# How to get rid of Snails?



## Jim_PA (Aug 26, 2011)

Manually is not working, to many in the tank, I remove 20 and and next day I can remove another 20. Just cleaned my CO2 reactor about an hour ago and must pulled 50 dead ones from it.
Right now I have no fish in the tank. Doing fishless Cycle which is about done.
All of my plants are stem plants with plant anchors, the only thing that does not have plant anchors would be the micro swords that I am using in the front of the tank as carpet.
Can I get clown loaches?
Can I use chemical to get rid of them that won't harm plants? 
Other options?

Thanks


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## airangel (Jan 12, 2010)

Heard Assassin snails work. No clue if Had A Snail type liquid products are ok with plants , they're copper based I believe, can get into tank sealant.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

flubendazole

http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html

a better use is for worming fish though LOL

won't hurt plants


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## Jim_PA (Aug 26, 2011)

I read the following online, has anyone tried this?

Get a small glass jar like a salt shaker. Remove the top. Be sure the jar is clean. Then put a small piece of lettuce or perhaps some fish food in the jar, and fill it with aquarium water. Carefully sink it on the bottom of the aquarium. The next day it will have lots of small snails inside! remove them and repeat the process.


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## RAZmonkey (Jul 7, 2011)

I couldn't trap snails with cucumber or zucchini or anything. I used flubendazole. Worked beautifully.


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## mjbn (Dec 14, 2011)

I personally just ran some of my plants under hot water and lightly ran a leaf of each plant through my fingers a couple times. The plants came from a local seller and i put all of them in my 10G tank without washing. I decided to take half of the plants and put them in my 20G long, but that's when i did the hot water method. I put them in and no snails showed up. But in my 10G, i got tons.. so i broke it down and am starting over now. I'm not sure if my method really worked, but it did for me, as my 20G has no snails and my 10G did coming from the same plant source. 


PS: That trap technique has worked to keep the population down, but not to eliminate them


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## Jim_PA (Aug 26, 2011)

Thanks for the info. I guess at this point I will try the trap method to keep population down, I really don't want to break the tank down, as I am just about ready to get fish, and my plants are growing very well.


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## mjbn (Dec 14, 2011)

Yeah, i don't think you should either. I've heard of accounts when people have broken down their tanks and, weeks and even months later, restarted their tanks only to have snails beginning to grow again. I let my sand dry out completely for 2 weeks then I boiled water and put it in the tank for 10 minutes. Then i let it dry out for another week. So far, no snails.

How big is your tank btw? You might be able to get some sort of botia that feeds on snails if your tank is able to support them.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

what type of snails? Are they flat and swirly? round, ugly? lol


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## VeeSe (Apr 16, 2011)

Why get rid of the snails? They are great for cleanup crew. The population will only explode if your tank is really dirty or you overfeed a lot, creating a large food source for them.

Assassin snails will work. Clown loaches will work too if you have a 90G tank (I wouldn't keep them in anything smaller, 75G absolute minimum, but in reality I wouldn't consider unless i had 100G+ tank). Flubendazole should do the trick if you really need to get rid of them all.


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## wendyjo (Feb 20, 2009)

I'd say use assassins - they will slowly but surely bring them down.


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## mjbn (Dec 14, 2011)

Is Flubendazole safe for fish and inverts? Just wondering, I might get some if i ever have a snail epidemic again.


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## chocolate (Dec 19, 2011)

assassins are the way to go. work at a pet store and we're always moving these guys from tank to tank.

to bad we don't do more live plants :/


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## Couesfanatic (Sep 28, 2009)

Assassins. Get enough and they will do the deed pretty quick.


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

Assassin snails work but be sure you're not over feeding because over population of snails is the indication of that.


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## Fishly (Jan 8, 2010)

In my experience, a normal or double dose of CopperSafe will kill pond snails but not trumpet snails. I haven't had a problem with copper remaining in the tank. I think it dissipates after 30 days or so.

Next time you get plants, dip them in a solution of Potassium permanganate (sold as "Water Clear") for about 5 minutes. Add enough of the P. permanganate to a bucket of water to turn it bright pinky-purple. Be careful; too much or too long will kill the plants.


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## HypnoticAquatic (Feb 17, 2010)

here is a easy way that not one person has said, crank up your co2! its something u already have cheap, works by gassing them or deteriorating the shells thus killing them. i had prob 500mts befor i had co2 cranked that all gone have a pond snail once in a while but rare, id not do copper if your thinking of inverts but thats me. you have no fauna so shouldnt be a problem imo. id say get some p.p. for any new plants u have to not reinfest!


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Is it flubendazole or fenbendazole?


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## tlyons01 (Nov 23, 2011)

I second using the Potassium Permenganate. A bottle of the Clear Water is less than 3 dollars. Here is an online article I found about using the dip method...

"Plant Dips/Baths for disinfecting and killing snails and algae

The tip below is ONLY if you are concerned about snails...we actually suggest eliminating snails with 2 or 3 clown, or puffer loach fish...
(NO aquariumplant distributor/nursery/wholesaler/retailer, can or will, "guarantee" their plants to be 100% snail free)
so, if you have doubts, simply treat your plants with this alum solution.

Below, we describe three dips, please pay attention to the words of caution also. Potassium Permanganate Dip 

The first dip is milder and safer for the plants. It is a Potassium Permanganate dip. Potassium Permanganate is available at Sear's and Ace Hardware in the area where they sell water softener's and supplies. You can also purchase Potassium Permanganate from chemical supply companies, both local and online. 

To prepare a disinfectant dip, use a bucket filled about 1/2 full of water. Add enough Potassium Permanganate to color the water a dark pink. This solution can be saved if covered, and it's a great way to store your nets and tools, soaking the this solution. Back to the dipping. To disinfect and kill most algae a 10-20 minute dip (more like bath) in Potassium Permanganate is very effective. Rinse the plants under tap water thoroughly and add dechlor to your tank...it neutralizes Potassium Permanganate too. 

CAUTION: Potassium Permanganate is a strong powerful oxidizer. Treatment should be made outside the tank...it will kill your bio-filter. Like all chemicals you should wear protective eye wear and gloves. Potassium Permanganate will stain clothing, carpeting, skin, etc. Never combine Potassium Permanganate and Formalin, this will result in explosive results and dangerous gases."

This was the only one I could find that explained how to use it..
Here is the link to the full article
http://www.aquariumplants.com/Articles.asp?ID=111


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

wkndracer said:


> flubendazole
> 
> http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html
> 
> ...



Mike - Have you ever used this as a Dip? If so how strong & how much dwell time. I'd like to try to not introduce pond snails into my new display tank. I do keep red rams horns and MTS along with shrimp in my tanks.

I usually just squash the PS on the glass for the shrimp to eat. It's working pretty good in the small tanks. I don't really want to work that hard with the 40gl tank once it's set up.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

mjbn said:


> Is Flubendazole safe for fish and inverts? Just wondering, I might get some if i ever have a snail epidemic again.


Proactive fish treatment is why I buy it so yes used correctly it's safe as long as the fish aren't infested with internal parasites.
Reports so far are it's shrimp safe by all posting the use of it. 
Shrimp are not bothered by it here but I have the tough little tank roaches not the fancy ones LOL


chad320 said:


> Is it flubendazole or fenbendazole?


flubendazole


DogFish said:


> Mike - Have you ever used this as a Dip? If so how strong & how much dwell time. I'd like to try to not introduce pond snails into my new display tank. I do keep red rams horns and MTS along with shrimp in my tanks.
> 
> I usually just squash the PS on the glass for the shrimp to eat. It's working pretty good in the small tanks. I don't really want to work that hard with the 40gl tank once it's set up.


Flu baths have been done here (same treatment dose and time as fish). I have set up 5g buckets with an air stone to roll the water but I haven't done it often with the wormer. More often with glut (excel) doing algae kills on java fern and other slow growing plants. H2O2, Glut and flubendazole have all been used here in kill buckets.


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## mjbn (Dec 14, 2011)

Let's say I dose this in tank. Will i risk chances of "missing" sight of a dead snail, let's say in heavy plantings, and it's decomp fouling the water up? :O


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Large (maximum) water changes both before and after are part of the recommended treatment. Missing a few dead snails in not a problem the tank can't handle missing 100K is another matter.


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## mjbn (Dec 14, 2011)

I can't find flubendazole anywhere online for a good price. That's another thing for me, I really have to be budget-friendly with this stuff. I might just try the Jungle Clear Water - potassium permanganate since it is only $3.. Only thing i'm worried about is it killing the snails AND the plants:/


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

A discus site in England and Charles here in the U.S. are the only two online sources I'm aware of. The domestic site is linked in my post above


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## mjbn (Dec 14, 2011)

Ooo, i don't have another $20 to spend, or i would've bought some plants from gordon in the sns. I'll probably try out Jungle Clear Water with 2 hot water rinses and see how that goes.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

Found this:

"Matt Patrick's Successful Experience

I noticed some Hydra in my Snowball tank after watching a very young Snowball Shrimp fall lifeless to the substrate. There was a berried female on my thermometer who appeared to be releasing newborn shrimp. After a close inspection there were several Hydra on the thermometer and I came to the conclusion the Hydra had killed the newborn Snowball Shrimp. I have no proof since I did not actually see the shrimp being born or watch the Hydra sting the shrimp, it is just a conclusion

As a result of the shrimp death above I decided to try using Fenbendazole to rid my tank of both the Planaria and Hydra. You can buy Fenbendazole at most pet supply stores. It is a dog de-wormer sold under the brand name Safe Guard and was about $14 for four 1 gram packs. According to the package, each gram of the powder contains 222mg of Fenbendazole so 0.1gm would contain 22.2mg. Information on the web is sketchy at best for using this medication with invertebrates.

People describe using a "pinch" of the powder for their tanks or using a "BB" sized measuring spoon for their tanks. Most do not give the gallonage of their tanks so figuring out a dosage from their information is next to impossible. The best info I could find was using a 2ppm dosage to de-worm fish. I was worried about the effects on shrimp with this dosage so I did a little experiment to find the minimum amount required for Planaria and Hydra.

On September 5th I added 0.1gm of Fenbendazole (~.6ppm I believe) to my 10 Gallon Amano/Blue Shrimp tank. This tank had both Planaria and Hydra. The next day, the 6th, the Planaria seemed to be gone but a few Hydra were still hanging on. Later that evening I added another 0.1 grams of Fenbendazole and by the time the lights came on the morning of the 7th, all the Hydra seemed to be shriveled up and dead. The shrimp, snails,and two Rasbora's in this tank are all doing fine.

Also, on the evening of the 6th I added 0.1 grams of Fenbendazole to my 10g Cherry shrimp tank. This tank had Planaria but no apparent Hydra. This dosage seemed to be effective on the Planaria by the next morning. There were no negative effects on adult or baby Cherry Shrimp. Later on one of the berried females in the tank has given birth to more babies. After adding a good amount of food to the Cherry tank the planaria were not visible.

On September 10th I dosed the remainder of my shrimp tanks with 0.1 grams of Fenbendazole. Hopefully, I have found a cure for the Planaria and or Hydra in shrimp tanks. I may need to add another 0.1 grams ( 0.2 grams total ) dose to my Blue Pearl tank since it seems to have a few Hydra on the glass by the gravel. I decided to wait 48 hours (instead of the 24 I waited on the Amano/Blue Shrimp tank) before adding the second dosage to see if a little more time will kill the Hydra.

48 Hours later the 0.6ppm dose of Fenbendazole seemed to have worked for both the Planaria and Hydra in all of my tanks. I can't see any Hydra in my Blue Pearl Shrimp tank.

Two Weeks Later: After two weeks since the original dosing things are going well in all of the tanks. The Planaria and Hydra are still gone and other members have had success with Fenbendazole. Since the initial dosing I have had two more batches of Cherry Shrimp babies and my first batch of Green Shrimp are now swimming around their tank. I will have to wait for my berried Yellows and Snowballs to produce offspring but it looks good at this point. I think my issue has been solved.

Dosing Accuracy: My scale has a readout down to 0.1gm but it also has an accuracy of +/- 0.1 grams. For my dosages, I used a 0.1 grams measuring spoon that comes with one of my LaMotte Test Kits. I tried to calibrate my scale by weighing various amounts of the Fenbendazole. During calibration one level scoop of the powder would not register on the scale. Two level scoops of the powder weighed in at 0.2 grams. Three level scoops weighed in at 0.3 grams and four level scoops weighed 0.4 grams. After removing the initial 0.1 grams dose from the package the remainder of the 1gm package weighed 0.9 grams. While using a "spoon" may not be the most accurate method of measuring a medication for a fish tank it is the best I can do given the accuracy of my scale and seems to be a little more accurate than using a "pinch". "

http://www.planetinverts.com/killing_planaria_and_hydra.html


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## Jim_PA (Aug 26, 2011)

Thanks everyone for the info. 

I think I am going to try the following for a few days, since I don't have any fish in the tank yet.

Crank the CO2 up and see how that works.
Put glass bottle in the tank with some food see if I can get rid of some that way
Get some Assassin snails?

Anyone know where I can get Assassin snails, 2 sites I checked so far are out of them.

I don't mind having some snails, but these things are ugly, and all over the place, I must pulled 50 dead one out of my CO2 reactor the other day, and pulled another 30 or 40 off the front glass on the tank.

Are clown loaches an option? I was going to get some of those anyway for my tank.

Thanks


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## mjbn (Dec 14, 2011)

Man.. That's really helpful.. Haha way to tip the scale and put me back on the fence on flubendazole and potassium permanganate.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

*Do not mistake the two! * flubendazole / fenbendazole are not the same.



sewingalot said:


> i strongly, strongly, strongly (i can't emphasize this enough) recommend against fenbendazole. I killed at least 43 fish using half the dosage recommended by wkndracer. I had mistaken flubendazole for the same as fenbendazole. You can see the damage here (http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1342425-post1341.html), how it doesn't disolve and also if you continue reading (back up a few pages for the beginning of the deaths), you'll see that it happened within hours and the deaths didn't stop for days. I lost almost everyone of my fish due to using this.


http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/fish/156350-help-me-diagnose-disease-thats-killing.html


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

wkndracer said:


> flubendazole
> 
> http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html
> 
> ...



OOoo.. He's got sodium thiosulfate at sane prices too. Thank you for this URL. For $4 you can buy a pound of this stuff which would last any sane hobbyist about 300 years! Nothing POs me more than having to spend $6-7-8 on a bottle of water with .001 cents worth of active ingredient in it.

Also, on the potassium permanganate quest... Sears and HD and Lowes etc *used* to sell it for iron filter regenerating but have since stopped. The only place I know where you can consistently find it is on ebay anymore. The plus side is that it's cheaper there than it ever was at Sears.


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## lilaliend (Dec 9, 2010)

Assassin Snails. I had a pretty big outbreak in my 75gallon recently. During a water change I would pick out any that I saw, but they'd always come back. I picked up 6 assassin snails from my LFS and about a month later I hardly see any. I actually watched one eat a snail yesterday, was pretty interesting.


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## RAZmonkey (Jul 7, 2011)

What happens when the assassins eat all the snails? Do you then need to get snails to feel the assassins?


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

I have pond snails, ramshorns, nerites, and MTS in my tank and don't have any over population problems. 4 cherry barbs in the tank keep things pretty balanced.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

my loaches cleaned up my tank. All nice and natural. I dont think turning the co2 up will do anything, but perhaps a huge dose of h202. But I think its only effective when they come in contact with h202.


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## mjbn (Dec 14, 2011)

I just checked out my local Petco today. They actually had Jungle Clear Water. I might pick it up in the next few days when the plants arrive. I'll update you on how it goes IF i do go that path.


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## lilaliend (Dec 9, 2010)

RAZmonkey said:


> What happens when the assassins eat all the snails? Do you then need to get snails to feel the assassins?


They'll also eat leftover food and stuff like the other snails. If no food, they'll eventually turn on each other too.


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## Loachutus (Aug 27, 2010)

@Jim PA, Don't know what size tank you have but these, http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-striata , may be a better option for you than clown loaches. The clowns can reach 16+ inches, were as the striata only get about 4 and they are just as good as clowns at eating snails.

Can't go wrong with a few assassins either.


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## Jim_PA (Aug 26, 2011)

Loachutus said:


> @Jim PA, Don't know what size tank you have but these, http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-striata , may be a better option for you than clown loaches. The clowns can reach 16+ inches, were as the striata only get about 4 and they are just as good as clowns at eating snails.
> 
> Can't go wrong with a few assassins either.


Thanks for the info. I like those, though it looks like good luck finding them at a LFS? My tank is 90 G, will any type of loach make a mess of my plants? Just wondering if they will cause problems.


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## fresh.salty (Jul 2, 2010)

I have three of those in my 90G. I could control/live with the pond snails but I was getting infested with a little tiny snail. Not sure what they were, they were like mini ramshorns but they laid on their side.

Picked up the loaches at Petsmart on sale.


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## partobe (Jul 29, 2011)

I had tons of them and just cut back on my feedings and slowly but surely they disappeared


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## tlyons01 (Nov 23, 2011)

mjbn said:


> Man.. That's really helpful.. Haha way to tip the scale and put me back on the fence on flubendazole and potassium permanganate.




I just wanted to stop by and add about the Clear Water... If you already have an established cycled tank, this is not the route to clear up a problem. As I have read, it will also kill off any BB that you have in the main tank. I only recommend that this be used as a preventive when purchasing new plants and adding to a tank that does not have snails. I have my large tank, with limpets that hitchhiked into the tank. I had a back wall of eggs, I thought was BB so I didn't try to clean it off. Once I found what that actually was, I researched it and without treating the tank, I did heavy water changes and cut back on my feeding, scrubbed the walls etc. I have only seen a few and all of the eggs have since disappeared. You might be better off not treating at all in an established tank, but cleaning more often so that there is less algae for them to feed from, if that is possible.. This is only based on my own personal experience and what I determined from researching the internet.. Hope that helps you decide which side of the fence you want to lean towards!:fish:


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

Oh yea - potassium permanganate is for a DIP ONLY. Please don't use it in your tank unless you really know what you're doing. Not recommended!


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## mjbn (Dec 14, 2011)

I was actually planning on kinda making a dip out of it, if possible. What do you think?:O


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## dj2606 (Mar 27, 2009)

DogFish said:


> Found this:
> 
> "Matt Patrick's Successful Experience
> 
> ...



Ok so this article says *FEN*bendazole and *Wkndracer* is saying *flu*bendazole to eradicate snails. Which one is it? Lol, even though I went and purchased Safeguard while I was running errands today.


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## tlyons01 (Nov 23, 2011)

*JUst used this method again*



mjbn said:


> I was actually planning on kinda making a dip out of it, if possible. What do you think?:O



I just got some plants and I used this method again. This time I saw at least 2 hitch hiker snails after I placed the plants in the dip and they did not survive. I think its safe to say it works. Even if it does not remove the snail eggs, from what I understand they shouldn't hatch. I did it for a smaller amount of time this time, only dipping them for 10 minutes. I found the assailant and placed him back into the bucket, for good measure...Also, I made the water bright purple, but did not measure it out. It was a squirt or two-ish..


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## [email protected] (Dec 21, 2015)

they may clean but when you have 200 they are UGLY!!!


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