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How do I get rid of tiny snails and seed shrimp in my tank?

4260 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  DBL TAP
How do I get rid of tiny snails and seed shrimp in my tank? There are soooooo many!!!!!!!!:rolleyes:
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Do you have any fish in the tank? If so, I'm surprised they haven't been eating the seed shrimp. As far as the snails go, their population is controlled by how much you feed the tank. If you overfeed, you will likely have a population explosion.
I have no fish. I don't feed either. Is there a chemical I can use to get rid of the snails, but won't harm the plants?
There are chemicals out there to eliminate snails but they will cause a big ammonia spike due to the decaying dead snails left in the tank. Chemicals to remove snails will also eliminate shrimp. I assume you have shrimp since you are posting in the Shrimp/Invertebrate forum ;)

Try putting a blanched piece of lettuce or spinach in the tank. Go back a couple of hours later and it will have plenty of snails on it. Simply remove it from the tank, snails and all. If there are shrimp on it, they usually jump off before you remove it from the water. Do this a couple of times and you should be able to eliminate or drastically reduce your snail population. I do this about once a week in my shrimp tanks and feed the snails to my Tanganyikan tank. The tretocephalus eat any snail that will fit in their mouths, shell and all!
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MatPat's method worked for me!

Or you can smush as much as you can against the glass but be sure to get the bodies out.
I used a trap and have been smashing. I noticed my shrimp like feeding on the smashed snails.
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