Hi Folks,
As you all know by now Im having difficulties with my South American tank set up. Alto of the fish have been dying despite the readings appearing ok. Althouugh last night the GH was up from its norm but not enough to have this much effect.
Ive noticed a few snails in recent days also.Either attached to the plants or to the side of the tank. Ive also noticed some of the snails shells on the surface( only 1 or 2). The snails are small in size, about the size of 2 rice particles. Can anyone explain the effects of these snails,could they be killing my livestock ?
Also how can I go about getting rid of them,(Do I need to get rid of them,are they harmful?). I dont have any clown loaches and hence dont want to add any either. Also I have some freshwater shrimp,although Ive only seen one in recent weeks so not sure would meds effect them also?

Anyone able to help me out here?

Gavin

Good luck, them things breed like wildfire, Ive been snail free for about 6 months now just when u think there gone there are more they get every where and love hiding in the filter. I had some Convicts a while back and they seemed to eat them and havnt seent them since. Most snails dont like the tank too warm as there shells cant harden with the warm waters. There are a few fish and others that will eat them, most meds ive tried int he past are a waste. You could also just get them out the tank when you see them is the best bet.

Some snails will eat the plants, but most just add to the bio load of the tank and multiply

Hi Gavin,
re snails clown loaches or puffers are the best natural way of killing them i've come across, but there is a new snail on the market called the assassin snail which apparently feeds off other snails which might be a good investment if not wanting to add new fish, as for the death gh rising slightly shouldnt cause a problem, did you do a water change recently if so chemicals added to the water may have caused these deaths if not treated before adding it to the tank, another cause could be if you had recently washed your hands before putting them into the tank as i heard of a girl who killed her tank of discus after re arrainging decor having put on hand cream a couple of hours previous to doing it.
Seamus

sheag35 wrote:
Hi Gavin,
... but there is a new snail on the market called the assassin snail which apparently feeds off other snails which might be a good investment ...

I bought a few of these in AV about 8 weeks ago and planned writing a post about them, so now seems like a good time, although I intended having a few photos to go with the post.

I read about the assassin snails and how they chase their prey and how other snails leave the water when they see an assassin approaching etc. All very exciting stuff, I was expecting great entertainment when I added them to a tank absolutely riddled with Malaysian Trumpet Snails and the little small ones you mention.

Unfortunately the fastest thing I ever saw them do was hide on the first day they went in. I have rarely seen them since without going looking for them, however anytime I see one it is eating a MTS. There now appears to be no MTS left for them to eat in that tank - which is amazing. The bad news is that they don't seem interested in eating the little guys you have, that I actually find much more annoying.

So based on my experience so far, if you want to get rid of MTS assassin snails are brilliant. I will get some photos and report back later if they ever do develop a taste for the little guys - hunger is great sauce, so maybe with the MTS gone, they will start on the others. Here's hoping.


Daragh

Are these trumpet snails ?

looks like them to me