# SNAIL OUTBREAK?!



## nfgirl54 (Mar 1, 2007)

i have a very established 40 gal community tank, just bought some new plants, (with a few snails on them) and within a week, my entire tank is COVERED in snails, WALL to WALL everywhere. i can barely see through the glass.. how can i get rid of all these snails in a nice way? i could never just take them out and kill them... are there any types of fish that like to eat snails? that way i could "let nature take its coarse". i heard clown loaches are good for snail problems.. ? thanks!


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## Enzo (Mar 25, 2007)

puffer fish eat them non stop but you need hiding places for your other fish when it comes to puffers cuz they can be nippy and clown loaches are perfect they just grow very big but it takes many years


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## leifthebunny (Mar 13, 2007)

Other loaches work well, but depending on the size, will only be able to handle the baby snails.

Puffers do work as well, but most are brackish water and tend to be real nippy versus tank mates.


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## fish_4_all (Nov 13, 2006)

Skunk Botia loaches work well but they can be aggressive to other fish. It is what I use to control mine. 

I have heard that Kuhli Loaches will eat them and are much less aggresive than Botias. 

If you want to take them out by catching them, find a small neck bottle, anything large enough for the snails to get in but keep the fish out, as best as possible anyway. Put some algae wafers in the bottle and sink it to the bottom. The snails will find the food and you can either toss the snails or send them to someone who wants them as fish food. Boiling lettuce also works for this but I wouldn't leave boiled lettuce in the tank more than overnight.


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## Enzo (Mar 25, 2007)

spotted dwarf puffers are the cheapest least aressive and they are 100% FRESHWATER ask daisycutter she knows best


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

You could try _Botia kubotai_. What are your fish in your 40 gallons tank?

Your snail problem may be based on the abundance of food in your tank. Lessen food rations if you haven't done it yet. This will reduce and put in control the snail population.


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## mHeinitz57 (Jun 9, 2007)

spotted puffers are not 100% freshwater and they can be very agressive. They will generally live in 100% freshwater but they do best in brackish. Clown loaches are your best bet. They do a great job, are very nice to look at, peaceful, and it takes them forever to grow large. I've worked at pet stores that got snail outbreaks occassionally. We solved it by rotating clown loaches into different tanks. It kept them well fed and kept our snail population down. We would throw them in the planted aquariums too so that we could sell plants to customers as "snail-free" as possible. We also used Oranda Goldfish as well but in a tripical home aquarium they aren't too practical as it is a cold water fish that puts out a lot of ammonia. They love snails though. If you have a ton of them, I also second the idea of placing algea wafers or lettuce at the bottom of the aquarium. I have also heard a slice of cucumber works too. The snails will gather to the vegetation and then you just throw them out. I do suggest the clown loach though if you plan to keep buying plants.


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## miagrrl (May 3, 2007)

yo yo loaches will eat them. they are a tad aggressive- but not really if you have at least 2 or 3. they stay around 4 inches in length. with that many snails you might need a few.


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## fish_4_all (Nov 13, 2006)

I had a thought last night about trying to get rid of these little buggers. If oyu have ever heard of plastic canvas you can make it into almost and shape. If oyu were to make a cylinder out of it about 4 inches long and put an algae wafer in it in the middle I would thinks that the thing would be full of snails in the morning. The plastic canvas allows for the smell to get out and the snails to really smell it and the smaller snails can crawl right through it the holes but will stay in when liften or you can use a net to pull it out.


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