There seems to have been an increase in the number of people reaching out with various questions about dealing with springtails in their aquarium recently with there being a wide range of ways that you can get rid of any springtails.
Some of the methods that we have seen people sharing on social media are outright dangerous to your fish, snails, and shrimp in your tank so we wanted to publish our own article going over the topic to try and help as many of our readers as possible.
The easiest way get rid of springtails in your aquarium is to temporarily remove any live plants they may be feeding on, add something like the branded killifish to your tank to eat them or use springtail traps in your tank.
You can use a chemical product to remove the springtails if you really want to but they tend not to be worth the risk but if needed, they can get rid of springtails from your aquarium.
Please keep in mind that although springtails can be an eye sore in your aquarium, they will rarely cause any harm to your fish or cause any real problems.
In many cases, springtails will breed rapidly to a population that the available food sources in your aquarium are unable to support so the full springtail population will perish within a couple of months in most tanks anyway.
How Did Springtails Get In My Aquarium?
Most springtails are accidently added to an aquarium when adding new plants or substrate that contains springtails in them.
If you add rocks that you have found while out walking in your local area to your aquarium then this can also add springtails to your tank too.
In very rare cases, springtails may be added to your tank when adding new fish, especially if you just pour the new fish into your tank with all of the water that the fish came in.
This is why we always recommend that you use the new to get the new fish out of the bag that it came in and transfer it to your aquarium with as little of the water that fish came in being transferred as possible.
We have seen some people within the fish keeping community say that they intentionally add springtails to their aquarium as a food source for their fish.
If you are a beginner then we would not recommend this though as springtails can be a pain to get rid of and the people who are intentionally adding them to their tanks usually do it in breeding tanks rather than their primary display tanks and they use species of fish that will eat large numbers of springtails too.
How Do I Get Rid Of Springtails In My Aquarium?
The best way to remove springtails from your aquarium is to reduce the food sources available for them to discourage breeding while your fish eat the springtails.
Removing the plants in your aquarium and keeping algae to a minimum is usually the best way to do this and it can help to rid a tank of springtails quickly.
Some people will choose to add something like a branded killifish to their tanks due to the species being an excellent option for hunting down and eating large amounts of springtails in their tanks.
They are probably the best springtail eating fish available and have an excellent reputation amongst the community for being able ot eat a huge number of springtails in a short period of time.
If you have a really bad case of springtails in your aquarium then you can try a chemical treatment specifically designed for removing springtails or parasites but we usually don’t recommend this as it can cause problems with sensitive fish.
Depending on your location, you may be able to find springtail traps or parasite traps for your aquarium that can sometimes catch springtails to let you remove them quickly but their success rate is questionable.
Do Fish Eat Springtails?
Many species of fish will eat springtails but very few species of fish will eat large numbers of springtails, especially if you offer them alternative food sources.
The branded killifish is usually the best species of fish for eating springtails as they will eat large numbers of the bugs every day and can quickly reduce their population in your aquarium.
One trick that we see many people use within the fish keeping hobby to reduce the number of springtails in their aquarium is to either reduce the amount of food that they feed their fish or to stop feeding their fish altogether to encourage them to eat the springtails in their tank.
In some situations, this can work well but it is usually not recommended as not all species of fish will actively hunt for springtails so they may not have any alternative source of nutrition available to them.
Other species of fish will only eat adult springtails while others will only eat jouvanile springtails too.
This makes it difficult to make sure that all of the springtails in your aquarium are being eaten by your fish and leaves a high chance for you to have problems with the remaining springtails just having babies and skyrocketing their population again in the future.
Do Springtails Cause Damage?
It is very rare that springtails will cause anytype of damage to your aquariums ecosystem and they are usually just an annoying eye sore that can ruin the viewing experience in your tank.
In very rare situations, the number of springtails in your tank can get so high that they can cause irritation for bottom dwelling fish but this really is rare.
As we touched on back at the start of the article, the majority of aquarium setups will runout of suitable food for springtails at a certain population level resulting in a rapid, drastic decline in the number of springtails in your tank.
You really do need a heavily planted tank with some very specific water parameters for a large springtail population to live for a long time so it is rare that they can get to a level where they will start to irritate your fish.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over how to get rid of springtails in your aquarium to an end. We have covered a number of ways that you are able to work on reducing the population of the springtails in your tank that can work very well for most tank setups. On top of that, we have also tried to pointout that in most situations, it is very rare that you will end up having any real, serious problems with your aquariums ecosystem due to springtails and many people do choose to just leave them in their tank as a food source for their fish.
