# Snail Explosion in Betta Tank - 10 gal



## knownothingfishowner (Feb 22, 2010)

Betta and African Frog live great in there. 

Put in three anachris plants and obviously the snails hitched a ride. 

How do I get rid of them? 

Thought about putting one of my small clowns or dojos in there, but I'd be worried the betta would force it to hide or possibly worse. 

So, what's the alternative?


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

alternative is to toss the plant, get new gravel and start over. I have not found a single way other then true snail eaters and assassin snails to get rid of them. I removed all my fish and plants in my 45H and nuked it with 100ml of coppersafe and nothing, replaced all the gravel, razor scraped the tank itself and let it dry out in the shed for 3 months and I started over and still had snails now worse then before.

start squishin.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

I always have an initial snail bloom on my tanks but a year later only a few are left.

So I do nothing.

my .02


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

First off...do not put the clown in there.

Second...if you just got them....pluck them out now. If you see one...grab it.

Won't be an issue if you take action now.

I've wiped out entire populations by strickly being diligent in removing them when I find them.


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## Tim Wheatley (Jul 21, 2010)

Just pick them out when you see them. They can't explode more if they cannot breed.

Doing anything else is either plain wrong for the fish involved or the tank in my opinion. Putting a Clown in a 10 gallon purely to kill snails (which it will NOT do quickly enough) will not help you.

It will work, you just have to remember every couple of days to go and look real hard at every inch of the tank and pick out what you find until you stop finding them.


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## knownothingfishowner (Feb 22, 2010)

Thanks for the help, folks!


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

What about all the egg sacks they leave behind?


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

WhiteDevil said:


> What about all the egg sacks they leave behind?


Remove them during water changes. If the OP just got the plants, they might not have laid any yet. Even when you miss one or two, you will eventually be able to find them in the tank. Just any time you see a snail, pluck it out.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

WhiteDevil said:


> What about all the egg sacks they leave behind?


Probably makes good fish food.

*old dude


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

none of my fish eat the escargot caviar. sadly.

Im not sure if you guys have a big tank but hand removing from a 210 is hard enough not even thinking of egg sacks.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

WhiteDevil said:


> Im not sure if you guys have a big tank but hand removing from a 210 is hard enough not even thinking of egg sacks.


I can only imagine a tank that size. That would definately take some work.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

Just to get them on the bottom my armpits get soaked. I do wish I put my lighting system on a overhead pulley system so I can raise and lower it better. Its 8" from the top of the water 80wx8 t5ho's yes it gets really hot. Lowering the water level does nothing really other then save my armpits from a tropical dip.

I think its 6'x2'x30" tall with stand its 5.5' from tank rim to the floor and I am only 5'10"


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

snorkel. ;oP


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

Im barking up the scuba suit tree for my bday next month but living in the middle of america, scuba suits are hard to find.
I could get a mask and snorkel but the armpit issue is still at hand. It doesnt feel good when they bite and rip your arm and armpit hair.


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## Tim Wheatley (Jul 21, 2010)

WhiteDevil said:


> none of my fish eat the escargot caviar. sadly.
> 
> Im not sure if you guys have a big tank but hand removing from a 210 is hard enough not even thinking of egg sacks.


OP said 10 gallon, that's his easiest option. Yours?

Get some buckets. 

I'd advise you to basically do what I did when I moved house with my 55 gallon...

Put fish in buckets. Put filter media in buckets. Put substrate in buckets. Keep all wet, obviously.

Keep as many buckets of water from the tank as you can (a clean, new trash plastic trash can would work).

Drain your tank completely, scrape the eggs etc off the glass and filter your substrate through a net outside of the tank.

When done and you're sure all that is in your tank is air, put the substrate in, pour your buckets of established tank water in (pour it onto something so the substrate is not disturbed too much), then top up with fresh water (like you've just done a water change) and your tank should be good to go. Filter media and substrate bacteria will be fine if they were kept moist and you should be in good shape.

Before I moved from MA to IL I had snails, after the move I did not. The fish survived 30 hours in buckets in the cab with no heaters or additional oxygen, so you'll probably be fine, too.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

Wow. Can't believe that peoe break down the tank. Way too much work. Just pluck and remove. Far more easier


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## Tim Wheatley (Jul 21, 2010)

James0816 said:


> Wow. Can't believe that peoe break down the tank. Way too much work. Just pluck and remove. Far more easier


With a small tank, yes it is.


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## Auban (Aug 8, 2010)

i had the same problem in a 20g until i moved all my fish to another tank and put a little dwarf puffer in the 20g. puffers dont mix well with other types of fish. in fact, they dont mix well with anything really... he ate all the snails in like two days. dont do this unless you have a puffer tank to move it back into though...


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## wjlane (Aug 21, 2010)

Small tank that it is, it would be much a much easier job to just squish all of those little farts. I hate'em.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I like to squish them too. My fish usually eat what falls.


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## knownothingfishowner (Feb 22, 2010)

I'm contemplating sticking the betta into a spare 2.5 gallon and putting a loach in it's place in the 10 gallon for a couple of days. 

The ones I have picked out of the 10 gallon I've placed in the 55 with the loaches and they take care of them real quick.


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