Brendan Redler

As the title puts it, I have in my 1.5 month old 10 gal a serious snail problem, planarian worms, cyclops, and hydra. I'm not so concerned about the hydra, but I don't like the planarian worms or the cyclops or the snails. I have a few shrimp in there with a bunch more on the way.

What can I do to get rid of the snails?
I have some scarlet badis in the semi near future coming in, will they eat any planarians/cyclops?

HELP!

 

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tfmcder

I just got some scarlet badis to rid my tank of a serious planaria outbreak. They did the trick in a few days. Now I am looking into what to feed them...they only eat live food. For planaria extermination they were excellent!!! Don't know for sure what else they will eat as far as pests go.
Good Luck!

Brendan Redler

Where did you get your badis?

Any thoughts on snails?

tfmcder

I got mine from my LFS.

As far as snails go, I actually like them. I have malaysian trumpet, ramshorn, pond, and some other little guys in most of my tanks. I think they are excellent clean up crews. Most loaches will take care of snails. You could always just use the loaches to clear the tank and then take them out.

Bert H

An overpopulation of snails is usually indicative of overfeeding. How often and how much do you feed? Keep in mind if you use a fish as a predator to battle the unwanted residents, your shrimp could become part of their meal.

Brendan Redler

I have not put any food into the tank. I waited until there was enough general algae growth for the shrimp to get along okay. That said they are doing fine, but once I get the rest of the shrimp in, I will of course be feeding them. Four shrimp eat such a small amount and are too difficult to feed specifically that I just haven't bothered.

I'm not getting a fish that will eat the snails, because they would surely eat the shrimp. Scarlet Badis are about 1" long max with small mouths. Only a real threat to planarians, cyclops, blackworms that I intend to feed them, and shrimp babies.

I've started doing about 20 min of snail removal a day so that should help.

The hardest part seems to be locating scarlet badis...

Brendan Redler

I lucked out and got two badis...we'll see where that goes.

 

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