Snail War!!!

by **Alasse** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 8:57 pm

The loaches will be eating them, there must be lots and lots and, as yasher stated, not enough loaches.

The snail trap is better at night

by **neontank** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 12:32 am

I had a massive problem with pond snails and what I did was that i found they liked my alge tablets or what ever they were and i layed one of them every day for them to get the main population out then i took my drift wood out and blasted that beacause it had lots of eggs in all the crevases and things

by **cwilkin** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 12:44 am

ok the deal with the loaches is thats its in my Discus tank and I have to feed them really well, therefore the loaches are also eating well and they are being lazy and not eating the snails. I know what ramshorn snails are and these are defiently not it. They are tiny and flat. I pick about 50 out a day and one of these days they will finialy be gone. I tried the snail trap. I used spinach. I didnt catch any snails that way but I did catch a clown loach lol. I need to find a trap that my fish cant get into bc I guess they like spinaach too. I really need to get rid of the snails. When a leaf has been eatn on I take it out, the next day plantt have them again. They are eating my plants really fast. GRRRRRRR

by **Tmercier834747** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 1:51 am

I view snails as a natural part of my aquarium. The reason they come into your aquarium on plants is because the two go hand in hand. Not like tent caterpillars and trees, more like flies and carcasses. Snails feed on decaying plants---not plants.

Also the 3 most common FW varieties are
1. Ramshorn - http://www.waysideaquatics.co.uk/index. ... ge&pID=502
2. Malaysian Trumpet - http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2140/212 ... 8d6034.jpg
3. "Pond" - http://arcticboy.arcticboy.com/view.php ... snail1.jpg

...video of the benefits of Malaysian Trumpets alone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDX1j1z5mME

Simply put as some have said if you have excess food in your tank that fish aren't eating at eating time the snails will reproduce faster.

Before I fully understood that fact I got a 5 gallon and a dwarf puffer and fed the hell out of him with snails from my main tanks. I'll never keep another fish in a tank that small, but he was content.

I haven't looked at your tank specs yet but if I've read right you have a 125 gallon. Is it possible your plants aren't receiving enough light or nutrition? I have never seen snails devour a healthy plant.

by **Alasse** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 2:30 am

I've had snails at plague proportions in a planted tank and they didnt damage the plants.

Clown loaches however, when they get a bit of size, do damage plants and poke holes in the leaves

by **cwilkin** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 7:56 am

I know that these snails are the ones doing the damage. I know about most of the snails that you mentioned but I have no idea what these are. THEY are not Apple snails, Trumpet snails, Ramshorn, or Pond snails. They are tiny flat and VERY hungry. I literaly pull 50 out each time and that could be muiltuiple times a day. The loahes are small and the plants were being destroyed before I got them so its not them. I dont overfeed. I feed one cube of bloodworms and one shrimp 2 to 3 times a day and there are no leftovers, my Discus make sure of that. These snails are muiltiplying like rabbits. I keep hopeing that eventually they will go away. I am praying death on them lol.

by **yasherkoach** » Mon Dec 27, 2010 7:05 am

are you 100% sure they are snails? they may be a parasite

by **Alasse** » Mon Dec 27, 2010 7:44 am

Take a picture and show us and we maybe able to help identify

by **cwilkin** » Tue Dec 28, 2010 2:07 am

They are so to little they just look like specs on my camera but you can take a look lol. I told the local pet store about them and showed them to him in his tank and he didnt even know about them. He said he will think about the problem. They are defiently snails lol not parasites. They are in the shape of a sea sheal flat and spiral.

by **Alasse** » Tue Dec 28, 2010 3:12 am

I can prettymuch guarentee you that they are baby ramshorn snails

"When these snails are first born, they are tiny and pinkish clear. You can see all their internal organs and a big bubble through their shell.
baby ramshorn
Their shell is not shaped like the adults' shells; it is shaped sort of like a ball with one flat side. You can kind of see the markings of a spiral, but the shell isn't shaped this way at all yet. Eventually, this shape will give way to a smaller, fatter version of what adult snails' shells look like."

quoted from http://www.magnesium.net/~heather/snails/index2.html (hope i can post links here!)

Snail War!!!

33 posts • Page 2 of 4

Snail War!!!

33 posts • Page 2 of 4