Seachem Cupramine vs Loaches to control snails

[Greggy]

Hey team,

A few small, flat and round snails have slowly but surely turned into a few hundred, and if I leave them much longer they will turn into thousands. I want to get rid of them, or at the very least control them harshly, but I don't want to upset my Discus, kill my plants, harm the bio filter too much or introduce other problems such as aggresive snail eating fish.

I am thinking along the lines of either using Seachem's Cupramine or perhaps putting in a Loach. I have read that YoYo Loaches can be aggresive (e.g. they'll likely eat the eyes off my Corys) and I don't know if Clown Loaches are much better. Theres also the possibility they may simply not want to eat the type of snails I have (they are not MTS).

So what do you guys advise I do? I've read through some similar forums regarding snail control but was not convinced either way. However I have to act soon or I'll end up having a million of them!

Seachem's Cupramine is sounding like the best Copper based option (instead of Copper Sulphate based options) unless one of you talk me out of it. Your thoughts?

Regards,

Greggy

[benjohnson]

Hey Greggy ,

I have a Botia loach. Has a Greyey Brown coloured body with Black stripes. He lives with my discus perfectly, mind you . only put ojne in , else they scrap with each other , then its a different story !!

He cleared up my snail problem in a matter of days . Just buy the one and see how you get on if you were going to buy a snail eater.

I cant really comment on the snail killer drug you uhave mentioned. I'm told Flubenol 15 , which is used for worming fish (hence must be safe for them too) kills snails off when its administered. Maybe a hit of that or something similiar would do the trick, kill 2 birds with one stone so to speak, worm your fish... and get rid of your snails !!

Cheers,
Ben

[benjohnson]

OH one other thing about that type of loach. Reason I bought it is because it doesnt get too big, they top out at 2 - 2.5 inches and dont get too fat. Clown Loaches end up getting really big !!

[Greggy]

I thought 'Botia' was a generic term for Loaches???

What about the Dwarf Loach (Yasuhikotakia Sidthimunki)? http://www.loaches.com/species-index/yasuhikotakia-sidthimunki

Does anyone know if these eat small snails?

They look like 'safe' loaches to use in a Discus tank to me!

[ILLUSN]

dwarf loaches are excellent for snail control (i keep 4 in a 4x2x1.5) they wont eat cone shaped snails.

[benjohnson]

Sorry Greggy, was having a stupid moment !

I have a YoYo loach .... and he cleared up my snail problem quickly. He does however have a habit of jumpoing in and hout of the filter box I have in the corner of the tank ... a very odd experience.


I wondered where he had gone, he was there oneminute, then I didndt see him for days on end. I rummaged around the tank thinking maybe the worst had happened, and nothing.. couldnt find anything of him. Couple of days later i heard this big splash , i looked over and there he was. I watched him for a bit, he had something to eat... milled about a bit more then hovered around the corner of the ( now retired) juwel filter box in the corner of the tank.... sure enough , he then jumped out of the water, over the lip of the filter and was hanging out in his own private box !!! Apparently this isnt un common, something you should perhaps bear in mind ;-)

[FishLover]

I tried yo-yos and they cleaned up the snails. The problem was, after they were done with snails, they started to bother my discus.

I had some zebra loaches, same story.

Then I have 3 clown loaches, they are fine so far (3 months). I think the trick is to have at least 3 or more clowns in the tank. They will play with each other rather than bother the discus. I know thry get big but they are slow growing loaches. I plan to exchange them with the LFS when they get too big for the tank (over 4"), maybe in a year or two. So far they did not grow too much over the last three months.

[Greggy]

Well I took a gamble and got 4 Dwarf (Sidthimunki) Loaches that so far have not touched any snails, but then they are all still very young and maybe too small to eat snails just yet. They seem very active and are good scavengers, all haning out in their little pack. They don't bother any of the other fish, one of the traits of the Sidthimunki Loach.

I'll keep you posted.

Regards,

Greggy

[Greggy]

Well look like the snails have won round one, as the Sidthimunki (Dwarf) Loaches are moderately aggressive and not for me. They like to nibble on the fins of my Discus and they pick at my Betta all day long. They are now sitting in the QT waiting for me to take them back to the LFS. In the time they were in there I didn't see them eat any snails, then again they are still quite small. What suprised me was how easy they were to catch. A well planted 6x2x2 with hundreds of places to hide had me a little worried when I decided they had to go, but it was simple!

So the snail problem continues!

Regards,

Greggy

[Scotty Bils]

Get a clown loach. I have only one in a 4 foot tank (48x18x20) and it sorts out 95% or more of the snails and I have never seen it harrasing the discus.

It will get big but as someone said when it does I will be sending it to the LFS for a smaller one and probably some credit! :wink:

I hve never used chemicals so I can not comment.

[nicholas76]

Dont be afraid to use chemicals


Ive had a 100% strike rate using this product with no fish issues to report.

Snails will die and the ones you miss just re dose several days later.

If your unsure simply move your fish for a few days to a spare tank

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4103&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=snails&&start=20

[davowalla]

I have four clown loaches with my discus and they are absolutely fine. Dont even go near the discus or my other community fish. They take many many years to grow huge and is very unlikely to outgrow any aquarium, and i have only even seen one that was giant and it was at a LFS so you dont have to worry about it growing too big, but one downside to having them is that they are extremely vulnerable to getting white spot.