This is madness PLEASE help

[Biff]

Hello all, this just happened about 10 mins ago so excuse the frantic post!!!
I bought my Axolotl tank about two months ago, got it all set up with sand, hides, live plants, the filter etc and then added ammonia to begin the fishless cycle.
I paid for some liquid test kits but they never arrived and after weeks of waiting I had to open a paypal dispute and wait for all that blah blah. So basically what I'm sayin is I left the tank to do its thing for about 2 months (my new kits should be here in a few days).
I turned the light on today to see how it was and was massively shocked to see a snail! Then I saw another and suddenly realised that they were everywhere, the tank is crawling (the are very cute!). Some are little specks and some are the size of a small pea.
What do I do???
What will happen??
Can I just leave them in there with the Axolotl when I get them. I don't mind them being eaten by them but are they safe for them to eat?
If not I can't see how I could removed them without starting the tank all over again and then I wouldn't know what to do with them.
Please help me, this is the last thing I was expecting!!!!!!

 

[HappySkittles]

They most likely came from your plants...all I can offer right now is some advice to calm down. I don't know about snails and axies but I am pretty sure it's not worth the stress especially if they aren't in there yet.

 

[Traxolotl]

Where did you get your plants from Because i am 99.9999% sure they brought the snails. I have heard that they were somehow a threat to ceartain animals. Not sure if they will harm your axie. Google it to check ,and if they are, the process to get rid of them.

 

[Morrison]

I will blame the plants too.
I've had a young axie that was fed on snails before I bought him. I don't have much experience with snails and axies, but days later my axie was still pooping the 'shells' of the snail and it didn't look like s/he was pooping happily.

The things I did to get rid of snails (when I had them in my guppy tank).
I placed a slice of cucumber at the bottom of the tank (slices like that do usually float... I guess, so I "pinned" them down with a little stick) and the snails love it. When there are a lot of snails on it I remove the slice and put in a new one until (most of) the snails are gone. (I also removed the snail "eggs" by hand). It's pretty hard to remove them all, because a tiny little snail can be hidden somewhere and make new babies and blahblah and the whole thing starts again, but I guess if there are some snails left that axies would find them... Even if they have better things to eat.

 

[iSuzie]

snails and axies are not a good idea together, like gravel, the axies can eat them and choke, or cause problems inside your axie, even the small ones can cause problems, plus the fact that they will get bigger and pretty fast too. do you have any of aquariums? you could put them in with fish etc... or keep them separated using a baby fish separator inside your aquarium with your axies, but im not 100% sure what snail waste does to the water levels, may cause bad things. also snails ill eat your live plants as well... so thats another reason its not best to keep them in there.

 

[carsona246]

I would try the cucumber strategy morrison suggested. It works pretty well. I'm assuming these are all pond snails in your tank, because they had to have hitchhiked on your plants. They're not going to be a choking hazard for your axie, so I wouldn't be super concerned.

 

[blackdog]

If they only the little pond snails, you should be fine.

Snails eat waste, keep your tank as clean as possible, less waste, less snails.

You can pick them out with your turkey baster, keep an eye out for snail eggs (stuck to plants and tank walls)

I have found after the initial population explosion, my snail population has settled into the ecosystem, and i hardly notice them,

They are good waste cleaners, but add to bio load.

I'd pick out any bigger ones you see too, my axies eat and digest them fine, but i pick out any bigger ones i see, just in case

Bren

 

[Biff]

Thanks so much for the advice guys, much appreciated.

I think I will use the cucumber technique to remove most of them but will probably have to accept that they are here now so just remove big ones as I see them.

This is probably one of the only areas of keeping axies that I haven't researched. Im interested to see what other things crop up as I start the journey.....