Killing Mini Ramshorn Snails - Fenbendazole vs No Planaria

[Cinnebuns]

If you know me, you know I LOVE snails. I even love my ramshorn snails. That however is only true of the regular ramshorn snails. I CANNOT STAND the mini ramshorn snails. They have a smell that I cannot handle. I've only ever talked to 1 person before who smells what I smell. Idk why that is but I can smell it and that's all that matters lol. 

About 8 months ago I realized that manual removal would not rid me of these snails and I would have to take drastic measures. I dosed my 29 gallon tank with both no planaria and fenbendazole. A couple of months later I dosed it again with the same 2 meds. It did the job. I was completely rid of the snails for about 6 months. It did such a good job I forgot it sticks around and accidentally put some nerite and mystery snails in the tank that eventually passed. Oops. 

Well, about a month ago I noticed a mini pop up in the tank every now and then.  This worried me. There's 2 possibilities as to what happened. 1.  The tank next to it, 20H, did pick up some minis. Maybe they walked back to the 29 when conditions got better. 2.  I have heard that some snail eggs can lay dormant until conditions are right for them to hatch. This is another possibility.  Regardless, I had them coming back. 

I mentioned them migrating to the 20, well they also ended up in a 10 gallon shrimp tank. This is easily explained because I move cory eggs from the 29 to the 10 shrimp. Many times when i did this I would also be picking mini snails out of the mop at the same time. It was inevitable that they would get into the 10. 

So, I had an idea. Instead of dosing both meds in both tanks, which may or may not be safe for the shrimp, I dosed fenbendazole in the 29 and no planaria in the 10. At first snails were thriving in both tanks. About a week later I started seeing dead snails in the 10 but many live still in the 29. Now, for argument sake, it would be much more difficult for me to find dead ones in the 29 because of size and substrate coloring. I still have noticed an increase in the live snails I find in the 29 and a decrease in the amount I find in the 10. 

This isnt 100% scientific because I did not keep records and a lot of the timeline is an estimate, but I'm kinda shocked that fenbendazole isn't killing these snails. I will give it more time but we will see. I even over dosed the fenbendazole slightly from what is suggested. Not the results I was expecting tbh. 

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by Cinnebuns

[itsfoxtail]

Mini ramshorns are the worst! I think I understand what you mean with the smell too! There's something just... different-smelling about a tank with them in it.

I have really nothing of value to add rather than to say 'good luck', but I have had 2 tanks over time that have had them in it. One I just emptied and chucked and the other one day I just woke up and they magically disappeared. I have no idea why. I had assassin snails in there forever that couldn't make a dent in their population. The only thing I could possibly think of is perhaps low oxygen. I had turned the flow back to almost null as I'd put in a group of young bettas. About 2 weeks after that. Viola, they were gone. Haven't seen one since. Don't know if it was oxygen or perhaps I had a snail-assassin-betta or what.

Godspeed with these little guys is really all I have to say. And I hope someone does chime in with a miracle cure, lol!

[PlaneFishGuy]

No luck totally wiping them out but I have knocked them back pretty good by making them compete for food and keeping my glass cleaned all the time. 

I noticed too that my whiteclouds like to hunt the babies on the bottom of the tank. I cant quite tell if they are trying to eat them whole or if they are just attacking them and trying to rip them out of the shell - either way it looks violent enough to hurt them or maybe even kill them.  

Edited September 18, 2023 by PlaneFishGuy