We have a 55 gal tank, with an angel fish, apple snail, dragon fish, and plecostmus, {an algae eater}, and one of those flighty white fish with pink eyes.
I wanted to put plants in the tank and low and behold I got a load of snails, we have quarantined the apple snail.
We have cleaned the tank once but there back.
Please help!
Thanks, Hillbilly
2007-03-17 12:44:22 · 10 answers · asked by ~~Hillbilly Quilt Lady~~ Connie 2 in Pets ➔ Fish
The tank is so large because of the size of the fish, the plescostomus is at lest 8 inches long and lives in the pond in the summer, the Angel fish, whom does not like other angel fish, is almost the size of a cup saucer. The dragon fish is 10 inches long, I guess a few loaches, couldn't hurt. The apple snail is as large as your fist. and these little snail are driving me crazy!
2007-03-21 07:08:35 · update #1
I would suggest the lettuce trick as well, but since you have a pleco in the tank you need to take it one step further. The pleco will eat the lettuce if he can get to it, so place the lettuce in a small plastic container and punch holes in the container large enough for the snails to get in but too small for the pleco. Place a little gravel from the tank in the bottom to weight it down and leave it in the tank over night. After several nights you will be surprised how many snails you will have removed. Of course, manually removing or killing the snails will speed up the process as well.
Leave the chemical treatments on the shelf for now. Most of them contain copper that is quite harsh on the fish as well as the snails. If you treat with copper it will be weeks if not months before you can return the apple snail to the tank.
MM
2007-03-17 14:16:07 · answer #1 · answered by magicman116 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Do NOT listen to the people telling you to tear down and start from scratch - a snail infestation is certainly no reason to do so.
Your best bet is to follow Deven's advice. It will take several days, and there's no guarantee that it will get all the snails, but luring them with lettuce works wonders. Also, you sound like you could possibly have some stocking room - consider loaches to eat the snails (clowns, I've discovered, do the best job).
Since you have the apple snail in quarantine, you could try one of the many chemicals to get rid of snails, but I really wouldn't recommend it unless nothing else works.
2007-03-17 20:45:19 · answer #2 · answered by birdistasty 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
You could buy one of the many kinds of loaches that eat snails if you want to take care of them for the long run. If you don't want to do this, you can put a weighted piece of lettuce in the tank overnight. The next morning the lettuce will be covered in snails and all you would need to do is remove the lettuce, snails and all. Visit the given websites to find out about ways to get rid of snails. Good Luck!
2007-03-17 20:02:58 · answer #3 · answered by Deven M 1 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Once a snail has been in the aquarium long enough to lay eggs everywhere-they are VERY prolific! Even though you removes the apple snail some eggs will remain there is no way to completely remove the rest of the snails and as they reach maturity your snail infestation will continue.Short of totally breaking down the tank your best approach is to live with the snails and control the population.
2007-03-18 10:21:21 · answer #4 · answered by xxx 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
i hear that sticking the lettuce (i was also told that baby food works for this) inside a plastic soda bottle (with gravel to keep it at the bottom) works too...pick it up in the morning and it will be full of little snails. repeat ad infinitum!
2007-03-18 00:55:34 · answer #5 · answered by scampyfan 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well this is not a way to resolve it but, you can take the snails, then crush them with your fingers and feed them to your dog or your fish!
2007-03-17 20:50:03 · answer #6 · answered by FishBoy0 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Taking everything out and scrubbing it all doesn't work, anyway. I don't know how, but somebody always survives.
Clown loaches are the way to go. Get four or five.
2007-03-17 21:21:16 · answer #7 · answered by captflapdoodle 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Umm have a througher clean. Like that all of the fishes out and just wash the whole thing. and clean the plants as well
2007-03-17 19:49:07 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
I think that you should clean out the tank once more, remove everything and scrub with a sponge, soft sponge.
2007-03-17 20:06:39 · answer #9 · answered by Andrew T 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
You can roast them in the oven and put garlic butter in their shells. Mmmmmmm................
2007-03-17 19:47:28 · answer #10 · answered by ANSWER MY QUESTION!! 6 · 0⤊ 4⤋