How to Get Rid of Snails in Aquarium
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Snails can be a real pest when you find them in your aquarium. They may munch on your plants or take over fresh food you put in the aquarium for your fish and the invertebrates you invited to live in your tank. Some snails reproduce so quickly that it's a "blink and you miss it" situation, and then your tank is overrun with snails.
So, what to do when the snails take over?
The Short Answer:
- Using special chemicals.
- Using snail traps.
- Manually removing them.
- Adding snail eating fish.
- Adding predatory snails.
There's good news and bad news. The bad news is that getting rid of snails can be a real pain, but the good news is that you have a lot of options for getting rid of snails. Keep reading to learn how to get rid of snails in your aquarium!
Table of contents
- Where do Snails Come From?
- Why are Snails a Problem?
- Pros & Cons Of Snails In Your Fish Tank
- What Kind of Snails Do I Have?
- How do I Prevent Snails?
- 5 Solutions on How To Get Rid of Snails In Fish Tank:
- 1. Chemicals
- 2. Copper
- 3. Snail Traps
- 4. Manual Removal
- 5. Snail Eating Fish
- 6. Predatory Snails
- Preventing A Snail Infestation
- Alum
- Bleach
- Potassium Permanganate
- How To Dispose of Aquarium Snails
- Will Cleaning My Tank Help With A Snail Infestation?
- In Conclusion
Where do Snails Come From?
You may purchase snails for your aquarium to help keep things clean and not realize how quickly some types of snails can reproduce. Then you end up with a population explosion.
The other way you're likely to get snails is by bringing new fish and plants into your tank. Snails are notorious for being hitchhikers! If you purchase anything that is coming from another tank and don't inspect it closely, you can end up with hitchhiking snails. You may not even realize that you have snails until one day you look at your tank and it seems like they've taken over.
Why are Snails a Problem?
Here's the thing about snails; they aren't always a problem. Most snails can be beneficial to some extent and there is a lot of disagreement in the aquatics community about which snails are a problem and which are beneficial.
Troublesome snails reproduce quickly and begin to consume your plants and food intended for your fish and invertebrates. A couple of small snails aren't really a problem but once they start reproducing, they can take over quickly.
Some snails create a lot of waste and can add to the bioload of your tank, making it more difficult to keep the water parameters in check.
Pros & Cons Of Snails In Your Fish Tank
There are good parts and parts to having snails in your aquarium, so let's just talk about those quickly.
Pros:
- Snails are good at cleaning. They will hunt through substrate and eat uneaten fish food, they eat fish waste, dead fish parts, rotten tank plants, fur on tank walls, and slime in the water. They actually do a pretty good job of cleaning a fish tank.
- Snails are good indicators of how pure and clean the water in a fish tank is.
- They make for a good decorative element.
Cons:
- They multiple ridiculously quick and can infest your tank with several dozen snails in just a matter of weeks.
- If the snails do not have enough food they will start to eat and kill the plants in your aquarium.
- Too many snails will cause an oxygen level drop in the water, thus endangering the wellbeing of your fish.
- Too much food in the tank will cause snails to breed very fast.
- Snails can get out of the tank, run away, and start infesting your home.
What Kind of Snails Do I Have?
Identifying the snails you have in your tank is the first step to deciding if you want to get rid of the snails or not.
Here are some of the most common aquatic snails you may see in freshwater tanks:
- Mystery Snails: This large snail is unlikely to be a hitchhiker and usually is purchased intentionally. They are great for keeping plants, décor, and the substrate clean, but they create a lot of waste and a large number of them will add to the bioload of your tank. These snails have to have a male and female present to reproduce and lay their eggs above the waterline, so they are easy to spot and remove if you do not want more snails.
- Nerite Snails: These snails can get somewhat large but are excellent algae eaters. They are rarely hitchhikers and are usually intentionally purchased. If there is enough algae to eat, they will usually not start to eat your plants. Nerite snails can only reproduce successfully in saltwater or brackish water. Sometimes they will lay eggs in freshwater tanks, but these eggs are not viable.
- Ramshorn Snails: These snails grow to around the size of a penny, sometimes larger. While they are rarely hitchhikers, they do sometimes mysteriously end up in tanks. Ramshorn snails are interesting to watch and are great at cleaning up the tank from algae, food, and detritus. These snails can reproduce asexually and can do so quickly. Each clutch holds about a dozen eggs, but Ramshorn snails usually lay multiple clutches in a short time. They can quickly take over a tank and will eat plants if enough food is not available.
- Bladder Snails: These small snails only reach about half an inch in size and have a shell that spirals to the left. They are considered by many to be pest snails. Bladder snails frequently hitchhike on plants and can reproduce asexually and rapidly, quickly taking over a tank. Some aquarists consider them a great tank addition because they are efficient tank cleaners and they simply cull them as needed for population control.
- Pond Snails: Often mistaken for Bladder snails, Pond snails are another small variety of snails but their shell spirals to the right, which is the opposite of the Bladder snail. These snails are one of the most frequent hitchhikers and the aquatic community is just as divided with Pond snails as they are with Bladder snails. These snails reproduce rapidly and can reproduce via sexual and asexual reproduction, so one hitchhiking bladder snail can cause a tank takeover.
- Malaysian Trumpet Snails: These small snails also divide the aquatic community. Malaysian Trumpet Snails are excellent at turning over the substrate, which prevents dangerous gases from building up. They will burrow all over a tank looking for food or safety. They will eat leftover food, detritus, and whatever they can find on the floor of the tank. These snails can reproduce sexually or asexually and will give birth to around 70 live young at a time. If not kept in check, they will rapidly take over a tank.
How do I Prevent Snails?
The best way to prevent snails is to quarantine new plants to watch for snails or dip your plants in a dilute bleach solution before adding them to your tank. Plants can also be soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate or alum. Also be cautious with other items you bring into your tank from other tanks or bodies of water, like river rocks and décor.
Snails will thrive in just about any environment if they are receiving enough food. Make sure you are not overfeeding your tank! This can lead to snail outbreaks. If snails feel safe, comfortable, and well-fed, they will begin to reproduce.
5 Solutions on How To Get Rid of Snails In Fish Tank:
If you did not manage to prevent the snails from making it into your aquarium, there are always several snail removal methods that you can try.
Here are the most effective ways of removing snails from your fish tank.
1. Chemicals
Many people who are new to aquariums will use chemicals to remove snails due to it being easy and inexpensive.
Most chemicals used to kill snails such as Tropical Hydra-Tox will completely kill all snails and snail eggs without killing fish.
However, always read the manual and only use as directed because an overdose of these chemicals may in fact harm or kill fish.
2. Copper
Snails are extremely sensitive to copper products. There are commercial copper products, like Seachem Cupramine, that will kill snails, as well as parasites. Be aware, though, that most invertebrates are sensitive to copper, so adding a product like this will not only kill the snails, but it will likely kill shrimp, crabs, crayfish, and desirable snails. Copper is a heavy metal, so it is difficult to remove it from a tank once you have used it, so it will keep you from being able to bring invertebrates into the tank for a while.
3. Snail Traps
You can go to your local fish or pet store and buy specially made snail traps. You simply put some food the snail likes into the trap and let the snail wander into it.
It is an effective way of getting rid of snails, but you always need to keep at it as this method will most likely never catch all of the snails but a fish tank snail trap is a pretty decent removal option.
4. Manual Removal
Perhaps the simplest way of removing snails from your aquarium is by doing so manually.
You can use your hands or a net to simply pluck them out of the aquarium. Keep in mind that getting hidden snails this way will be very hard.
To increase the chances of manually removing all of the snails in the fish tank, you can always use a lettuce leaf, vegetables, or a browned banana skin.
Put the lettuce leaf or vegetables on a plate, wait for the snails to be attracted to them, then simply remove the snails from the plate.
Do this for 3 days straight and chances are that you will have removed most or even all of the living snails from the aquarium.
5. Snail Eating Fish
A great way to control snail populations is to introduce predatory fish which will eat the snails.
One of the best snail eating fish to have is the green spotted puffer, a type of fish that can eat snails with the hardest of shells.
The problem is that the green spotted puffer is quite aggressive and may also attack or eat other fish in the community.
Another type of fish you can use to eat snails is the clown loach. These fish can easily eat hard shelled snails, but they are fairly large and should be kept in schools, so they are only ideal for larger tanks.
Finally, paradise fish can also be quite useful for this task, but they do need to be quite hungry to actually go after snails.
6. Predatory Snails
Ok, so this solution does come with an obvious drawback. Predatory snails like the assassin snail will eat all other snails, but then again, you will still have snails in your tank.
On the other hand, they do not multiply too quickly so controlling an assassin snail population is not very difficult.
Preventing A Snail Infestation
We will get around to how to remove snails from your aquarium, but the best way to deal with snails is to never let them into your aquarium in the first place.
Since most snails find their way into your aquarium via the plants they reside on, these methods are mostly focused on clearing snails off of plants before putting the plants in the fish tank.
Alum
Alum is a natural substance, and to use it for getting snails off of plants simply mix 2 tablespoons of alum in with one gallon of water, let the plants soak in it for 2 or 3 days, rinse off the plants, and put them in the aquarium.
This will kill off all snails and eggs.
Bleach
This method is more or less the same as the alum method.
Simply mix 1 – ½ cups of bleach with a gallon of water, soak the plants in the solution for 5 minutes, remove them, then let the plants soak in normal water mixed with a de-chlorinating solution.
Rinse the plants well after this and make sure there is no bleach left on the plants as this may be harmful to your fish.
On a side note, some plants may be damaged by the bleach, but it is the very best way to kill snails and snail eggs before they ever make it into the aquarium.
Potassium Permanganate
Simply mix half a tablespoon of this stuff with a gallon of water, soak the plants in that for 15 minutes, rinse off the plants very well, and put them in your fish tank.
How To Dispose of Aquarium Snails
This one is a truly hot topic for debate. Some people will just flush the aquarium water, snails, and eggs down the toilet.
Yes, you can technically do this, although with that being said, it's not the best way to go about it.
The reason for this is because many snails are considered invasive species, and if you flush them down the drain, they end up in the wild, and they can affect the ecosystem in a negative way.
If you want to ensure that the snails and eggs are dead before disposing of them, there are two ways to go about this.
- You can dump a bunch of chlorine into the water that you have taken out of your tank. Put any snails and snail eggs you can find inside of the siphoned water, put some chlorine in it, and give it a few minutes. The chlorine will kill everything.
- The other way to go about it is to boil the water, along with the snails and eggs. Boiling the water will kill everything to make sure that you are not introducing new species into the ecosystem when you dump the water.
Will Cleaning My Tank Help With A Snail Infestation?
If you have a snail infestation in your aquarium, you might be tempted to run out and buy some snail killer chemicals.
The problem with these is that although they will kill snails, these chemicals cannot target snails specifically.
They are indiscriminate and will just kill all invertebrates along with a lot of beneficial bacteria.
Cleaning your tank may help to remove some snails, but chances are that they laid eggs which will hatch.
If you clean your tank, you can manually remove some snails, but you might not find them all.
In Conclusion
Snails aren't always bad, and even pest snails can serve a healthy purpose in the ecosystem of your tank. Most snails will work to keep your tank sparkling clean and Malaysian Trumpet Snails will you're your substrate turned over. However, not everyone wants snails, and very few people want a complete snail invasion, so knowing what to do when you notice hitchhiking snails in your tank will help you out significantly.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure definitely applies when it comes to snails! If you are cautious about bringing in new plants and animals to your tank, you will likely prevent snails. If some snails do slip past you, you have plenty of options for getting rid of them.
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How to Get Rid of Snails in Aquarium
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