[Planted-Jungle]

Hello!
When I started my 10 gallon and started cycling it I noticed bladder snails,
at first I thought it would be fine and they would help but one day I came back and I saw poop all over the substrate so I took them out one by one until they were gone, that was until I found 20 more of them!

I have looked at ways to kill them without killing plants or bacteria etc. and I found that alum works great.

Is anyone familiar with this method and if so could someone inform me about it? I don’t want to ruin my cycle or anything else in my tank other than those pesky folks. Does anyone have another way of killing the pest snails without ruining anything else?

 

[TDoyle]

I have heard (no personal experience here) that you can "trap" snails by anchoring a piece of romaine lettuce in the tank. Apparently they are extremely attracted to it and you can collect a good number of snails as they all gather on the romaine. Id just repeat with romaine leaves overnight until you stop having snails on the lettuce.

 

[Planted-Jungle]

I have heard (no personal experience here) that you can "trap" snails by anchoring a piece of romaine lettuce in the tank. Apparently they are extremely attracted to it and you can collect a good number of snails as they all gather on the romaine. Id just repeat with romaine leaves overnight until you stop having snails on the lettuce.

That is brilliant! I will definitely try that.

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Zoidburg]

Nice lookin tiel there!


I actually got alum to do a plant dip... don't recall if I actually used it or not... been so long!


I do wonder though... how much is that snail poop vs just detritus? If snails only thing would lead more towards the snails being the culprit... but there is bacteria that should be able to consume that so you don't have to clean it up.

 

[Dreya]

Get a bubble bar and they'll come out of the water to poop in the refreshing mist on the glass

 

[Planted-Jungle]

Thanks! His name is Clive.
Yeah but even when it’s cycled wont I have less options of stockings? I was planning on having a betta and a snail and thats definitely enough for the bio load.

I guess it should but I’m just afraid the bacteria wont be able to keep up. I would just at least like to control the population
oh and you asked how much poop? It was all over the substrate.
They can overpopulat in the snap of a finger even though I won’t overfeed. I just don’t think it’s worth the hassle with these guys

 

[Dreya]

I dont think snails make an appreciable impact on load unless you're talking the very large ones in much smaller volumes of water. One snail and one betta seems like very conservative stocking, I really wouldnt worry about it unless you just dont like the way a bunch of little snails looks.

 

[Planted-Jungle]

I dont think snails make an appreciable impact on load unless you're talking the very large ones in much smaller volumes of water. One snail and one betta seems like very conservative stocking, I really wouldnt worry about it unless you just dont like the way a bunch of little snails looks.

Yeah I meant mystery snail.
your right though, It would probably be fine. I suppose they will be kept under control once I cycled the tank and no more algea for them to over feed on.
I’ll try to keep the population low but I don’t think I should get rid of them altogether.
thanks.

 

[Zoidburg]

Mystery snails are even more sensitive to products... so I'd advice avoiding the medication route but figuring out an alternative. (I know you haven't mentioned, just in case it's being thought of!) Not sure about alum long term though....

If you don't want the bladder snails though, I don't think it'd be an issue to remove them or attempt to get rid of them.

 

[Planted-Jungle]

Mystery snails are even more sensitive to products... so I'd advice avoiding the medication route but figuring out an alternative. (I know you haven't mentioned, just in case it's being thought of!) Not sure about alum long term though....

If you don't want the bladder snails though, I don't think it'd be an issue to remove them or attempt to get rid of them.

Yeah. I think I’ll just use the lettuce trap trick but I don’t think I’ll be able to get them all, I just don’t want them overpopulating but I’m fine if it is just 3,4.
so yeah, if I manage to get rid of all of then theb great but if there is still a few it won’t hurt.
thanks guys I think I’ve figured it out