Habitat - Indoor :: How to get rid of the snails?

[Spookster]

Ok a few weeks ago I had to do a full tank cleaning because somehow we got snails in the tank. There were several hundred baby snails crawling around throughout the tank and filter. There were egg sacks everywhere. I cleaned out the tank and filter as thoroughly as I could but two weeks later they are still here and gradually multiplying. Is there any surefire way of getting rid of them for good?

[flutterby]

I would replace the media in your filter and you might have to do a thorough bleaching/rinsing of your tank. Unless someone else knows an easier way.

[steve]

some links:
http://www.aquatic-store.com/articles/snails.html

http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/snails.html

http://www.justbajan.com/pets/fish/arti ... /index.htm

Since you will likely have to do another full tank cleaning, you might have to let it dry off for a day or two. You might even need to replace the filter media and take as much of the filter apart as you can.

[CountryGirl68]

Snails are introduced into the tank through plants. The only real effective method to remove snails is by doing a complete tank cleaning, including the dock, decorations and everything in the filter. Just remember that snail eggs are almost transparent and everything needs to be scrubbed really well because even 1 egg sack will overrun a tank all over again.

The only problem with this is that you end of getting rid of the beneficial bacteria and basically need to cycle your tank all over again. Just don't use any of those so-called "snail removal" chemicals as they can be dangerous to your turtle.

[Spookster]

Yeah I think I will just have to do another full cleaning. I didn't bleach anything last time. Will that help? Will the bleach kill the eggs? If so I will run a bleach solution through the filter to clean it out. I think I will try cleaning the filter media. I can boil the foam pads and bio media. It would be very expensive to have to replace all of that. I wonder how hot of a temperature the snails and eggs can handle? I wonder if by turning up the heaters would make it too hot for them.

[CountryGirl68]

The bleach solution should help. If you keep live plants in your tank, you can't dip them in the bleach solution because it can kill them. For live plants, you have to scrub each leaf and stem and root individually to make sure you get rid of any eggs. Snails can also be in any vegetation you put in the tank so be sure to always scrub everything really well before adding it to the tank.

[Spookster]

I don't have any live plants in there right now just a couple of fake ones but I will boil those as well and bleach them.

[steve]

I wonder if using very hot water in your tank with the filter running will help kill off the snails without using chemicals. Thats why I suggested letting the tank dry off for a couple of days... to get rid of the remaining eggs.

[Spookster]

I wonder if using very hot water in your tank with the filter running will help kill off the snails without using chemicals. Thats why I suggested letting the tank dry off for a couple of days... to get rid of the remaining eggs.

That's what I am wondering. I can always heat up a bunch of water and let the filter run it through the tank for a awhile and hopefully kill everything that may be hiding in the tank, filter and tubes. And then rinse everything out with a bleach solution afterwards.

[flutterby]

We had a massive snail out break in my freshwater tank and the only thing that got rid of them was changing the filter media completely and washing the tank with a mild bleach solution.

Though before I cleaned the tank the turtles got a nice snack.

[Turtle addict]

I try and get snails to grow in my tanks!! My turt's love them and since we have so many turtles a good batch of snails are hard to find!

[Andrew7769]

my advise for that is stick some snails in a empty 10 gal w/ filter and u will be snail crazy in no time

[Turtle addict]

I tried to get them to go in a tank with the one turt that didn't eat them and I lost all the snails!

[marisa]

Before you put any live plants in the tank, rinse them well and keep them a small tank of clean water for a while.

I have kept snails in a small tank and put a some in the tank for my turts every once in a while. A few took up residence in the Xp3 and for a while I had a lot of them. Never so many that I would find eggs in the tank, though.