# how to get rid of limpets?



## james0816 (Jun 26, 2008)

I actually enjoyed them in my tank. Too bad I somehow killed them off though. I would prefer them to regular bladder/pond snails. Not as easily noticable. And they rasp on GSA to boot. ;o)

Maybe I'll run across some more again. Good luck to ya.


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## keithy (Jun 8, 2010)

james0816 said:


> Too bad I somehow killed them off though.


 
..................... if only you can tell me the secret to rid them......... sigh........


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

lol, I haven't found the cure to limpets, but sometimes I see a tiger shrimp playing with an empty limpet shell... Could he be eating them? Who knows! Not eating enough of them anyways!


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## Spachi (Oct 27, 2008)

I thought fenbendazole would kill them, as discussed in that thread from yesterday.


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## kozlany (Feb 25, 2009)

limpets are essentially snails. The fenbenzadole doesn't bother them much, just worms.


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## keithy (Jun 8, 2010)

mordalphus said:


> lol, I haven't found the cure to limpets, ..................


lol, that means I would have to just embrace them as part of my little system.......... darn....... how I wish I didn't buy that java fern from my LFS.


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## timwag2001 (Jul 3, 2009)

i dont know what else you have in your tank but a small puffer might do the trick. or maybe an assasin snail???


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## keithy (Jun 8, 2010)

timwag2001 said:


> i dont know what else you have in your tank but a small puffer might do the trick. or maybe an assasin snail???


 
Maybe I may consider the puffer idea. But, question is what to feed the puffer after all the limpets are gone. Will need to do some research on small puffers. Thanks timwag.


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## james0816 (Jun 26, 2008)

keithy said:


> what to feed the puffer after all the limpets are gone.


Everyone has pesky bladder or pond snails. hint, hint.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

I think pea puffers need hard shelled snails only once per month. The rest of the time you can feed them blood worms.

pea pufffers will also eat all your shrimp if you have any.

they also will probably not be able to eat the limpets, because they're so small and stick to the glass and rocks so well.


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## studentclimber (Apr 11, 2011)

Tried the assassin snail route; too small not worth chasing. They are out of control in my tank. Used heat to kill them in another tank. Just hoping the plants won't be an unintended victim. Had more to kill in that tank though. Hydra showed up - god knows from where. Anyone knows a cure let me know.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

Just Use fenbendazole to kill Hydra


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## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

My limpets seem to come and go with time. No idea why.


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## studentclimber (Apr 11, 2011)

I think I got the hydra killed. Wish I had known about that before I went the route I did. Just to save anyone else the trouble potassium permanganate is effective - especially when you use hot water. But.... watch your plants, even as a dip its pretty nasty stuff. The leaves on my sword are transparent. I don't know how many of my plants are going to make it. I think the hydra are gone though ( along with everything else that was not removed from the tank before the process- biofilter and all).

It was drastic but I was desperate and when I searched hydra I did not find anything telling me that would have been a safe option with the shrimp. Its a diff tank that's got the limpet explosion as well as some nasty flat worms. Am honestly thinking of a salt based variation of what I just did. I know I will have to restart the biofilter, but that's no big deal. The tank just has too many creepy crawlies and it got some of the plants that I suspect brought the hydra in!


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## keithy (Jun 8, 2010)

Ok, I am digging out my old post because I have noticed a trend that can help drastically reduce the number of limpets in my tank. I would like to share it with anybody who is having the same problem. 

I recently bought a circulation pump, maxijet pro 400. Due to the large flow, I aligned the pump to shoot parallel to the aquarium glass. On the first day, I notice a large limpet having difficulties holding on to the glass surface, so I did not have any second thoughts. Today, I did a WC and noticed that when cleaning the substrate, the gravel filter was picking up some transparent oval shaped stuff. I then looked clearer and noticed that the are limpet shells! Cool!
I then look at the glass of my tank to find limpets...... I can only find two baby limpets. What I thought happened is that adult have larger shells and thus the lift caused by the circulation pump is greater(just like a parachute) and thus making it more difficult to grab ahold of the glass. This may be a temporary solution for people with limpet problems. Direct the flow parallel to your glass.......

Just want to share what I just found out so that maybe more people can try this out.


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