snail infestation

My 10 gallon tank all of a sudden popped up a BUNCH of tiny snails. I have no idea where they came from because the plants I added, I added in October. I just noticed the snails this week. There must have been a couple and they all of a sudden multiplied a lot.

But how do I get rid of them? At least some of them? They're everywhere. Don't want to hurt the fish though and the fish are too small to eat the snails.

Squish em.

Honestly though, I have found usually they level off on their own. May not be the prettiest to look at but they often do keep the tank really clean.

Take your fish out and baggie them. Do a 50% water change with HOT water. Snails + snail eggs = dead. When the temps are back to normal put your fish back in the tank.

Get Assassin snails!! They eat all other snails and are pretty and cool. Though you have to feed them when they run out of prey.

Yah, snails breed like crazy.

Really I'm no help... other than take the snails out and put something on them to make them dissolve... salt? Am I losing my mind? LOL

Spay and neuter your snails people!!!

Literally, spay AND neuter them.

:rofl1: that is exactly what I was getting ready to post

Add lettuce. When enough snails are on it, remove it.

The snails are eating something, its a sign of overfeeding usually, though decaying plants are possible too. With proper feeding and healthy plants you don't normally get a huge snail explosion.

If you don't have catfish or other sensitive types you can use a copper treatment, but that will leave dead snails rotting. Same with hot water unless you do several waterchanges afterward.

I've been having algae outbursts too and the snails are all on the back of the tank feeding on the algae, which isn't a bad thing. Except the snails are ugly. I took out some of the sicker looking plants but the rest look good.

Algae and snails are a sign that you're over feeding or something is rotting for sure. Just to cover bases, do you have gravel in your tank? I could never keep mine clean enough no matter how much I vacuumed it and it always ended up causing issues.

Or you may be leaving the light on too long. I just got rid of all the algae I got from leaving the light on for like 12 hours a day.