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Ramshorn snails!! Help


-blake-
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So basically my 20 gal aquarium has a bunch of unwelcome ramshorn snails in it! I believe they came from a plant we got at aquarium co-op (no hate) but I have literally no idea what to do to completely get rid of them. We took out the rock planter our anubias nana was in (which we believe to be where the snails came from) about a week ago. Just a few minutes ago I took out a rock decoration in the tank that I saw more snails on! Does anyone know of any other ways to gwt rid of them that wouldn't harm my mystery snail or my lemon tetras (there's 5 of them)? Or should I get my mystery snail his own smaller tank? Please help!20210919_181338.jpg.77b29e68e4ee04d157f2b29724d079bd.jpg20210923_161710.jpg.216e72042f5119ca3d8391421737e2c3.jpg

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I hope you find answers I do not know how to eradicate other than diligently several times a day removing every one and that’s not 100%. I do know most meds that kill them will remain in the tank and substrate etc for many months so use caution when returning your mystery snails home. 

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IME there are only 3 ways to erradicate permanently snails....

1 complete tear down and boil sanitize everything and them dip plants in alum to rid them of eggs.

2 introduce something that preys on the snails as a food source....Pea Puffer, Clown loach..ect

3 Chemical methods like Levamisol or No planaria but forget bringing your mystery snail back ...ever!

NONE of these solutions is anything I want personally as I happen to like snails.   Now you can keep their numbers in check thru food management which is what I do.  

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On 9/24/2021 at 7:09 AM, ARMYVET said:

 

2 introduce something that preys on the snails as a food source....Pea Puffer, Clown loach..ect

 

Pea puffers are absolutely ruthless ramshorn killing machines. Mine even snacked on any egg sacks he found. I could throw 50 snails in his tank and in a month, not even a newly hatched baby would remain. 

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I haven't had ramshorns, but have had bladder snails - I just pluck them out whenever I see them and try to get them as soon as I can. Its tedious, but eventually you should be able to get them out and they're not going to hurt anything while they're in there, so you're ok until you finally get them out. I haven't tried snail traps yet, but those would definitely work as well - I would definitely stay away from trying any meds...they're not harmful, just annoying

@Phantom240 yes! exactly why I want a pea puffer...that, and they're so cute!! (now I just need the space for another tank 😉 )

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On 9/24/2021 at 8:30 AM, Phantom240 said:

Pea puffers are absolutely ruthless ramshorn killing machines. Mine even snacked on any egg sacks he found. I could throw 50 snails in his tank and in a month, not even a newly hatched baby would remain. 

I have an auto water change system for my fish rom....every other day they get a 20 percent water change.  Once a month I vac the bottoms of all of my tanks (bare bottoms in all) and plant maint.  Yesterday was that day.

Inevitabily I suck up snails while cleaning and I was amazed by how many snails were in the tanks and how many I had removed. I did harvest all of the snails from the vac bucket and put them in my Assassin snail tank.  Within 10 min ...all my Assassins were out and roaming about.  I was like....Dammmmnnn...lol

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Clown loaches could be and answer but they will not be happy in a 20 gal tank. I have. 75 gal and they are starting to out grow that. A better option would be Dwarf chain loaches they are great snail eater and would be ok  in a 20 gallon. Why do you want to get rid of the snails. Ramshorns are pretty harmless. If you put a piece of cucumber in and pick out before the lights come on. It’s snow and will take for ever

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On 9/24/2021 at 5:09 AM, ARMYVET said:

IME there are only 3 ways to erradicate permanently snails....

1 complete tear down and boil sanitize everything and them dip plants in alum to rid them of eggs.

2 introduce something that preys on the snails as a food source....Pea Puffer, Clown loach..ect

3 Chemical methods like Levamisol or No planaria but forget bringing your mystery snail back ...ever!

NONE of these solutions is anything I want personally as I happen to like snails.   Now you can keep their numbers in check thru food management which is what I do.  

I think what we're planning is to try a different snail trap first. We tried a DIY one that we couldn't do for a whole day because our mystery snail kept trying to get in it (we put algae wafers in it) and he kept getting stuck. We are thinking about some sort of chemical option and getting the mystery snail a 5 gal tank just for him.

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