Snail Plague - What do I do?

[Matt Rogers]

Heh. Yep. This is also related to my theory that having so many of them growing in there is a calcium suck. I have no idea if this is true, I am assuming their shells require calcium. I could be totally wrong.

(Too late for a close up pic tonight. One soon. I think they are Ceriths though. - I read where they eat diatoms, well in my case it isn't true, they don't. Too bad.)

[Bruce]

escargot anyone?

[amcarrig]

Do you have clams in the tank Matt? If you don't, then most likely they aren't pyramid snails as they would starve to death without a clam host. Here's a pic:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/snailcompfaqs.htm

[Matt Rogers]

No clams so must be Ceriths. They do look pretty similar!

[RAVEN]

Matt, have you seen serpentine white snail eggs on your glass, if so they are probably ceriths but they usually dont survive out of the larval stage. My ceriths lay eggs all the time. Too bad you couldnt put a nasty trigger or puffer in there to gobble them up.

[somethingfishy]

This may seem a little to simple but remove there food source. The snails must eat to live. Try cutting down on your tank feedings. This is probably just a result of overfeeding. IMO

[Matt Rogers]

Originally Posted by somethingfishy

Try cutting down on your tank feedings. This is probably just a result of overfeeding. IMO

I only feed once a day at best and only about a 1/8 of a cube. Must be something else I would think.

[Gresham]

Originally Posted by amcarrig

Can you take a close up picture of the snails? I'm hoping that they're not pyramid snails?

Yup, I gave him parasitic snails Now come on, gimmme a little more credit then that These are bigger/black and the ones you mention are white and smaller (about half size). These are stictly herbivours.

At the moment their name escapes me, but, they're from Florida and they're what the baby blue legs grab for shells. They're not ceriths though, different shell type. They don't seem to lay eggs that you can see, babies just seem to pop up all the time.

If you want to get rid of them, you'll need to get a bigger wrasee, which will be a problem with your six-line. You could add some more baby blue legs, they'll do a small job of ridding them. I've seen CBS (coral banded shrimp) do a number on them as well.

I doubt a green serpeant will do anything for you, I stock them in the same tank as the snails w/no problems

[Gresham]

Matt, I'll come harvest em one night, if you'd like.

[amcarrig]

Originally Posted by Gresham

Yup, I gave him parasitic snails Now come on, gimmme a little more credit then that

Ah, I must have missed the first sentence where Matt mentioned that.....next time I'll make sure to open both eyes before making assumptions