Having a pond on your property has the potential to be a lot of fun. Many people think that having a pond will add aesthetic appeal to the property.
Maintaining a pond can be a little bit difficult sometimes. You might need to take certain measures to keep the water in the right condition.
If you notice that you have a lot of pond snails in your pond, then you might find that to be a problem. What should you do about the pond snails?
Below, you’ll learn about how you can get rid of pond snails safely. It doesn’t have to be that difficult to get rid of pond snails when you understand how to approach things.
Pond Snails Can Reproduce Rapidly
Pond snails aren’t necessarily going to be a problem in a small pond or a fish tank. In fact, many people introduce pond snails to fish tanks because they’re considered to be “good cleaners.”
The problem with this is that pond snails can quickly overrun a tank or a pond. This is because the snails are hermaphrodites.
Even if you started out with just a few pond snails, they can reproduce quickly. Any two pond snails are going to be able to mate because of their hermaphroditic nature.
This means that a pair of pond snails can lay dozens of eggs. Then you’ll wind up having dozens more pond snails in your fish tank or pond area.
It can be problematic in several different ways. Mostly, you’re going to want to get rid of the pond snails so that they don’t ruin the aesthetic appeal of your pond or aquarium.
Doing so can be a bit tricky, though. This is especially true if you have fish in your pond area.
You want to be able to remove the pond snails without harming the fish. It can be done, but you need to approach things in the right way.
1 – Try Manually Removing the Pond Snails
Manually removing the pond snails might be a good method to utilize. It can be a bit time-consuming, but it’s a safe way to get rid of them.
Essentially, you’re just going to be picking the pond snails out of the tank or pond one at a time. This can be a bit tricky, though.
You see, pond snails are nocturnal. This means that they aren’t going to be active during the day.
Sometimes it can be hard to spot all of the pond snails during the daytime. They might blend in with substrate or certain rocks that you have placed in the pond or aquarium.
Picking the pond snails out of the pond or fish tank at night isn’t likely going to be good either. This is especially true if you don’t wish to disturb your fish.
2 – Snail Traps Can Work
Snail traps might be your best bet when you’re trying to remove pond snails from a pond. This method isn’t going to require you to meticulously find the pond snails and remove them.
You simply place a snail trap in the pond and then wait for it to take the bait. These traps use a simple food bait to get the pond snails to enter the trap.
Once the pond snails cross a certain threshold, they’ll wind up becoming trapped. You’ll be able to stop by the pond later to grab the trap and get rid of the pond snails.
It’s a simple and effective method that many people have used successfully. You don’t have to worry about chemicals harming your fish when you use this method either.
You’ll also love the fact that the traps are reusable. This means that you can just keep reusing the traps until every single pond snail has been removed.
3 – Add Fish That Eat Pond Snails
There are actually quite a few common types of fish that will eat pond snails. You could put some of those fish in the fish tank or pond if you’d like to.
This will be a very simple way of getting rid of the pond snails. Your fish will simply eat all of the pond snails, and they’ll be happy to have so much to eat.
You’ll have plenty of appealing options to consider when looking into fish that will devour pond snails. Zebrafish are very popular options that you should enjoy quite a bit.
Many types of cichlids are known to eat pond snails. Betta fish will also be a good option, and many love choosing them because of how pretty they are.
Wrasses, clown loaches, and pufferfish will also eat pond snails. Decide which types of fish you might be interested in and then add them to your artificial pond or fish tank.
Of course, you’ll need to be careful not to add fish to the fish tank or pond that won’t get along with the fish that are already present. You always need to ensure that all of your fish will get along or you could wind up having some of your fish get eaten or injured by the newcomers.
4 – Assassin Snails
There are other snails that will eat the pond snails. You might think that adding more snails to the pond or aquarium will be a bad idea, but that isn’t necessarily the case.
Assassin snails will eat pond snails rather easily. The good thing about these snails is that they are not hermaphrodites.
You could just buy male assassin snails so that you can keep their numbers in check. The male assassin snails will eat all of the pond snails, and they won’t be able to reproduce because a female won’t be around.
This ensures that you will only have a finite number of assassin snails to deal with. You could even remove the snails after they’ve eaten all of the pond snails.
If you want to solve a pond snail infestation, then getting three to six assassin snails will do the trick. Just try to ensure that all of the assassin snails are of the same gender to avoid issues.
5 – Eliminate the Food Source
Sometimes pond snails overrun fish tanks and ponds due to overfeeding. Pond snails feed on excess food that the fish don’t eat.
You might be feeding your fish way more than you’re supposed to. This is bad for the fish and it’s also going to lead to a pond snail population boom.
One idea for getting the pond snail population under control is to eliminate their food sources. Only feed your fish as much food as they will actually finish.
This practice will be much better for the health of the fish. It’ll also leave the pond snails with very little or nothing to eat.
Another thing that you should do is change the water more often. In an aquarium, you should be changing 15% of the water on a weekly basis.
Doing so eliminates excess food that goes to the bottom of the tank. You can also try to use a gravel vacuum cleaner to get rid of even more excess food.
Some people even go so far as to start using algae scrapers. This truly eliminates anything that the snails will be able to eat.
6 – Using Chemicals
Of course, using chemicals to get rid of the snails will be an option. You simply won’t be able to do this if you want to keep your fish alive.
If you have an outdoor pond that doesn’t have any fish in it, then this might be a very practical choice. You’ll be able to buy chemicals that will eliminate the pond snails and get the job done.
You’ll just need to clean up the pond after the deed is done. Eventually, the water will be normal again, and you can choose to add fish to it when things are safe.
Most people prefer to avoid using chemicals in fish tanks and ponds, though. If you have some type of outdoor pond, then you might be concerned about harming wildlife.
Birds that come by might try to drink from the pond. You could wind up killing local frogs and other such creatures as well.
Thus, it might not be a good idea to use chemicals to get rid of pond snails in your artificial pond. It can work out okay in some circumstances, but it’s likely safer to use natural methods.
Final Thoughts
You should have a good idea of what you need to do to get rid of pond snails now. Doing so safely involves using natural methods instead of turning to chemicals.
Chemicals can indeed get rid of pond snails, but they can also harm any fish that might be in the pond or aquarium. Thankfully, there are many viable natural options for you to choose from.
You could try to just manually pick the pond snails out. It might be easier to use snail traps to get rid of these pests.
It’s also possible to try to eliminate the pond snails by putting fish in the pond or fish tank that will eat them. There are mean fish such as zebrafish that will snack on pond snails.
Assassin snails will eat the pond snails, too. Buying three to six male assassin snails will allow you to solve a pond snail infestation pretty fast.
Decide which route you want to take. You’ll be able to have all of the pond snails gone from your artificial pond or aquarium soon enough.
Ben has a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering. When not constructing or remodeling X-Ray Rooms, Cardiovascular Labs, and Pharmacies, you can find him at home with wife and two daughters. Outside of family, He loves grilling and barbequing on his Big Green Egg and Blackstone Griddle, as well as working on projects around the house.
--
If you want more backyard tips including recipes, how-tos and more, make sure you subscribe to my youtube channel