Eight effective ways to combat snails in an aquarium

Although they are a common sight in many aquariums, snails can quickly become an annoyance when their population grows out of control. Although some aquarists value snails for their capacity to remove algae and leftover food, an overabundance of snails can cause issues such as overfeeding on plants and excessive waste production.

Snail infestations can be difficult to eradicate, particularly if you don’t want to use harsh chemicals that can damage your plants and fish. Thankfully, there are a number of practical ways to control snail populations, maintaining a balanced and healthy ecosystem in your aquarium.

This post will discuss eight sensible, secure methods for controlling and lowering snail populations in aquariums. These pointers will assist you in taking back control and maintaining the health of your tank, regardless of the severity of the problem you’re facing.

Way Description
Introduce snail-eating fish Add fish like loaches or puffers that feed on snails to control the population.
Use a lettuce trap Place a piece of lettuce in the tank overnight, then remove it along with the snails in the morning.
Limit feeding Reduce food supply to prevent overpopulation, as snails thrive on leftover food.
Manually remove snails Regularly check and remove snails by hand to keep their numbers low.
Add snail traps Use commercial snail traps to catch and remove snails from the

Harm from snails

Troublesome mollusks can arise, particularly when there is a high population:

  • in large quantities they spoil the appearance of the aquarium;
  • eat eggs and cover them with mucus, which prevents the fish from getting healthy offspring (therefore, mollusks cannot be kept in spawning tanks);
  • bring parasites and infect fish with them (although this risk is much lower than when using live food);
  • eat food intended for bottom dwellers, leaving them hungry;
  • with a sharply increased population of snails, the balance of the ecosystem is disturbed due to the abundance of shells in the aquarium.

Mollusks can reproduce exceptionally quickly in certain cases. These are specifically melania. They are viviparous species, meaning they breathe entirely through their gills, which prevents them from rising to the water’s surface.

Melania inhabits the earth and only emerges when the water’s oxygen content drastically decreases. Snails of this kind reproduce exponentially.

They can effectively conceal themselves between stones because of their small size. And eventually, an aquarist might notice that the ground has "come to life" due to the abundance of invisible melanias that are present there.

Traps

Using traps and baits is one of the most secure methods of dealing with snails.

Ready-made devices

Stores carry traps for sale. They are a snail-proof container with slender openings. It has food inside that draws mollusks and is submerged in water. Snails navigate within themselves. Following that, they and the container can be taken out of the aquarium.

The Dennerle brand is used to produce a different kind of trap. It’s a telescopic handle slotted into an empty tank. To gather the snails in the container, simply move the trap along the aquarium’s walls.

Baits

Simple in design, factory-made traps are not inexpensive. The JBL LimCollect model, for instance, is priced at roughly 13 €. One other issue is that purchasing these devices can be challenging because stores rarely carry them.

Thus, to get rid of snails, aquarists use bait. For instance, at night, a fresh leaf of cabbage, lettuce, or cucumber is positioned between the stones. The treat has a weight on it that will keep the food at the bottom. All that’s left to do is pick it up the bait that the snails have gathered around in the morning.

It is advised to first scald the vegetables in boiling water. Such bait, according to aquarists, will work more quickly.

Homemade traps

The bait trick doesn’t always work because some fish will happily consume cabbage and cucumbers. Catfish, for instance, adore such cuisine. As a result, the lettuce leaf might fall away before the mollusk gets close to it.

If "naked" bait isn’t an option, you can construct a trap by hand. You’ll need an empty plastic bottle for this.

Create the gadget as follows:

  1. Burn several holes in the bottom. The size of the hole should be such that a snail can pass through them, but not a fish.
  2. Put the bait inside, which was mentioned above.
  3. Attach a weight so that the container does not float.
  4. Close the bottle.
  5. Immerse the trap in water in the evening.

There will be a large number of snails in the bottle by morning.

Snails can easily overpopulate an aquarium, but there are practical ways to keep them under control. These include adding fish that eat snails, setting up traps, and controlling feeding habits to lower snail populations without negatively impacting the ecosystem as a whole.

Professional means

Aquarists frequently use chemicals to eradicate mollusks.

However, there are drawbacks to this approach:

  • The death of a large number of individuals can cause rapid proliferation of bacteria.
  • These preparations can be harmful to microorganisms in the filter.
  • It is unlikely that the product will work against the entire population.
  • Useless against caviar.

You should read the annotation to a particular preparation before buying it. Copper is frequently present in the mixture. This component poses a threat to shrimp and fish.

Aquarium stores sell the following industrial preparations:

Snailpur Sera

Replace one-third of the aquarium’s water two hours after using the preparation, and take out any paralyzed snails in the process. After that, add fresh water to fill the tank to the brim and treat the water with Sera Aqutan conditioner at a dosage appropriate for a full aquarium. After two weeks, repeat the procedure to extract the young that emerged from the eggs.

ZMF Limnacid

An effective treatment for planaria, hydras, and snails. The dosage for the preparation must be strictly followed. Take out the adsorbents from the aquarium and add 1/3 fresh water to the aquarium before using.

JBL Schnecktol

Dead people are taken out of the aquarium once the product has been used as directed. The product is noteworthy because it poses no harm to tower snails. 25 milliliters of the product are used for every 100 liters of water.

“Fish” method

Certain kinds of fish enjoy consuming snails. The following works well on mollusks:

Verdant tetraodon

Although it has a very cute appearance, this fish is incredibly aggressive. With a length of roughly 15–17 cm, a tiny tetraodon does not spare any of its neighbors and willfully consumes snails, including ampullaria. It should be noted that the puffer fish and the tetraodon are closely related.

Tiny tetraodon

This fish develops teeth rapidly. It grinds them on snail shells to force it to regulate its length. In a few days, after releasing a dwarf tetraodon into an aquarium, you can anticipate the extinction of every coil and physical population.

There are eight Tetraodon

Extremely hostile aquarium occupant. Even though it is small—only 10 cm long—one of these will require an aquarium with at least 50 liters of space. The eight-figure tetraodon is unique in that it consumes melania as well.

Tiny gourami

This fish rarely grows longer than 4 cm. Consequently, gourami can effectively combat small snails and their eggs in small aquariums.

Catfish Ancistrus

Cleans the aquarium’s walls, which serve as decorations for the snails to lay their eggs on and so control their population.

Moderate feeding of fish

Strict control over the amount of fish food consumed is another preventative measure. Anything that isn’t consumed needs to be taken out of the aquarium right away. A magnetic sponge works great for cleaning glass, which should be done on a regular basis. Because of this, there will be less food in the aquarium and fewer snails overall.

Cleaning the aquarium

This technique will assist in eliminating black snails and melania. The following is how cleaning is done:

  1. The fish are placed in a separate aquarium.
  2. Drain the water.
  3. Remove the plants and soil.
  4. Thoroughly wash the container.
  5. Wash and boil all decor.
  6. Fill in new soil.
  7. Wash the algae (for more details, see the section “Protect your aquarium from snails”).
  8. Re-form the aquarium.

This is a reasonably efficient technique. However, there is a big disadvantage: you have to restart the aquarium.

Protect your aquarium from snails

It is preferable to stop snails from falling into the aquarium in order to avoid having to deal with the issue later.

Plant treatment is among the safest and most successful approaches. This is particularly true for vegetation collected from bodies of water.

They carry it out as follows:

Another approach is also mentioned in some sources. You’ll need bleach for this. A 100 g dose of the product is diluted with 1900 ml of water. After submerging the plants in the mixture for 30 to 2 minutes, they are carefully cleaned.

Fish and plants are not safe when using this method. Therefore, it is preferable to use professional products for mollusk destruction in order to preventative measures.

It is important to remember that snails can have some advantages before you begin eliminating them. Mollusks consume rotting plant parts, dead organic matter, and film that forms on the water’s surface. Certain species, like melania, use their behavior to alert us to the dangers of water pollution.

Video tips: how to get rid of snails in an aquarium

If you use the proper techniques, dealing with snails in your aquarium can be a manageable task. You can manage the snail population by introducing natural predators, limiting food waste, and closely monitoring the cleanliness of your tank.

Snails can also be manually removed, trapped, and treated with chemicals when needed to further decrease their population. Selecting the techniques that work best for your particular aquarium and its occupants is crucial.

Recall that it’s crucial to keep the environment in your aquarium in a balanced state. You may have a gorgeous, snail-free tank full of colorful fish and plants with regular work.

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Elena Grishina

Ecologist and aquarist with a special interest in creating balanced ecosystems in aquariums. Main focus — ecosystems that require minimal human intervention. I support a natural approach to aquarium care, where each element plays its role, helping to maintain harmony in a closed ecosystem. I promote sustainable aquarium keeping and respect for nature.

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