SanityChelle Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 So, I've got five wcmm and a hillstream loach in 38L and despite them only getting the tiniest pinch of flakes (which I crush between my fingers to make the flakes better mouthful sizes), I have a snail infestation which suggests overfeeding. I know I can fit more white clouds in, but is getting more fish really the answer to the problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Getting more small snail eating loaches might be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanityChelle Posted January 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 I don't thinks there's any coldwater loachs that could stay in such a small tank. Plus I think I need to solve why the snails are growing so much. If there's less food for them, will the snail population drop down again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 what sort of snails are they? You could just fish them out or squash the ones you see and let the fish eat them In my experience snails don't do well in softer water, but in harder water they thrive no matter what the feeding situation is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanityChelle Posted January 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Seems to be ramshorn and trumpet snails. I'm also noticing a few little worm things that I'm squashing as soon as I see them. I squash the snails as well, the fish don't seem interested in them, and I know for every ten I see, there'll be 100s under the gravel. The last reading of the ph was 7.5 - Will lowering it down to 7 really help? I can't go lower than that with the hillstream in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Seems to be ramshorn and trumpet snails. I'm also noticing a few little worm things that I'm squashing as soon as I see them. I squash the snails as well, the fish don't seem interested in them, and I know for every ten I see, there'll be 100s under the gravel. The last reading of the ph was 7.5 - Will lowering it down to 7 really help? I can't go lower than that with the hillstream in there. So, sounds like you have a snail infestation and planaria worms. Both can be a symptom of overfeeding. So, are you really feeding only a tiny pinch, or is it a really big pinch? Anyone else feeding them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 I wasn't suggesting to lower the pH, or the softness/hardness or gH/kH, it is better to work with the natural conditions you have generally. You can adjust the gH/kH by using rainwater instead of tap water if you are on council water supply. You can add wood but that won't do much to the water once it's finished leaching tannins. I was basically suggesting that there aren't much options other than killing the snails (do a search for a range of suggestions), getting a snail eater (dwarf chain loaches would be ok if it's 21/22 degrees), or stripping out the gravel and baking it to kill the trumpet snails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanityChelle Posted January 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 It really is a tiny pinch, once every two days and I even turn off the bubbler for five minutes or so as the current used to sink the pieces quickly. The hillstream gets two hikari mini sinking wafters each day as he keeps everything pretty clean. Noone else touches the tank, I live alone. I vacuum the gravel quite a lot, as there seems to be brown dust settling on all the rocks and plants all the time. I don't know if this is from the fish or the snails. Stripping out the gravel would really be a last resort considering how many plants I have in there. I'll try the lettuce leaf idea to bring the numbers down a bit - Does it need to be cooked or anything first, or can it just be put in raw? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr A Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have a tank here that has zero fish in it, it's sat that way for ages (6 months +?) - there are still snails in there, despite no inputs beyond light and additional water for topups. The presence of lots of snails isn't necessarily indicative of over or understocking or over or underfeeding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanityChelle Posted January 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 Okay, how long can I go without feeding the hillstream his wafers before the worms die off? I just fed him (usually takes him a few minutes to notice it), but before he got to it, I noticed it was covered in those planaria worms, and more were coming up out of the gravel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr A Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 Why would you want to? You'll never eliminate the worms, and they're probably better at finding food elsewhere than the loach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanityChelle Posted January 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2014 The simple answer? They look gross and creep me out. Also the snails are leaving waste on all the plants and there's brown dirt on everything. I've started feeding them every two days and I'm seeing the worms a lot less and only small ones. The snails also seem to be calming their farm, though I'm not worried about trying to get rid of all of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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