Every fish keeper deals with the pond snail problem. Pond snails are hermaphrodites. Both male and female snails can lay eggs. It causes overpopulation of the pest snails.
An excess amount of pest nails causes harm to the ecosystem of the pond or aquarium. Pond snails eat up the essential organic debris which creates a sludge layer on the surface of the pond water.
Thick sludge layer prevent the oxygen from getting into the water. Less oxygen creates a stinky smell under the water. It affects the food sources and increases harmful bacteria.
In this guide, I have written the drawbacks of excess snail in your pond and some effective techniques about how to get rid of pond snails. Hopefully, these methods will help you to control the snails.
Table of Contents
Are Pond Snails Good or Bad?
A balanced amount of pond snails is good for the ecosystem. It prevents excessive algae growth. Fish waste and excessive organic material cause hazardous gas in the water. Pond snails eat these things and keep the water clean. These are the good sides of pond snails.
But pond snails are hermaphrodites. This is the main reason behind the increased pond Snail population. It makes the production system too fast. An excessive amount of pond snails eats the healthy slime algae too which are important for the ecosystem.
Slime algae keep the water clean and also some fish feed on algae. So, you must take the necessary steps to solve this problem.
How Does Pond Snail Look Like?
Pond snails have a dark brown colored shell. The body of the snail is dotted with tiny dark spots. It eats aquatic plants. There are various species of pond snails. The images below will help you identify pond snails.
Many people ask are pond snails edible. Yes, about 116 types of snails can be eaten. Among them, there are several pond snails too. So it is not always necessary to throw out all of them.
What Do Excessive Pond Snails Do?
Excess amounts of snails make the pond dirty and cloudy. As pond snail’s number explodes too fast, it becomes very difficult for the fishes to survive.
Many species like Ramshorn Snails produce too much bio waste which disrupts the nitrogen level of pond water. Some snails lay large eggs above the surface of the water.
Snail eats up all the useful plants in the pond and causes the death of fishes. It may destroy the ecosystem of your pond.
5 Ways to Get Rid of Pond Snails
There are several methods to get rid of snails. You should try more than one method. You must add several methods to the pond care routine.
Collecting the Snails by Hand
You can use this method if the pond size is small. You can collect the harmful snails by hand and relocate them anywhere else or kill them.
Try this method at night, as the snails remain more active at this time. Use a torchlight while catching the snails at night.
The snails generally hide under the leaves of pond plants. You will also find them behind the rock. If you apply this method regularly, the population of snails will decrease.
Making Trap for the Snails
This process is very effective. If the size of your pond is large. You cannot reduce snails using the handpicking process. Using a trap is more effective for large ponds.
You can easily make the trap using lettuce leaves. Place the leaves overnight on the surface of the pond water and see the magic. You will find a lot of snails under and above the lettuce leaves.
Wake up early in the morning and collect the snails easily from the.
Adding Animals that Eat Pond Snails
You can add snail eater fishes or animals into your pond. Pond fishes don’t eat pond snails.
You can add mosquito fish for this purpose. These fish eat up the egg of the snail. Mosquito fish is not harmful to your pond.
You can also use the frog and sterlets. They eat adult pond snails. These fishes and animals can survive under the pond water in mild climates. You can easily find mosquitofish in an online mosquito control agency or from your local vendor.
Many species of puffers and loaches also eat the snails. The crown loach can eat up snails very fast.
There is another great idea to prevent snails. The assassin snail kills the small snails. These beautiful snails both kill the small snails and increase the beauty of the pond
Using Chemicals
This process is recommended when your pond snails are increasing drastically. There are several chemicals on the market that kills all kind of snails.
One disadvantage is, that it will kill the good snails too. If you have a trapdoor you shouldn’t use this method. An excess amount of chemicals is harmful to the ecosystem of your pond.
Dimilin is a popular chemical to destroy pond snails. When it becomes impossible to control the population of the snail, people use it. Follow the instruction labeled in the bottle before using.
If you want to get rid of the pest snail using a chemical is not a good option
Reducing Food Source of Pond Snail
Pond snails generally eat the leftover fish food in the pond. You can reduce the population of snails by cleaning the leftover fish food regularly.
This method will not only help you to reduce snails but also keep your fish healthy. Overfeeding causes the death of the fish. So it is very necessary to clean up the leftover.
You can use flakes as fish food. It easily dissolves with water. Fishnet, scooping tools, etc. are useful to clean the uneaten fish foods.
Final Thought On Getting Rid of Pond Snail
Conclusively, it is better to use natural remedies as much as possible. Natural remedies will also help you to keep your pond water fresh. If you have absolutely no other way, only then use chemicals. Otherwise, stick with natural remedies.
I hope now you are all clear about how to get off a snail in a pond. All you have to do is simply follow the given methods and you will be alright. If you still have any doubts or questions, ask me in the comment section and I will get back to you soon.
