MTS snail problem, suggestions?

[Complexity]

Will do, Luis. Thanks!

[armthehomeless]

I've got plenty of assassins in cichlid tanks...come over and I'll give you some.

[Complexity]

Tim, thank you so much!

[Darbex]

Yeah you just gave up too soon they take months especially if you have hundreds of MTS. I would also significantly increase the amount of Assassins if you want a faster response. Assassins are cool because 1) they stir up the substrate like MTS 2) they look nicer than MTS 3) they dont reproduce as rapidly as MTS and 4) they are a great clean up crew once their supply of MTS or any other snail other than nerites are gone

[trademan]

I had the same problem with MTS in 5 tanks. I had 2 LFS owners tell me to use Figure 8 puffers, I got a pair about 2 1/2 inches and they cleaned up the adults in a few days in each tank. I then re-started the cycle and they cleaned up any babies left from the first go round. I now have NO visible MTS in any tank and the puffers are happily dwelling in my 135 CA/SA mixed community tank. None of my Africans bothered them either and they haven't shown any aggression to my other fish except for the guppies!

[imagirlgeek]

The fish that fshfrk has (we have some as well) are Chilotilapia Rhoadesii. Not only do they dig snails, but they are a good looking Malawi Cichlid too.

[imagirlgeek]

Oh! And if the size of Clown's is the only thing holding you back from getting them...I really wouldn't be worried about that. It takes them YEARS to reach their full size....I mean, YEARS. We have a trio in our 240g that we got when they were about 3 inches. We've had them for 6 years and they are just now only around 6 inches.

[specialone0812]

The fish that fshfrk has (we have some as well) are Chilotilapia Rhoadesii. Not only do they dig snails, but they are a good looking Malawi Cichlid too.

i saw that fish at John's house. pretty fish, but more important they're doing a great job.

[fshfrk]

I think the rhoadsii's will keep a normal population in control. They will not eliminate a epidemic. At least not in my polyodon 210. I've got 3 rhoadsii's in there. Had a huge explosion of baby's in the last 30 days. I'm going to suck out the pool filter sand with the super siphon and go bare bottom for a month. Rinse the rocks off with a pressure washer. then add new sand. Seems like when I do this they don't come back as bad. I must feed to much. MTS drive me crazy!

[Complexity]

The fish that fshfrk has (we have some as well) are Chilotilapia Rhoadesii. Not only do they dig snails, but they are a good looking Malawi Cichlid too.

This is the fish that Brian told me about! They didn't have any at Ultimate when I bought my cichlids.

I just read that they do best in groups. I think I'm going to pass on them if I'm going to use Assassin snails. But they are really beautiful fish!

Oh! And if the size of Clown's is the only thing holding you back from getting them...I really wouldn't be worried about that. It takes them YEARS to reach their full size....I mean, YEARS. We have a trio in our 240g that we got when they were about 3 inches. We've had them for 6 years and they are just now only around 6 inches.

I'm concerned not only about their size, but just how many fish I'm cramming into the tank. I have 26 cichlids (5 large), 12 yellow labs, 3 plecos, and 7 petricolas. Plus, I'm looking at adding 3-5 more large cichlids. Add to that a group of clown loaches, and the tank will be so full, the fish won't have room to swim!

I think the rhoadsii's will keep a normal population in control. They will not eliminate a epidemic. At least not in my polyodon 210. I've got 3 rhoadsii's in there. Had a huge explosion of baby's in the last 30 days. I'm going to suck out the pool filter sand with the super siphon and go bare bottom for a month. Rinse the rocks off with a pressure washer. then add new sand. Seems like when I do this they don't come back as bad. I must feed to much. MTS drive me crazy!

I don't have the physical strength to pull everything out like that. Just the thought of moving the rocks around exhausts me. I had a hard enough time getting the rocks in that I have now. I dread having to move them around now.

I'd also have to strip my canisters which would wipe out most of my bacteria. Then, since I move plants back and forth, I'm almost guaranteed to transfer more MTS back into the tank. So I'm thinking I'd do better to get something like assassin snails to control the MTS. Even if it takes time for them to do the job, it would be a long-term solution.

[danielp]

Based on what I'm reading I reccommend trying Queen loaches.

I put three in a 30L that was run over with snails and they wiped them out.

Queen's don't need as much room as clown loaches.

Do some internet surfing and you should find some comments on the subject.

[76dragon]

Botias all the way

[Darbex]

For me botias are good just not as effective as assassins. I started with zebra botias and never really saw any change in the amount of MTS until I added the assassins.

[myjohnson]

+1,I got botias and all they do is eat my fish food. They are so full they don't even want to deal with the snails.

The assassins on the other hand really do a good job. You just got to get a lot depending on the populations of MTS you have.

[Complexity]

I have botias in my 75g planted tank. They're good, but so are assassins. When I first got my assassins, I put them in my 20g which was so overrun with pond snails there were literally about 5 snails per square inch on the glass. I'm not exaggerating! Most were babies or juveniles, but it was the worst case I had ever seen. And I wasn't even putting food in the tank since it's my planted Q/T tank which didn't have fish in it at the time.

When I put the assassins in the tank, the snails were cleaned out in under a week. I've also found numerous empty MTS shells in that tank. I've even put MTS in that tank just to keep the assassins fed. I know I have at least one baby assassin, maybe more (depending on whether I've seen the same one each time or different ones). But, of course, they multiply very slowly.

The only reason I removed them from my 90g is because I thought the fish were eating them. They were usually in the sand and didn't move. They'd sometimes appear on top of the sand in different places, but I never saw them actually move so I thought the fish were moving their shells around when they ate them. I pulled 4 of them out and put back into my 20g. Three were still alive and one appears to be dead.

As long as my fish won't be killing them out, I'd really like to try the assassins. I don't mind if it takes time to clean out the MTS. I'm more concerned with a long term solution for that tank.

Besides, I actually like assassin snails. I think they're pretty.