How to get rid of snails in the aquarium: effective ways

Any aquarist knows that with the wrong care of the fish in the aquarium, small snails begin to multiply rapidly. In general, they are not harmful, and even vice versa, they perform many useful functions. But the number of snails is growing very quickly, so you have to get rid of them.

What you need to know about snails

Even the most attentive amateur aquarium fish snails infest. Most often it is:

1. Ampullar. These snails are bred specially. These mollusks from South America are brought. They are quite large, and can calmly breathe atmospheric air. They lay their eggs on the walls of the aquarium. Almost omnivores and can eat meat.
2. Melania. The homeland of this snail is Asia. Shellfish look quite attractive, especially with its gray-green sink. Most often melania dwells at the bottom of the aquarium, where it breaks through the ground.If the snail rises closer to the surface, then the aquarium's biobalance is disturbed.
3. Coil. This is the most common type of snail, which voluntarily colonize aquariums. They are found in all ponds, so the aquarium can get along with algae. Coil snails can live in almost any conditions, as they are not affected by water pollution. They breathe under water and air. They can also move on any surface.
4. Prudovik. An omnivorous snail, which, when food is scarce, can easily embrace plants. Can breathe and atmospheric air.

The benefits of snails are as follows - they destroy the remnants of food and mix the soil, preventing it from rotting. Snails are also capable of carrying diseases, infecting fish, and this is important to consider when creating a normal balance in the aquarium. Some aquarium owners get snails on purpose. But since for the most part these mollusks are hermaphroditic, it will not take long to control their number.

In addition, if the snails breed too fast, it often indicates that the aquarium is contaminated. Many people think that snails can easily kill a small fish. But it is not so.Rather, they are able to eat the fish, which as a result of the disease weakened and fell to the bottom of the aquarium. But no snail is able to catch up and kill her on her own.

The same myth concerns the fact that small snails are able to destroy plants in an aquarium. But the surface of the algae is too hard, so the snails can not damage them. Another thing is that the snails eat old leaves, cleaning the aquarium. And at first glance it seems that they destroy them.

Where they come from

Most often, snails accidentally enter the aquarium together with various plants or during fish transplantation. Therefore, all new plants should be carefully checked for deferred caviar or already adult individuals. For prevention, you can rinse them with a special solution.

Methods of dealing with snails

Before you start the fight with snails, you need to clean the aquarium. First of all, sift and boil the soil to destroy the remnants of food. It is also important to review the amount of food for fish, perhaps they do not eat all the food. Fish at this time, like plants, must be removed. In general, algae with a radical cleaning will need to be destroyed.But you can sanitize, like an aquarium.

For disinfection of plants, you can use folk remedies, for example:

1. Make a solution of ordinary potassium permanganate. Per liter of water will need 10 mg of powder. In this solution, the plants are soaked for 15–20 minutes, then washed well.
2. For the second solution, you will need salt. It does the same as the previous one. Plants must be left in it for a while. Also in salt water should soak the soil for planting. Salt effectively destroys snails and other small pests. Algae and soil before landing in the aquarium should be well washed under running water.

You can destroy the snails and in another way. The easiest way to destroy mollusks is chemical exposure. But it is not very safe for the aquarium microclimate. The preparations have a lot of drawbacks - they do not destroy the snail eggs and are very toxic for many species of fish. Therefore, deciding to use them, the fish must be relocated. Such tools can be easily purchased at a specialty store. Most often used:

1. Sera Snailpur. This tool must be added to water. After a few hours, approximately 30–40 percent of the fluid in the aquarium needs to be replaced.In the case when fish begin to behave unusually, for example, they swallow air, which means that all the water should be urgently changed. The procedure can be repeated in a few weeks to destroy the young, as the preparation does not work on the eggs.
2. Limnacid The drug destroys not only mollusks, but also other types of pests. It must also be added to the aquarium strictly according to the instructions. The fact is that the remedy is very strong and overdose should not be allowed. To destroy the snails enough to dissolve the drug in the ratio of 1 drop per 1 liter of water.
3. Sera Snail-Ex. This preparation also does not destroy the eggs, so the procedure after the first use must be repeated. The break between the destruction of snails should not be less than a week. Using the tool, be sure to turn off the filters and do not feed the fish. Sera Snail-Ex is toxic to some species of fish, for example, catfish and barbs. It is better to remove them from the aquarium before the procedure.
4. Dajana Molucid. An excellent tool for the destruction of mollusks. When using, follow the instructions. If there are too many snails, it is better to remove the fish from the aquarium before the procedure.You can return them back when dead snails are removed, and all indicators of the aquarium are normal. Consumption of the drug is 5 ml per 50 liters of water.

A more humane and safer way of getting rid of snails is traps. Such a device can be bought, but you can do it yourself. For this, it is necessary to boil the cabbage leaf with boiling water, put it on the bottom and cover it with a small plate on top. The next day the whole plate will be covered with clams. It only remains to pull it out and clean it from the snails. The method can be used until the number of snails reaches the desired number.

It can be done differently - take an ordinary plastic bottle and make holes in the bottom. The size of the holes should be such that the fish could not get inside. Scalded vegetables can be put into the bottle and left at the bottom of the aquarium. It is enough to leave a trap for the night, so that in the morning the whole bottle would be full of snails. If the aquarium is small and there are many snails, you can try to catch them manually. For example, melania often float to the surface.

For those who prefer to deal with snails with special proven means, you need the Sera snail collect trap.It has the principle of an ordinary mousetrap and is absolutely safe for other inhabitants of the aquarium. Inside the trap there is food suspended on a metal axis.

The entrance is closed by a special barrier that opens only in one direction. When the snail, attracted by the smell of food, crawls into it, the barrier behind it closes. Get back she will not be able to. To prevent the fish from falling into the trap, a special net is placed at the entrance. Even if the fry swims inside, nothing threatens it.

To destroy the snails, you can use a regular battery. It should be 12 V. You also need 2 copper wires. On the one hand, the wires must be attached to the battery, and on the other hand, carefully cleaned and lowered into the aquarium. Keep the device should be no more than 2-3 minutes. This method is not perfect, because some plants and fish die from the current. Yes, and the dead mollusks will have to catch on their own.

If there is no time to use traps, you should use another natural way to kill snails. To do this, it is enough to breed one or several species of fish that eat mollusks.But in this case, you will need to reduce the amount of feed, so that the fish were a little hungry.

The tetradon handles snails best. But for an aquarium with a large number of fish, it is not suitable. Macropods are also considered less aggressive. To destroy the caviar, you can make a catfish. There are some types of shrimp that are also predators, for example, Macrobrachium. But these shrimp can attack weaker fish after they have destroyed shellfish.

Excellent predators from snails are their predatory relatives. Experienced aquarists advise to dissolve Helen. Their size rarely exceeds 2 cm. They can completely clean the aquarium from snails, after which they easily become herbivores. These mollusks do not reproduce as quickly as other snails. And even if there will be offspring, this is not bad, since Helens are expensive.

Useful tips

In order for a large number of snails to not become an unpleasant surprise, it is necessary to follow simple rules:

• clean the soil;
• to have predators in the aquarium;
• turn over the entire decor and snags, so that predators find it easier to find caviar and snails;
• for the prevention of sometimes set traps for mollusks;
• in no case do not use plants from ordinary water bodies for your aquarium;
• try not to overfeed the fish.

In an aquarium that is properly maintained, many pests are rarely infested. Snails are necessary for normal biobalance, but only their minimum number. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the mollusks do not become larger than the fish. If this happens, then you should get rid of the unwanted inhabitants of the aquarium as soon as possible.

Video: how to get rid of the coils in the aquarium