Combat snail plague in the aquarium

Snail plague in the aquarium: In our Article on snails in the aquarium, we mainly dealt with the desired snails, which you also use yourself. Unfortunately, snails have a rather bad reputation and this usually arises from unwanted snails, which can increase up to snail plagues. Here we tell you what you can do about it, why these snails occur in the first place and how you can protect yourself accordingly.

Interesting facts about snails in the aquarium

What types of snails actually become a plague?

No particular species can be highlighted here, although one or the other genus is certainly more widespread and can therefore become a plague more quickly. Again and again you can read about plate snails or bladder snails. Tower snails or ramshorn snails are rarely found in large quantities. However, it does not have to be a specific species that becomes a nuisance in your aquarium.

How do snails get into the aquarium in the first place?

This is a question that many beginners in particular will ask themselves, who on the one hand have set up the aquarium for the first time and have not even used snails. Suddenly there are snails in the aquarium, which then multiply very quickly. But how do the animals get into the water in the first place?

The snails almost always get into the aquarium through the plants. The aquarium plants very often have tiny little snail babies hanging from their leaves. These are very difficult to see with the naked eye. In addition, it can even be that only the spawn of the snails is hanging on the leaves and not even an animal is there. Basically, you can't prevent it 100%. What can help is a cold shower of the leaves before putting them in the aquarium, or soaking them in a separate tank or container for a few days. This is very often recommended in practice.

Of course, snails can also be brought in via other items of furniture, including fish. But this is rather rare.

How does a snail plague come about?

As you may have already read in our guide to snails, snails are actually not bad and can even be extremely sensible and useful animals. Nevertheless, there are always snail plagues and often the reasons for this are not known. The aquarist is usually to blame for this.

Too much feeding and the always constant constant conditions ensure a very good reproduction of snails of all kinds in the aquarium. Above all, the excess of food is the main reason for the rapid reproduction. Be it the large amount of fish food found in the aquarium or strong algae growth. Both can help the snails feel very comfortable and reproduce quickly.

Due to reproduction via spawning, there are often hundreds of offspring, which are very tiny at first, but then quickly increase in size.

#	Preview	Products	Rating	Price
1		JBL LimCollect II chemical-free snail trap for aquariums, 61401	Currently no reviews	10,49 EUR	View product
2		ESHA - GASTROBAC - against bacterial mucus formation - 10 ml	Currently no reviews	8,50 EUR	View product
3		Red racing snail - group of 3 I biological algae police for the aquarium I beautiful...	Currently no reviews	15,99 EUR	View product

What can I do against a snail plague?

In many forums and discussion groups one always reads that one cannot do anything against a plague of snails. But this is not true. There is some advice that will help get the aquarium free of snails again, or at least reduce the number.

Eliminate the root problem

As already described above, snails usually develop due to an oversupply of nutrients. They come into the tank with too much food. If you reduce this, the population of snails will also decrease.

We therefore recommend a fasting diet for all residents when there is a high incidence of snails. Reduce the amount of food, or even better, don't feed them at all for a few days. The fish don't mind, you can be sure of that, provided they are not young fish. See also ours Guide to holiday planning with an aquarium.

Vacation planning with an aquarium

After a diet, the population of snails should have been drastically reduced. In addition, this can also bring other benefits such as reducing algae. Fasting for a few days from time to time is no problem in the aquarium.

More methods of removing snails in the aquarium

Let's start with a fairly simple tool, mechanical removal. Basically you just go and remove all the snails you see. Some species always settle on the pane and are therefore quick to get to the pool. Here, however, we advise you to just crush them and leave them in the water. This could quickly affect the water parameters.

Another very good way of removing the snails mechanically is to lure them to a specific location. This can be done very well with vegetables, for example. For example, if you put a piece of cucumber in the tank overnight, the snails will quickly gather on it and you can remove them very easily. Other types of vegetables are also suitable for this. Unfortunately, this also has a disadvantage, because certain impairments of the water values ​​could occur. However, this is not a problem if it is only used for a short period of several hours.

#	Preview	Products	Rating	Price
1		JBL LimCollect II chemical-free snail trap for aquariums, 61401	Currently no reviews	10,49 EUR	View product
2		ESHA - GASTROBAC - against bacterial mucus formation - 10 ml	Currently no reviews	8,50 EUR	View product
3		Red racing snail - group of 3 I biological algae police for the aquarium I beautiful...	Currently no reviews	15,99 EUR	View product

In addition to this type of snail removal, the trade also has a lot in stock. In addition to many chemical additives, there are also mechanical traps against snails that are offered. The snail traps are basically nothing more than a container where the snails can get in, but not out again. Unfortunately, such a trap also poses a risk for the fish, because they too can get caught in such a trap. We therefore recommend use only under supervision. The method with the vegetables is just as good in our experience.

We completely advise against chemically combating the snail plague. This should be avoided as much as possible. This not only increases the load on the aquarium, but these chemical agents settle in bottom of the aquarium and thus burden the natural flora for days and weeks. Many fish are extremely sensitive to this. Therefore, she should not take this step at all, or only as a last resort.

Of course, snails also have natural enemies. Including fish but also other snails. For example, a predatory snail can be used. In this case, other snails are usually on the menu. Here, too, caution is called for, because an entire population is quickly endangered.

Puffer fish are also very good snail eaters. As with certain loaches, the snail is high on their menu. Nevertheless, we must also advise caution here. Mainly because of their size, this type of fish should only be kept in tanks of 400 liters or more. In addition, these fish should be kept in groups. You also have to remember that the puffer fish, for example, still needs snails and their shells even after the snail plague has been eliminated. He wears his teeth off with it. Conversely, this means that they have to feed snails here and, if necessary, should also buy them.

#	Preview	Products	Rating	Price
1		JBL LimCollect II chemical-free snail trap for aquariums, 61401	Currently no reviews	10,49 EUR	View product
2		ESHA - GASTROBAC - against bacterial mucus formation - 10 ml	Currently no reviews	8,50 EUR	View product
3		Red racing snail - group of 3 I biological algae police for the aquarium I beautiful...	Currently no reviews	15,99 EUR	View product

Everything important about snail plagues and their elimination at a glance

In the following we have again listed the possibilities of destroying the plague of snails. As described above, not all are recommended. Concentrate on the first possibilities.