Snails, snails and even more snails............

[matildanz]

My poor tank is literally crawling with these little blighters. A few weeks back I found the odd little flat round snail around 3-4mm diameter crawling on the glass and figured what harm can a couple of wee snails do (stupid stupid stupid!). Then this whopper snail appeared, garden variety brown ramshorn from what I've gleaned off the interweb around 15-20mm! Still scratching my head to work out where the heck he/she/it was hiding!! Now I've become quite attached to young 'Gary' but I have a sneaking suspicion that 'he's' the cause of the outbreak.

BUT can one large snail mate with small ones because I've not clapped eyes on anything else that's even 1/4 the size of Gary! Obviously they've been introduced on plants bought from our local petshop but I'm at a loss as to where this monster appeared from all of a sudden, and if they are even of the same species....... I've quite often picked off two of the larger 5-6mm snails off leaves that look like they could be doing 'the business'!!

I've been hand picking these guys off the glass every morning to the tune of at least 50-60 each day, I seem to constantly have a wet arm up to my elbow and I have fingertips like raisins!! What would cause such a major infestation and so quickly? Overfeeding my fish perhaps?? It seems to coincide with my algal bloom disappearing........... so now I have a crystal clear tank overrun with snails :roll:

If anyone has any hints on how to get rid of these guys I'd be much appreciative!

[Stella]

Gary probably mated with Gary

(serious)

Quite clever if you want to build a population quickly.

Odd little flat round snail. If it was pale and like a limpet (no spiral) it was likely a ferrisia, very common in aquaria, most people don't know they have them.

[fishplants]

Hilarious post!!

Before everybody else mentions it, loaches are great at snail control. My guess is the only way to get rid of them completely is to medicate (never done this) or strip down the tank and clean......everything!!

I have those little flat round snails in one of my tanks, unfortunately the three Striata loaches in that tank have gone on strike since I put Discus in the tank (too much easy food) and the population of snails has increased. In one of my other tanks I have a snail with a dark, almost conical shell - and one extremely fat (like Friar Tuck fat) Angelicus loach. I have yet to see one of these snails in the tank, but I know I have them because they are in my canister filter whenever I clean it, and they are breeding in it too. Thinking about putting a couple of Angelicus in the other tank......

Good luck

[Stella]

The snails in your filter may be a native also, Potamopyrgus antipodarum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potamopyrgus_antipodarum Tiny little guys.

I had huge population of them in one of my tanks but I NEVER saw them, except in the filter or when I used the gravel vac.

I have printed out a handy guide at home for identifying snails, I will find it and post the link when I get home.

[Sunbird73]

I took all my plants out, dipped them in bleach, changed gravel over to new gravel (not because of snails just wanted prettier gravel ), cleaned everything etc.

10 days on just had to pick a snail out this morning

resilient little buggars

[Ira]

I took all my plants out, dipped them in bleach, changed gravel over to new gravel (not because of snails just wanted prettier gravel ), cleaned everything etc.

10 days on just had to pick a snail out this morning

resilient little buggars

Did you bleach the interior of your tank? Bleach the heater, plumbing, filter, decorations? Otherwise you're not going to get them all.

[matildanz]

I've just found this on the following site http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/forum/index.php?topic=1279.0

As far as reproduction and breeding goes. I would classify these snails as extremely easy. Ramshorns are hermaphroditic, Once fertilized they will remain so for a very long time even without further contact with other mature snails. Even if you only bring one home, the chances are good that it has been fertilized and will reproduce. It takes two to tango originally, but once the tango is danced, it will be a long time before that snail quits producing eggs. Ramshorn lay their eggs underwater on almost any surface. The egg clusters look like a flat amber sheet. Ramshorn eggs always remind me of the onion cells we looked at through the microscope in science class. With a magnifying glass you can see the young snails form and grow inside the eggs. Once developed they will break out of the eggs and more or less disappear into your substrate. They usually come out at night to forage, and will grow fairly rapidly. It has been impossible for me to track time frames from egg laying to hatch to adult size simply because I have too many of these snails going in my tanks to really track one in particular. I do know it?s only a matter of 7-8 weeks from hatch to being large enough to reproduce, if there is abundant food and calcium to promote growth. Ramshorns like most scavengers will reproduce at a rate relative to the available food in a tank. If you have a lot of waste, and a lot of Algae you will have a lot of snails. If you limit waste, Feed conservatively and don?t promote algae growth your population will remain smaller. If the population explodes, and then you clean the tank, you can reduce the population by removing the smaller snails while leaving the largest ones. Since larger snails eat more, there will be less available food per snail and less of a tendency to reproduce as long as the tank stays clean.

thought it was quite interesting....it appears that if I can keep on top of the littlies eventually 'Gary' will run out of eggs....... unless of course he's got his 'girlfriend' stashed away inside the U-boat!!

Typically, there was maybe a dozen wee snails on the glass this morning so perhaps I've made a significant dent in the population or 'Gary's egg supply is coming to an end. :bounce:

[Brennos]

You can get snail traps. ( I don't think they work) Snail Rid worked for me, until I got new plants. Me, I don't mind too much, but I only have maybe 5 snails in my main tank, and maybe 10 or so babies in my fighter tank.

[Sunbird73]

Did you bleach the interior of your tank? Bleach the heater, plumbing, filter, decorations? Otherwise you're not going to get them all.

um... no. Tho I changed decorations entirely and scrubbed the tank out and rinsed with the hose outside numerous times. Probly from the filter tho, perhaps was not so scrupulus with that as didn't want to have the tank cycle again....