Tropheus ate a snail! Will it plug hee digestive track?

[235g tank]

Snails recently invaded my aquarium. I didnt think much of it because the hollow rocks in the corners of the aquarium collects alot of ditritis so i was impartial about leaving them reside as clean up crew. But today the mother of all nightmares happened. One of the canary cheeks swam right up to a small snail suctioned on the front glass pannel and ate the snail. No chewing. Just swalled the snail hole. I am worried that the hard shell of the snail will not break down in her digestive track & the protien the snail yields may be high. Has anyone encountered this? Will my tropheus digestive track get plugged. I dont want her to die. Any one had a there tropheus eat a snail and live?

[...]

Tropheus can tolerate some meat protein mate. As they graze algae in the wild small crustaceans and molluscs (snails) make up a small part of the diet. They, like most fish species, are opportunistic in the feeding. Small snails have very thin shells and it was most likely ground to dust by the grinding plates at the back of the throat. If it did make it past those whole the gastric enzymes would break it down. If you check the ingredients in whatever veggie flake or pellets you use you will almost certainly find fish &/or shrimp meal present.
With all that in mind I don't believe you have anything to be concerned about. If you want a bit of extra peace of mind dose your tank with Epsom salt at 3-5 tbsp/10 gal for a few days to provide a bit of a laxative effect. Seriously though I wouldn't be worried. If you saw it happen 1 time it is prolly going on all the time.

[235g tank]

Jul 18, 2019 15:01:41 GMT -5 ... said:

Tropheus can tolerate some meat protein mate. As they graze algae in the wild small crustaceans and molluscs (snails) make up a small part of the diet. They, like most fish species, are opportunistic in the feeding. Small snails have very thin shells and it was most likely ground to dust by the grinding plates at the back of the throat. If it did make it past those whole the gastric enzymes would break it down. If you check the ingredients in whatever veggie flake or pellets you use you will almost certainly find fish &/or shrimp meal present.
With all that in mind I don't believe you have anything to be concerned about. If you want a bit of extra peace of mind dose your tank with Epsom salt at 3-5 tbsp/10 gal for a few days to provide a bit of a laxative effect. Seriously though I wouldn't be worried. If you saw it happen 1 time it is prolly going on all the time.

Thanks danny. I appreciate the quick response. I think im being overly paranoid. But Maybe i should house a temporal clown loach to deal with the snails?

[235g tank]

Will adding epsom salt change the chemistry of my water in any way? (Like PH for example)

[brianyelick]

I have a small group of clown loaches I move from tank to tank to eat my snails it works great and makes happy clown loaches they seem to get along great with tropheus when they are in with them active enough to just blend in

[235g tank]

Jul 18, 2019 20:18:59 GMT -5 brianyelick said:

I have a small group of clown loaches I move from tank to tank to eat my snails it works great and makes happy clown loaches they seem to get along great with tropheus when they are in with them active enough to just blend in

I have fry free swimming with the community. Which maybe put in danger w/ clown loaches. Moving them wouldnt be a problem though. How many clown loaches do you recommend for a 7ft aquaium by 2ft deep and 2.5 feet tall? ( for the purpose of eradicating the snails )

[...]

Epsom salt (magnesium) will raise your TDS & gH but will not affect your kH or pH mate. It is very safe for most fish, and especially tangs as Lake Tang is very high in dissolved magnesium...

[brianyelick]

Danny is right with the salt but if you do want loaches I have a group of 8 3.5 inch loaches I keep in my 135 they do great I've put them in a couple of my 90 g tropheus tanks and removed them back to my big tank after the snails were cleaned up. When they were done it was a snail grave yard!

[...]

Thx Brian. I have never heard of clown loaches poaching fry before. Some smaller rock piles for fry would remedy that potential I would think anyway. It is quite common to see them in tropheus tanks

[235g tank]

Hey guys. Its been some time since i started this thread. Just wanted to say everything is fine. No problem since the snail incident and all fish seem to be doing well. Thanks