Rams Horn Snails

[Aquarose]

I have a 50 gallon that is overrun with ramshorn snails. I have a 14 inch clownknife in this tank so botias and loaches are not an option, they become snacks.

Suggestions? Aquarium salt isn't phasing them

[fishboyt]

Get a puffer! They LOVE snails!

[Somefishguy]

you can try and bait them. Stick a piece a blanched cucumber or lettuce in a little cup at the bottom of the tank tonight... Pull the cup in the middle of the night and you should catch these suckers..... Repeat repeat repeat.... You will never get them all this way but you will help lower the population.....

other than that i think the sale some chemicals for this problem, but i do not know the effects on fish inverts or plants.

[Zulaab]

Walmart -- Large Tote.
Drain water into tote -- Clownknife in tote and air.
Clean , heater and filtration and put them back on the tote to help Clownknife.

Drain tank completely. Take everything out of the tank. What substrate ?
Clean tank with bleach (RISE EXTRA WELL) and DRY DRY DRY out tank (outside in the sun is best. Make sure that all of the substrate (if kept) is boiled, plants etc needs to bathed in some water solution of bleach (ask the plants guys about this)
All decorations etc are boiled..

This will kill off all of your snails and no more.

Other options are to go out and get some Victorian Haps (ask John FshFrk) which ones it is he has and they eat snails continuously.

[Zulaab]

you can try and bait them. Stick a piece a blanched cucumber or lettuce in a little cup at the bottom of the tank tonight... Pull the cup in the middle of the night and you should catch these suckers..... Repeat repeat repeat.... You will never get them all this way but you will help lower the population.....

other than that i think the sale some chemicals for this problem, but i do not know the effects on fish inverts or plants.

Clownknife is a scaleless -- so medicating to get rid of snails.. not good.

[Complexity]

Walmart -- Large Tote.
Drain water into tote -- Clownknife in tote and air.
Clean , heater and filtration and put them back on the tote to help Clownknife.

I'm with you up to this point, but I'd then go about it a different way. Ensure that clownknife is safe in the tote setup for a week or two. Alternatively, use a Q/T tank. (I should say at this point I know nothing about clownknives so I don't know if this is possible.)

Borrow loaches.

Return loaches once snails are gone.

Return clownknife to tank.

My concern with the bleach clean out is that it will kill all beneficial bacteria.

[Complexity]

Another thought... reverse the process.

Put clownknife in tote.

Remove everything from tank, including substrate.

Put clownknife back in bare tank.

Proceed to kill snails with loaches or puffer in another tank.

Return decor to original tank once all snails are gone.

Just tossing out ideas.

[Nickintex]

I'm with you up to this point, but I'd then go about it a different way. Ensure that clownknife is safe in the tote setup for a week or two. Alternatively, use a Q/T tank. (I should say at this point I know nothing about clownknives so I don't know if this is possible.)

Borrow loaches.

Return loaches once snails are gone.

Return clownknife to tank.

My concern with the bleach clean out is that it will kill all beneficial bacteria.

OR, borrow someone's Fahaka Puffer. Those snails will be gone in a day or two.

[Zulaab]

The problem with snails.. unless you bleach them out they are going to survive 99.9% of anything else you throw at them. You CANNOT use chemicals to kill off the snails while the clownknife is in there because its a scaleless fish.

I know it will kill 100% of all the good bacteria, but with one fish and keeping a close eye with water changes every 3 days you ensure that ammonia will not spike to high before the filter has gotten enough bacteria growing.

[stevenallenbarnard]

City Pets has some 6-7" clown loaches. they are like 25-35 dollars but they are big enugh to no tbe eaten by mr. clownknife. you could also catch them and give them away to all of the puffer owners. wiknk wink wink

[fshfrk]

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PondSubWebIndex/pdsnails.htm

I recommend these guys. A group of 6 wiped out hundreds in my pond in a week. Got them at fish R us. I put 1 in all my tanks yesterday.

http://www.aquariumlife.net/profiles/african-cichlids/bream/100083.asp

[Complexity]

Another idea... Assassin Snails.

Once they're done, you can sell/give them to others. They reproduce slowly so it's possible to control them.

[Aquarose]

That's a good idea but still a pretty expensive snack! LOL

[Aquarose]

Thanks everyone I may try the assasin snails, may even check out a LG loach and definitely the cup to catch em. Problem is they come in with his feeders! So I may have a vicious circle. Anyone north of Kingwood have Puffers?

[Mzungu]

you can try and bait them. Stick a piece a blanched cucumber or lettuce in a little cup at the bottom of the tank tonight... Pull the cup in the middle of the night and you should catch these suckers..... Repeat repeat repeat.... You will never get them all this way but you will help lower the population.....

I'm with Somefishguy on this one. Baiting them is incredibly easy and you really can catch a ton of them. The bait will be covered within an hour or two.

How are they coming in with the feeders? What are you feeding him?