Snails

Hi again. All my water problems seem to have settled down- thanks for all the help with that. I have another problem now - snails!!! I got a couple of real plants from the lfs and today have seen about 20 snails climbing up the glass of the tank. Freaked me out at first as I didnt know what they were :lol: !

Will these harm the fish at all and how do I get rid of them please?

Hiya David. Firstly, the snails wont hurt the fish at all although they can be a bit of a pain once you have them. There a couple of ways to get rid of them - or at least kerep the numbers down to an acceptable level.

You can put a piece of lettuce (weighted down) into the tank at lights out, and in the morning you will have snails on it. Just remove it, and the snails, and keep repeating till the snails are gone.

Another way is just to squash them against the side of the tank and feed them to the fish - they will love the extra treat!

There are chemicals you can buy to dose the tank with, but many people dont like to use them unless the problem becomes really severe. They can be dangerous to some fish by the way..

I have had snails in my tank for about 6 months now and use the squashing method every day to keep the numbers down a bit. :lol:

Mmmm.........dont know that I fancy squashing snails every day. What is the name of some snail killing treatment you can get please and how effective is it?

Tbh, I wouldn't risk adding anything that could harm the fish also. The snails won't do any harm to the fish but they might munch the plants. However, if you have the room a couple of Zebra Loaches (at least 3 but need 80-100L tank) would soon solve the problem as they eat aquatic snails.

David buy a weight and add a piece of lettuce on an evening before you go to bed Simple and very effective!

Personally I wouldnt be adding more chemicals to the tanks if not necessary

Buy some puffers!! I got some dwarf puffers and my baby snails are no more!! lol