I have a snail problem in my tank. They are tiny little cone shape snails and they are every were. I have never put in plants and i have calcium carbonate as the gravel so they must have come with some of the fish. How can i get rid of them without chemicals and is there any fish that feed on them. Someone told me clown loaches will is that true. I do not want to kill a $1000 worth of fish to get rid of them so i am after a non chemical solution unless someone knows of a safe chemical(if there is such a thing)
With no plants and a snail explosion one thing comes quickly to mind, you are overfeeding your fish, droping back on the food will help a bit but you already have a problem. One way to cull them (it wont wipe them out) is put some lettuce leaf (or similar) in the tank b4 bed, in the morning snails all over it, take out lettuce leaf, bang most snails gone very quick. The above two methods together will drastically drop and control your snail numbers but it will not end them..
HTH Andrew
If you also use a Clown Loach you're problems are over. I've got a small 7cm one in a system and it is absolutely amazing the amount of snails the little bugger eats.
Theo
Theo the problem with loaches is they are a L O N G term solution. They can growup to 30cm, though can is the operative word here, and they are slow growing 3-4 years for a 15-20 cm fish basically a long lived fish given the conditions as they are prone to whitesopt and should be kept in groups of no less than three in at least a 55 gallon for well grown/adult fish. All this is fine if you want them, but if you dont really want clownies its an issue.
Like I said I've got one in a system with hundreds of expensive fish.
No white spot.
Definately not long term.
They eat snails rapidly.
I wouldnt worry about it growing to 30cm anytime soon.
As far as keeping 3 or any number together for that matter, is really a matter for scientists not hobbiests.
Anyway we're trying to get rid of snails not set up a colony.
Theo
I accidentally wiped out a snail population by introducing two clown loaches so they defintiely work.
[quote:1187d7d78d]No white spot.[/quote:1187d7d78d] I said prone to, not garanteed
[quote:1187d7d78d]Definately not long term. [/quote:1187d7d78d] Anything long lived is long term :roll: a puppy or fish is for life not christmas/birthday/whatever
[quote:1187d7d78d]They eat snails rapidly [/quote:1187d7d78d] Yup they doo
[quote:1187d7d78d]I wouldnt worry about it growing to 30cm anytime soon.[/quote:1187d7d78d] I did say that :roll:
[quote:1187d7d78d]As far as keeping 3 or any number together for that matter, is really a matter for scientists not hobbiests. [/quote:1187d7d78d]I think its a major issue for hobbiests, would you buy one tetra and expect it to thrive and be happy :?:
[quote:1187d7d78d]Anyway we're trying to get rid of snails not set up a colony.[/quote:1187d7d78d] agreed, but we are all after happy fish no :?:
I was just pointing out pro's and cons of clownies to be fair to both fish and owner
Andrew
I would suggest clown loaches aswell, If your getting whitespot often maybe you should look at the water conditions your keeping your fish in.
As for long term, If you click On "Qld Cichlid Forum Index" up the top, then "Aquarium Trader" you can put an add in there to sell them, i honestly have never seen them for sale for more than a day before being snapped up.
I would suggest keeping 2 or 3, i have 3 and they love to play togeather in air bubbles. But it also depends on the other type of fish you have, Some people just sqaush them against the glass and let the other fish eat them.
you mean the snails, right Glen???
8O
ROFL, yea squash the snails, not the clown loaches lol
i have 7 loaches in a display tank, i had an outbreak of snails in one of my 3 footers, so i put 2 of the smaller loaches in there, and within 2 days the snails were completely wiped out, didn't miss one.
it's been 2 months or more and i haven't seen one snail since. i just put the loaches back in their original tank after that.
definately the best option.
plus it's fun watching them suck the guts out of them :lol:
[quote:4cf5e54350="nemo1981"]
plus it's fun watching them suck the guts out of them :lol:[/quote:4cf5e54350]
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Lurrrrvvvvvely
[quote:720e8b0289]Anything long lived is long term a puppy or fish is for life not christmas/birthday/whatever
[/quote:720e8b0289]
Mate I'm onto my 3rd wife so I dont know what you mean by long term, unless you mean 6 months or thereabouts.
Theo
My favorite thing about clownies is how they lie down in a pack to sleep.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: @ THEO
did anyone ask him what type of fish he keeps?
Maybe clownys wont be suitable if he keeps large or aggressive natured fish.
If you do have aggressive or large fish that will not get on too well with clowns, you can allways use some eggcrate to divide your tank and let them 'clean' out a section of the tank for a couple of days and then move them to the otherside to finish the job, without getting harrassed by other tankmates, and then as grummundi said you can allways sell them when your done with them.......hope this helps :wink:
i have frontosa venustas and peacocks and a few others. They all leave the bristlenose alone so i think the loaches of 5 or so cm should be fine.
I have kept them will all those breeds, should be fine.
Clowns, or any othe loach are great on rams horn, pond, paper, mystry, and all sort of other snails , but they have practically no impact on cone snails.
Redclaw crays will crack and eat them, but at a cost to all the plants in the tank.
Even chemical 'cures' have little impact. They just shut up and out wait the 'cure'.
I have infested gravel (cubic meters of it) that has been sitting in the paddock, dry, for 15 years, and the snails are still in it. Add water an out they come.
How can an aquatic animal live that long dry ??????????
They are definately drought proof....Well adapted to Australia.
Boiling all the gravel on the BBQ is the only solution I have found.
Alan
[quote:38642acb51]Boiling is the only solution I have found[/quote:38642acb51]
I was going to mention that in my own post, as that is the way I originally got rid of my snail problem, I think I posted the same response in another thread on eradicating snails on the old forum,its a pian in the ass but anyways
yeah boiling everything including substrate,ornaments,heaters,powerheads everything except your fish, will eradicate the snails and eggs 100% - but only dunk the heaters,powerheads in for a short period of time as it will erm, wreck em if you boil the guts out of em.
Also the filter will need to be completely cleaned out (as they like to congregate there) and thouroughly clean the inside of the tank too.
as I said, its a pain in the ass, but tis the only chemical free way to get rid of em for good.
The other alternative is to learn to love them??
New snails can be a problem...introducing parasites/etc....but if snails are in your tank they will clean up uneaten food and I've been told that bacteria that grows on their waste is beneficial ???
They are particularly good in tanks where you are raising fry.
I have yet to kill all my snails in my bristlenose talk :x .
If I put a few clown's in there will they hurt the bristlenose as the tank bottom is a bit crowded as is.
nah they will eat around the bristlenose
Im in cichlids for only few years. Ive been to see many breeders and i found that there is never one solution to a problem. Clownies may be one solution but what about a trap for snails??? I have seen once A trap for sails made out of small coca cola botle. The idea is to use botle with a long neck and im not sure about the bite, BUT it works I asure you....
Ive attached small pic. of the idea. Try that.
[/img][img:75c01360d5]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v349/vonbayern/fish0162Aug05.jpg[/img:75c01360d5]
Robert
Good luck
The only problem with that is if the snails will like it , you will have to empty that trap very often. ? Make the trap out of bigger botle that may help.
Robert
Don't forget BGK's for getting rid of snails they just love them. But be aware Loaches and BGK's will eat anything smaller than they are, even baby B/nose.
An update on my snail problem. Snails 1 clown loaches 0. The clown loaches lasted nearly a week but then i noticed 1 swimming around in my venustas mouth :?. So they are no more. The venustas leaves the small bristlnose alone which were half the size of the clownys but those orange and black stripes must have been just to tempting. Will have to try the snail trap.
:o 8O damn!
50 + years of fish keeping,,,,the onlly cure for cone snail infestations is boil everything ! Believe me, they are totally immume to every other 'cure', chemical or biological.
Alan.
Yep I agree with Alan,
I even tried chlorine on them and they still survived.
These snails are really quite ressistant to chemicals that it frustrated me.
It wasn't until I boiled them is when I saw results.
I have clowns now as well though and they do a great job.
I am thinking if there was an all out nuclear world war I know one species that will survive and it's this snail.
Cheers
Ali