRx7 (Mar 6, 2007)

Oh nice, didn't know that about clown loaches. Don't those little guys get pretty big? like 6+ inches or so over time? All my fish in the tank is no more than 1'' in lenght, I don't want a clown loach that will uproots the plants that's already in it.

Anything else beside clown loaches? I'm making a list so I can look for them at my lfs this weekend.

Those white eggs within that slimy film, hatched!! Dozens of small tiny black snails..


----------



## ChilDawg (Apr 30, 2006)

I'd go with a few smaller loaches. Clowns are voracious snail-eaters, but a 6" clown loach is actually nowhere near full-grown. Try looking for "Sids" or "Monkey Loaches"...look at this page for more info...and they're often available on AquaBid. (If you can't find them there as "Dwarf Loaches", "Chain Loaches", or any of the above, try getting into contact with lotsoffish [aka Pete Mang] and seeing if he's got any or any leads on where you might find them.)

A warning, though...I see you've got shrimp in a planted tank, so if it's the same one, a loach will take 'em out.


----------



## EZmoney (May 13, 2004)

LS1FDRx7 said:


> Oh nice, didn't know that about clown loaches. Don't those little guys get pretty big? like 6+ inches or so over time? All my fish in the tank is no more than 1'' in lenght, I don't want a clown loach that will uproots the plants that's already in it.


clown loaches have a slow growth rate so dont worry about that.


----------



## traumatic (Jan 29, 2003)

I bought some loaches to help, they don't do much. Clown loaches are huge fish, they might take a while to get big, but.... I wouldn't buy one just for eating snails. IMO just keep your tank clean, don't overfeed, they won't over populate and you'll be fine. Snails are good for an aquarium.


----------



## Z♠NGT♥KER (Dec 27, 2005)

i have some stuff called had-a-snail.....and it dont kill my plants....its made by aquarium products


----------



## LS1FDRx7 (Mar 6, 2007)

Alright, I'll see if I can find small size loaches. Within 4 lfs here, they should have some type of loaches. The water is clean, algae is under control. I think the snail was transfer from the plants I took from my other tank, and over a period of weeks it just breed itself and now there's a ton.


----------



## traumatic (Jan 29, 2003)

snail populations seem to come and go. I've used apples to collect them. They like to eat it and you just take the apple out and rinse them off.


----------



## LS1FDRx7 (Mar 6, 2007)

Aww crap! No luck at spotting a clown loach or anytype of loaches that are below 6'' in size. I did see ones that are a good 10'' to a foot long and that's wayyyy too huge. I guess I have to try other methods now. No chemical, I have heard Snail Away works but I just hate using chemicals in tanks. I losted a Piraya before due to using a product that claimed to make your tank crystal clear... it's the same company that makes Snail Away so I'm not even going to use Snail Away. I could give that apple method a shot and see how it goes.


----------



## Domelotta (Apr 25, 2007)

Do snails really help your tank? I got some live plants from a lfs and there was one snail in all. I guess they are asexual or whatnot because two weeks later there were at least a hundred snails in my tank. I just set up my new one that thank god is snail free.


----------



## LS1FDRx7 (Mar 6, 2007)

So I put slice inch of apple into my tank, waited a good 2 hours and was able to lure 12 snails onto it. I then scoupe the apple out with a ghostshrimp net which has very tiny mirco holes and I was able to get all the snails attached to the apple out. I like this method, I'm going to keep at it and see if I could really get all of it out. So far the bigger ones are gone, just a bunch of those tiny ones.

I hate snails more than I hate algae.


----------



## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

10 inch loache-Where?

Yeah loaches would be what I went with----


----------



## LS1FDRx7 (Mar 6, 2007)

I would say it would been at the size of 10 and 3/4 quarters inches, It was just laying near the tank sideways so I was able to use my middle finger and thumb as a measurement and it went almost pass 2 of my open palm finger measurement. I wouldn't be surpised, this local fish shop has a huge aquarium that houses a good 3.2 foot Arowana.

So far, I've tried the apple method about 6 times. Seems to attract at least 3+ snails everytime. So I'm going to stick with this until I get rid of them or run out of apples lol


----------



## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer (Aug 22, 2006)

A colony of dwarf puffers would take them out no problem.


----------



## tison 30 (Feb 29, 2008)

Do snails even eat a lot of algae..little off topic but just wonderin.


----------



## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

only way to get rid of a bunch of snails is to starve them. No food equals death.


----------



## LS1FDRx7 (Mar 6, 2007)

Snails are sold as clean up crews so I guess they're useful in some ways. I just don't like to see 60-70 peasize snails all over my tank, personal appearance. I'm trying my best to get rid of it with the apple method. I'm down to probably 20-25 snails now, should be gone by the end of this week.

I can't starve them, I have baby black skirts in that tank along with a few other tetras and some 3 Oto fish. Also it contains a few guppies in there, no more than 24. I keep stocking it because my black skirts keeps eating the guppies. -_-


----------

