[goot776]

I have an outbreak of pond snails. I've reduced my feeding, but I'd like to trap and dispose of the snails without hurting any plants, fish, or other invertebrates. I have a trap, but what should I do with all the snails now? Will putting them in a bowl full of a mixture of aquarium salt and water work? I don't want to release them into the wild, nor do I want them.

 

[firefiend]

crush them up and feed them to your fish.

or crush them up and put into a potted plant.

 

[goot776]

I crushed a few, but my fish don't seem to go after them. I have boesemani rainbows, guppies, gourami, and harlequin rasboras. When I saw one snail moving around after it had been crushed, I felt bad.

 

[zergling]

In my 20gal long (now over 4 yrs old), pond snails eventually went away when I reduced my feeding to every other day. I was turning off filter during feeding, and feeding just enough that there are no leftovers. Basically starving the snails to death.

Note, I only had tetras and breeder guppy/endler hybrids in there.

 

[gtu2004]

can you please give them pond snails to me? My dwarf puffer will have a field day.

i hate killing snails myself too, but it's so fun watching the DP go after them.

 

[Kojack]

Assassin Snails are also a good way of taking care of pond snails....

 

[Cynth]

Assassin Snails are also a good way of taking care of pond snails....

+1 on assassins. They will win in the end. I haven't seen a pond or trumpet snail in my 40 gallon tank for weeks now.

 

[goot776]

I'm sort of worried about getting an assassin snail, because I have a mystery snail and plan on getting 2 nerites to clean up GSA...

What's the best way to ship pond snails for people that need them? I mean, if it costs more money to ship them then they're worth, I'd rather just turn them into compost for my plants.

 

[londonloco]

I throw dem sucka's in the garbage, literally.

 

[wkndracer]

I throw dem sucka's in the garbage, literally.

Knowing with certainty nothing bad was meant by posting this, it's not something to do with anything out of the tank.

High concentration salt baths kill most all freshwater organisms. Freezing works fairly well too, (can be less messy) and almost as fast for the critter.

**Remember** with trimmings not used within the tank to either nuke them in the micro to mush or bag and properly trash them away from open water or a source of transport.

Bagging live snails could result in transfer somewhere they shouldn't be.

 

[londonloco]

Knowing with certainty nothing bad was meant by posting this, it's not something to do with anything out of the tank. Bagging live snails could result in transfer somewhere they shouldn't be.

Def right on both points, I didn't mean anything bad about throwing pond snails in the garbage. But I literally do, never thought about them not dying between my garbage going out and their trip to the landfill. Good point.

 

[bruinhd]

There's a guy who is a legit assassin snail seller on Ebay. His username is bertlynd. I bought just one and he sent me two for the price of one. I had over 40 pond snails overrunning my tank. They were decimated by the assassins within a week. I got these two assassins off of ebay and they immediately went to work. It's been a month and they are still healthy. Word of advice, if you think you're gonna get to watch them kill, too bad. They sneak underneath the ground, and then when they feel a pond snail pass over them, they have a long snout that reaches out from the gravel and sucks them down under where they kill and eat them. This is awesome, except you don't get the satisfaction of watching the kill.

 

[driftwoodhunter]

I don't get satisfaction out of watching anything get killed...

 

[Nubster]

Give them away in the FS section for the cost of shipping. People always want snails for feeders or tank cleanup.

 

[bruinhd]

I don't get satisfaction out of watching anything get killed...

the suggestion wasn't really directed at you but thank you for sharing your feelings.

i find satisfaction in watching biological species in the act of stalking and feeding behaviors. it was one of my focuses as an undergraduate in biology.

 

[Seedreemer]

I had to euthanize a sick gourami a few months back and used the clove drops method. You'll have to Google to see if it will work on invertebrates, but it was super quick and merciful. My fish was out in less than a second.

 

[[email protected]]

Give them away in the FS section for the cost of shipping. People always want snails for feeders or tank cleanup.

+1 on that! There are people asking for them in the S-N-S section right now, and there is always someone that wants them I.M.E. Personally, I like them and keep them in my tank with various other snail as well. I had to stop giving them away for awhile as my stock was starting to dwindle. I do keep these in community tanks, which is best for these as the fish will eat the eggs and/or babies keeping the population in check. If I need more snails I feed my tank more, if I need less snails I feed less causing the fish to eat Escargot!! It's just more natural for me that way.

So I say do nothing and let nature take it's course. If you are just hellbent on getting rid of them, gather them up and ship them to someone. Then scrub any eggs you see off as well as the glass too. I use my pipecleaner to scrub my plants and wood down with, then do a good gravel-vac. If any come back just repeat until they no longer show up. No need to crush them, I feel bad when I crush one on accident.