Resolving Snail Issues

Taken from www.dpfishways.co.uk and due to updated with pest snail species and habits.

Any live aquarium plant company that supplies live plants to the general public experiences the issue of pest snails. This issue is unavoidable at all times regardless of the company.

DP Fishways uses a natural process of removing as many pest snails as possible. They do not use copper based chemicals at all in this process that will harm some aquatic species. They can not guarantee that your plants will be 100% snail or snail egg free. The experienced fish keeper should be fully aware of this matter.

The things to help reduce a growth in a pest snail population are:

• Do not over feed your fish. Any excess food that is not eaten by your fish will provide a food source for pest snails to be able to reproduce much faster than normal. Make sure that any sinking food is eaten by all bottom dwelling fish. if its not eaten with 1 hour then remove the food. Do not throw food at the back of your tank. You will not be able to see if the food had been comsumed by your fish. When feeding with flakes the general rule is " Feed enough flakes that will be eaten with in 3 minutes. If any flakes are left after 3 minutes then you have over fed your fish".
  

• Check all new plants for any small snails and remove them. The same is done for snail eggs. These are a slimey clear clump of small eggs found on either the underside of leaves or within the stems at the base of the plant. Taking this extra time will help you in reducing the chance of snails.
  

• Use aquarium chemicals that are recommended for the removal of snails. Do not use this if you have any species that can not take the addition of copper in the aquarium. i.e shrimp, apple snails etc...
  

• Get a small clear water bottle and empty the contents and add a sinking tablet food, secure the lid in place. Drill a few small holes around the side of the bottle, making sure that the holes are too small for fish to get through but big enough for young pest snails to get through. Add to your aquarium in the late evening and allow the bottle to fill with aquarium water and rest on the substrate. Leave this overnight and in the morning you will find loads of lovely little pest snails happily munching away on the tablet. Remove the bottle and disgard the snails. Do the same every night until there are no snails found in the bottle in the morning. Make sure the bottle you use has no glue on it from the label.
  

• Large snails will have to be removed manually.
  

• DO NOT crush snails on the side of the tank. This can release eggs in to the water and prolong the snail population and also polute your aquarium water.
  

• Some fish such as particular species of catfish and loaches will eat young snails and eggs. You may need to consider this option. Large snails will not be eaten by these fish.
  

By using any of the above methods your aquarium is not likely to become a snail haven.

This page has been created to inform people that its not the end of the world having snails in the tank and it is pretty easy to get rid of them with a little patience.

Good Info Daz

Have made this a Sticky so it doesn't disappear

your welcome!