Snails in a shrimp tank

[Ruadh]

I've got an outbreak of snails in my shrimp tank.
Of course they all eat the same food so if I cut back on what little feeding I do, I'm afraid the shrimp will suffer.
It's a 10 gl tank and it must be getting close to 100 shrimp in there so I don't want to cut the food right off.
I'm thinking about taking all the shrimp and floating plants out and bleaching the gravel. I know, I know, I'll make sure there is no residual bleach left.
Is there a way to kill any snail eggs that might be on the plants without killing the plant?
I'm also thinking maybe I'll change the gravel bottom for polished rocks about 2 inches across.

Any ideas?

Rick

[isu712]

You could just crush the snails that you see. You probably won't be able to kill them all this way, but you'll be able to cut down the population and it won't harm your shrimps in the least.

[EdwardN]

I keep crushing snails and shrimp ( RCS, amano, ghost) devour them in minutes...

[Vladdy]

I got the same problem. Crushing the snails sounds harsh, but it feeds the shrimp. I wouldn't bleach anything if I were you. The snail eggs would still be on the plants.

[birmansandbettas]

There's also the "drop in a piece of lettuce and then pull it out covered in snails" trick.

[Vladdy]

Originally Posted by birmansandbettas

There's also the "drop in a piece of lettuce and then pull it out covered in snails" trick.

I should try that.

[pandapr]

Originally Posted by EdwardN

I keep crushing snails and shrimp ( RCS, amano, ghost) devour them in minutes...

Originally Posted by Vladdy

I got the same problem. Crushing the snails sounds harsh, but it feeds the shrimp. I wouldn't bleach anything if I were you. The snail eggs would still be on the plants.

Be careful when crushing them ! you could get and infection if a fragment cuts your skin.

[Mustang Boy]

you could get an assassin snail(just one if you get more than one you would run the risk of them reproducing and with the number of pest snails you say you have you could be overrun with assassins in no time at all) this one assassin would knock down the numbers a little not a great deal but it could slow the growth that along with smooshing them might be a good idea. oohh yea and assassins just look cool too lol

you could also setup a dwarf puffer tank and just toss snails in there a few times a week and let the puffer eat them

[dbosman@msu.edu]

Just take the excess snails out.
As said, drop in a bit of leaf lettuce for a few hours and lift it out along with the snails. Or if you feed shrimp foods, put some in a net and put the net in the tank so it is open for snails and shrimp to crawl into. When you lift it out, shake it a bit and the shrimp will scatter. The snails won't.

[Strick]

If you do your water changes with a siphon you can just suck a lot of them out. I also crush all the ones I can reach. My shrimp (and Endlers) love them...

[Twimbo]

Originally Posted by Mustang Boy

you could get an assassin snail

Don't assassin snails eat shrimp as well?

[Mustang Boy]

i dont believe i have ever heard of them chasing down a shrimp i think they would have a hard time catching one but im betting they would eat a dead or dieing shrimp no problem

[outofstock]

When I had a snail tank for my puffers I had cherries in it. They actually cut down the snail population because they would eat the snail eggs when hungry. Had to feed them more often to keep it from happening. I started off with 20 in a 2.5 gal but I think dropped to 13 or so due to not having anything covering the intake of my filter. Whoops.

[JennaH]

last week i put in a piece of zucchini for my ghost shrimp, they snacked on it for about an hour, but then the snails took it over! at one point there were like 15+ snails on this one piece of zucchini. i would try that.. put a couple pieces in and you could ditch like 30 snails in a couple minutes...

[tw33kerloki]

1. start a dwarf puffer tank
2. drop a piece of lettuce in your shrimp/snail tank and pull it out covered in snals per birmansandbettas.
3. drop snail-covered lettuce in puffer tank

everyone's happy.