Snails overrun

[Redeye505]

So I have a 50 gallon bow tank. It runs about 78 degrees. 7.0 ph no ammonia. I have live plants 2 ghost shrimp a bristle nose pleco and I am down to 4 neon. I just bought another 6 neon and 6 Celestial Pearl Danio they are currently in a quarantine tank. Been in there for about 2 weeks. My worry is the amount of ramshorn snails I have. I have been only lightly feeding my neon's to try and dwindle the snail population. I am afraid my pleco is not getting enough food. Every time I drop a small wafer in there the snails bombard it and eat it all. I don't mind the snails I do have alot of them. Should I be worried about my pleco. He stays in the rocks most of the time. He does not look unhealthy. 

[Tlindsey]

On 3/23/2024 at 2:45 PM, Redeye505 said:

So I have a 50 gallon bow tank. It runs about 78 degrees. 7.0 ph no ammonia. I have live plants 2 ghost shrimp a bristle nose pleco and I am down to 4 neon. I just bought another 6 neon and 6 Celestial Pearl Danio they are currently in a quarantine tank. Been in there for about 2 weeks. My worry is the amount of ramshorn snails I have. I have been only lightly feeding my neon's to try and dwindle the snail population. I am afraid my pleco is not getting enough food. Every time I drop a small wafer in there the snails bombard it and eat it all. I don't mind the snails I do have alot of them. Should I be worried about my pleco. He stays in the rocks most of the time. He does not look unhealthy. 

I suggest netting or using a hose and siphon the snails out when they bunch up like in the pic. Feeding less will help control the population. @Redeye505

Edited March 23 by Tlindsey

[Stef]

Agree with @Tlindsey. Drop in a green bean or other Pleco wafer, wait for them to swarm and then net them out clump by clump. May never be fully gone but can help you get back to manageable numbers. 
You Pleco also needs wood to rasp on.  They need fiber. 

[JE47]

I mean if you really wanted to eradicate them all you could hire I mean buy an assassin namely the assassin snail who would take of the problem right away. However if you don't want all them gone I would do what other have suggested above.

[Tony s]

You could add in a large loach. Or bait them and give them to lfs. As live food. And once that’s done, you could add a dozen corys to snack on the eggs. Corys love eggs. 

[Dacotua]

If you want to kill ALL the snails (You'll also kill your ghost shrimp), its time to treat that tank with ICK treatment (MAKE SURE IT HAS COPPER). You'll kill all those snails. You'll have to do some massive water changes later (over and over), if you ever want to kill shrimp in that tank again after putting that much copper in the tank.

Alternate Method - Put 5-8 Assassin Snails in that tank OR put 2-3 Large Goldfish in that tank. Goldfish LOVE snails and so do Assassin snails. (You just can put both in the tank, the goldfish will eat the assassin snails).

 

Since you posted you don't mind snails, Make a couple DYI snail traps and put food in them. Remove as many snails as you can. TRUST ME, you will not get them all. You'll probably get 80% of them, if you can live with the remaining 20%, thats all that matters.

 

[Redeye505]

Yes I really don't mind 20 percent of what I got. I am currently trying to feed less. My biggest concern was my pleco. I will get him a piece of driftwood to east on. That was my next decor to get. That and some more plants. The tank has been going very well for me. Levels are great and I don't want to disturb too much of the ecosystem with adding a bunch of iron to the tank. Right now my quarantine tank is in use. The assassin snails. Sounds like a good idea though. I do like the ramshorn. They just breed like rabbits lol. I don't feed that much it's just they eat the plecos food. 

[Eno]

Aassassin Snails and feeding much much less have helped with my snail issue. But it will not rid the tank of all the snails.

[Tony s]

On 3/24/2024 at 8:31 PM, Redeye505 said:

They just breed like rabbits lol

No, rabbit snails breed much slower 🤣

[Chad]

I had success feeding my pleco at night, after the lights had gone out. I fed her algae wafers sometimes but always French cut canned green beans. She loved it. If your plecos hungry, snails are no match.

I got rid of my bladder snail problem by using long tweezers and picking them out one by one. It didn’t happen in one swoop for sure but over time. I could grab them faster than they could reproduce. If you have several tanks I could see how this would be tough. But one tank. Not that hard, and simple. That’s how I’d recommend lowering your snail population.

[Rube_Goldfish]

If you want to try one of those DIY snail traps that @Dacotua mentioned, Rachel O'Leary has a good tutorial:

The whole video is good, but the trap portion starts at about 2:20.

[Dacotua]

I personally would put Assassin Snails in the tank even after you remove 80% of the snails. Consider the Assassin Snails as natures way to balance the snails. (I put them in my tanks, I still have snails, but I don't have huge outbreaks of them as I did in the past.)

To combat Algae, may people put algae eating livestock in their tanks. To help out with Water Quality in the tanks, many of us put live plants in the tank.  To help clean the tank, many of us buy a "clean up" crew. So putting Assassin Snails in the tank will help you out with excess snail populations.

A good think about having Assassin Snails in the tank, they will eat excessive snails and leave their shells. Those shells will help with calcium in your tank, you won't have to keep adding cuttlebone or any other calcium products for your snails/shrimp.

 

[TOtrees]

@Redeye505 personally, if all you're got left in the tank is the bn and 4 neons, I'd skip the quarantine. The new fish will appreciate being in the bigger and better furnished tank a lot more than a quarantine setup, and if the do bring in something, what's the worse that'll happen? You lose 4 neons, and maybe a bn. Everyone has to do their own cost/benefit, but that's how I'd do it if it were me. 

One thing about assassins, they don't control this many snails overnight. You could add just one, and you'll see shells (of eaten snails) in the first week, maybe fewer snails within 2-3 weeks, and have good control within 1-2 months. If you add 4-6 or more, you'll see a much bigger reduction much faster. FYI assassins don't NEED snails to eat in order to be healthy and breed, they'll do fine on fish food, as long as it includes decent protein.

+1 to the late feeding suggestion above. BNs prefer to come out after lights out. Food will be fresher then, if you've just fed it. 

I do think your bn will have no trouble pushing the snails off whatever food you feed. If your bn isn't looking well, I'd guess it's not for lack of food, based on how your ramshorns are doing. If the bn is healthy, I'd say the snails get whatever the bn isn't eating, not vise versa.

[johnnyxxl]

You can catch them and re-home them people do like them just like you do.  

[Little Guys]

Cull and get a Puffer.