Pest Snail Problem

[FoughtWand]

Hey guys i have a huge pest snail problem in both my tanks what is a way for me to get rid of them. I have been trapping them also.

[Guppysnail]

Hi. I keep bladder snails in my tanks on purpose. They are a great indicators when there are things I need to remedy. They reproduce to the amount of food available in your tank at any given time. When the food depletes they die back.   In your tank I see several plants that have some unhealthy leaves. I recommend heavy pruning. Remove to the base all leaves that are damaged. This may even boost your plants growth. When I heavy prune mine often start improving. This will reduce some of the available food.  Be certain to not leave any clippings for them to snack. It looks like you soil in your tanks which is harder to eliminate excess food from. Get as much off the surface as possible and cut way back on feeding.  Some suggestions feed  less and spread it out over more times per day so none hits the bottom. Or less all at once but very slowly watch each bite be consumed before dropping in the next bite. Snails consume detritus which is any decaying plant or animal material.  Unfortunately this includes the wood. If you can scratch it with your finger and soft particles come off (all mine does). Though it may not be the preferred meal they can survive on it when tastier fare is unavailable.  I have temporarily removed my wood when mine become over prolific to eliminate as a food source.  
The egg sacs look like tiny blobs of clear jelly with dots. The underneath of my wood is prime egg laying territory. I pull mine up each water change to remove the egg sacs stopping them before thy hatch. Under my sponge filter on the base is also a favorite egg spot. If you pull up your castle decor you will find inside many egg sacs they like dark hides for laying. My pleco caves are always targeted. I’m attaching a picture of what the egg sacs look like. I just took these photos for you from my bladder snail tank so you can see what they look like both underwater and how they hold the shape of a water drop when out of water. I hope this helps. Snail populations can be tricky to manage until you get the hang of it. Even then I still get a few more than I want now and then.  I also use a net and scoop them off the glass 

Edited March 17, 2022 by Guppysnail
Forgot pics

[Brandon p]

I like @Guppysnailkeep snails on purpose for the positives they bring. I Do Also understand not wanting to see snails all over. The trap is a good idea it will probably kreep so the numbers stay close to what they are now. I have many tank and two don’t have snails and I often toss snails in there. Bothe tanks have clown loaches. 

they do a great job. Other loaches re supposed to eat snails as well but these have worked best for me. They can be a great addition to a tank but they need 4-6  to be happy. And they can greet big but grow really slow and are a fish that almost any LFS will trade or take because they will sell. I have ok size ones but they are only 5 years old. There is a second option that I used to use and that was moving my pea puffers from tank to tank. There are draw Backs to this, quite a few they still need to have min of 6 they are schooling fish. The new rule is one fish/2.5 gallon which would be a 15 gallon tank I would go with a 20 and maybe go to 7 fish. They still are going to need there own tank. They are cool fish that is fun, funny, and playful. They just move all the time. I tried I week to 10 gave in the visitor tank and then back to there tank for a month. 
https://www.pufferfishenthusiastsworldwide.com/post/c-travancoricus

this is a good article about pea puffers. I would not get pea puffers for snail clean up. You get pea puffers because they are cool fish.  
I would personally send an hour and pick as many as you can off the glass. I sell two small type snails and one would be amazed how many you can pick out in 5 mins. I sell by the 100’s and some people will order 5 orders at a time. I a limit of 500 snails. I can pick out a over a hundred in 5 minutes and that’s making sure that people that get the snails as decorations or to eat algae get the best snails. If you tell me that that are going to be food for their puffers or clown loachesthey get the ones that have pits don’t look the best. The. Next thing is would cut down on food. What fish do you have and what and how much do you feed. I feed 3-4 times a day. Small amounts it helps breeding fish thinking there is enough food to raise babies. I do have some cichlids that get fed every there days. This is fine for the fish as long as you think about them looking good and don’t let them do it to fast let me know a boy the what   When  and fish you have and we can get you on a feed schedule to be done slow.  I hope this help and I can help with the feeding. You can get those fish and they will help but do it because you like them.

Edited March 19, 2022 by Brandon p
Spelling

[PineSong]

On 3/17/2022 at 7:49 PM, Brandon p said:

I like @Guppysnailkeep snails on purpose for the positives the bring. I Dow however I stand not wanting to see snails all over. The trap is a good idea it will probably kreep so the numbers stay close to what they are now. I have many tank and two don’t have snails and I often toss snails in there. Bothe tanks have clown loaches. 

 

 I like the soundtrack on your video!

[Brandon p]

On 3/17/2022 at 8:05 PM, PineSong said:

 I like the soundtrack on your video!

It was something from YouTube that was free.you that to be careful I had one taken down because is was 22 second and it was just playing in the other room. Someone copyrighted me. I think you can use 9 sec.  or maybe even less, if it’s more you can pay for the use of the song or find copy right free. Most of my videos which I think is up to 12 are Silent or I’m talking and I don’t really like to talk on there if I need to put other music I try to wait for my 12 year old to come over to actually do that stuff for me. No I can do the shorts that they have now those videos are less than 10 seconds so easy to do and they give you a choice of music

 

[PineSong]

On 3/17/2022 at 8:14 PM, Brandon p said:

It was something from YouTube that was free.you that to be careful I had one taken down because is was 22 second and it was just playing in the other room. Someone copyrighted me. I think you can use 9 sec.  or maybe even less, if it’s more you can pay for the use of the song or find copy right free. Most of my videos which I think is up to 12 are Silent 

 

I have not figured out how to make mine silent. The noise of the airpump or my dog's tags rattling are always in the background. I would like mine to be silent. 

[Intuos]

You could also get some assassin snails they probably won't get rid of them quickly but if they start breeding then they will dramatically reduce the numbers. 

[lefty o]

reducing or eliminating pest snails can be done several ways, first and foremost as mentioned, reduce the amount of food in your tanks. after that you can trap them, poison them (you have to really dislike snails to go this route, and can possibly harm other tank inhabitants), and mentioned in the post above is my favorite, assassin snails. reduced food in the tank, and a handful of assassins will keep the number of pests in check.

[Brandon p]

You can no longer change the audio track of your video from within the YouTube mobile app. Use a computer to swap your audio track from YouTube Studio. The YouTube Studio video editor lets you add music to your video from a library of licensed songs. These songs are from YouTube's Audio Library. @PineSong

Edited March 18, 2022 by Brandon p

[Brandon p]

If you don’t like snails you are not going to want to look at different snails. Here are some other fish you can check into.

Yoyo Loaches Clown Loach 

Dwarf Chain Loach

this my pick behind the clown loaches. They still need a group but where smoke clown loaches can get to 6 inches (common but some reach12” there are a few Ideas as to was) these max out at about 2”.

Khuli Loach: I listed mainly because some will. They eat smaller snails, they could eat the snails you have but will start with the smaller ones and they eat the eggs. Super kool fish is mostly Nocturnal and you probably will rarely see them when you do it’s look. Get a few they take little space 

u

Skunk Loach:

 

Disposing of Snail Eggs, Hatchlings or Large Snails (Humane Methods)

Snail eggs

Snail eggs can be disposed of by blunt force. Place the eggs in a Ziploc bag and then use a heavy object to crush them instantly. If that is too difficult to go through with, you can place the Ziploc bag of eggs in the freezer for 3 days and then thrown away in an airtight container.

Traditional euthanization involves a lethal dose of ethyl alcohol (also called ethanol). Gilbertson said when the snails, which are less than an inch long, are dropped into a 95 percent solution, they show signs of physical stress: they quickly retract their tentacles, expel mucus and defecate. They retract deeply into their shells, making their tissue more difficult for researchers to access.

A preliminary dip in beer, however, specifically Pabst Blue Ribbon with its 4.74 percent alcohol content, or a five percent ethyl alcohol solution, gradually immobilizes the snails and makes them unresponsive to stimuli such as a needle scrape or prick. Left alone, they are back to normal in about an hour. But if, in that anesthetized state, they are dropped into 95 percent ethyl alcohol, they die quickly without reacting.

Gilbertson said she used beer in the research because it's inexpensive and available nearly everywhere.

Although unheralded in pop culture, snails perform essential ecosystem functions and are frequently involved in research projects. They are found in a range of environments -- dry, wet, tropical and temperate. They are a food source for many species and terrestrial snails provide other animals with a good source of calcium. They are part of the nutrient cycle, breaking down leaf litter into soil.

cite:this this is the APA way

SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. (2016, October 6). Beer eases final moments for euthanized invertebrates, study finds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 17, 2022 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161006092859.htm

extremely salty (super saturated) solution will kill them very quickly. It might be bloody though. Basically, put a lot of aquarium salt in a small container (a couple ounces max), fill it with boiling water, shake it for as long as you can... There should still be some salt crystals because it is saturated. Let it cool, drop them in, leave them for a couple minutes, and throw them out.
“I have no doubt this will work, not sure I could do it”

[SunniSki]

On 3/17/2022 at 9:06 PM, Intuos said:

You could also get some assassin snails they probably won't get rid of them quickly but if they start breeding then they will dramatically reduce the numbers. 

I have 2 assassin snails for my 75 gallon, but I'm not sure how much of a dent 2 can make. How many are needed for 75 gallons?   My next problem is the bladder snails are in my canister filter and I tired to clean it out twice now and then when I open it again... they have taken over the filter again. So now I over cleaned the filter and now Im having ammonia spikes.  I was thinking... I wont throw my tank off, I'm sure it will be fine... good lord such a Rookie Mistake.

[lefty o]

On 3/18/2022 at 1:39 PM, SunniSki said:

I have 2 assassin snails for my 75 gallon, but I'm not sure how much of a dent 2 can make. How many are needed for 75 gallons?   My next problem is the bladder snails are in my canister filter and I tired to clean it out twice now and then when I open it again... they have taken over the filter again. So now I over cleaned the filter and now Im having ammonia spikes.  I was thinking... I wont throw my tank off, I'm sure it will be fine... good lord such a Rookie Mistake.

i would suggest 6-8 assassins for starters in that size tank. you can always add more.

[Intuos]

@SunniSki I agree with lefty o 6-8 should be ok they are surprisingly prolific hunters and they will breed to the amount of food available but not to the point of overpopulation.